Shopping habits in focus as part of Shropshire farming student's project
Shoppers are being asked how their buying habits have changed as a result of the cost of living crisis as part of a student research project.
Final year BSc (Hons) Agri-food Marketing with Business student Georgia Wilson, from Harper Adams University, decided to investigate the impact of recent pressures on people’s pockets for her final year honours research project after noticing her own shopping choices were changing.
She said: “As the cost of living in the UK increases, consumers are having to make changes to their food retail buying habits.
“This could include switching to shopping at discounters, increasing purchases of private label products, planning food shops more carefully or seeking out greater discounts in store."
Georgia added: “Having worked in food retail for a number of years, it was always interesting to see how consumers’ buying habits changed – over seasons, or during Covid, for example.
“At the time of me starting to think about my honours research project, the cost of living crisis was becoming increasingly apparent.
“Therefore I decided I would focus on this - as I knew that my own food retail buying habits had changed as a result, and wanted to know if others’ had too!”
Georgia has devised a short survey which asks shoppers to consider where they shop, what choices they make on brands, whether they take a list – and more.
The survey – which should take around five to ten minutes to complete – can be found at harper-adams.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/uk-consumers-food-retail-buying-habits-during-a-cost-of-li-3
