Supermarket Savvy: The Everyday Information-Seeking Behavior of Grocery Shoppers

This article examines the information-seeking behaviors of grocery shoppers. Beginning with a review of the historical development of supermarkets in America, it then synthesizes information-seeking behaviors of shoppers in grocery stores with everyday life information-seeking theories. Grocery stores and supermarkets have changed dramatically over time, and business practices evolved in order to meet consumer demands for information. Shoppers’ information-retrieval behaviors, including information seeking, information gathering, and information acquisition, were employed in novel ways as information resources emerged but remained largely unchanged over time.