The Price Knowledge and Search of Supermarket Shoppers

A model of grocery shopper response to price and other point-of-purchase information was developed and hypotheses were tested by using observations and interviews. The findings suggest that shoppers tended to spend only a short time making their selection and many did not check the price of the item they selected. Perhaps as a consequence, more than half could not correctly name the price of the item just placed in the shopping cart and more than half of the shoppers who purchased an item that was on special were unaware that the price was reduced. Other results on point-of-purchase information processing and behavior are discussed.