A body of work spanning neuroscience, economics, and psychology indicates that decision-making is context-dependent, which means that the value of an option depends not only on the option in question, but also on the other options in the choice set-or the 'context'. While context effects have been observed primarily in small-scale laboratory studies with tightly constrained, artificially constructed choice sets, it remains to be determined whether these context effects take hold in real-world choice problems, where choice sets are large and decisions driven by rich histories of direct experience. Here, we investigate whether valuations are context-dependent in real-world choice by analyzing a massive restaurant rating dataset as well as two independent replication datasets which provide complementary operationalizations of restaurant choice. We find that users make fewer ratings-maximizing choices in choice sets with higher-rated options-a hallmark of context-dependent choice-and that post-choice restaurant ratings also varied systematically with the ratings of unchosen restaurants. Furthermore, in a follow-up laboratory experiment using hypothetical choice sets matched to the real-world data, we find further support for the idea that subjective valuations of restaurants are scaled in accordance with the choice context, providing corroborating evidence for a general mechanistic-level account of these effects. Taken together, our results provide a potent demonstration of context-dependent choice in real-world choice settings, manifesting both in decisions and subjective valuation of options.

The aim of our study was to analyze the attitudes of employees toward food offered in staff canteens, to analyze their eating behavior and the factors determining the choice of meals in staff canteens. The survey was conducted on a sample of 600 adult respondents, who patronize staff canteens in Warsaw, Poland. The research enabled a detailed and comprehensive assessment of consumer behavior toward the use of staff canteens, as well as their opinions on the functioning of the canteens and meals offered. Factors determining the frequency of use of canteens, type of meals, and factors influencing the use of such establishments were identified. Respondents assessed the quality and variety of meals, with the size of portion being the most valued. They were satisfied with the functioning of the canteens and had very few comments. However, they pointed out the need for an increase in the variety of meals, including the availability of vegetarian and vegan dishes. Our research enabled us to establish consumer profiles based on the reasons for not using staff canteens and comments about staff canteens. Patrons of staff canteens were referred to as "canteen enthusiasts" or "canteen medium-enthusiasts", who are "snack lovers", as well as "food choice-oriented" or "quality-oriented". The results provide the basis for practical implications for owners or managers of staff canteens, part of whose work it is to analyze the needs and expectations of their potential customers.

Changes in consumer behavior are forcing companies to rapidly shift their distribution channels toward an omnichannel model. In the case of the ophthalmology sector, however, the purchase of contact lenses and prescription glasses requires professional examination by a trained eye specialist. This peculiarity of the sector affects the shift toward omnichannel. This paper is novel in that it addresses a research gap by studying the distribution channels for regulated products and services such as health products that required a closer professional service. This paper addresses the transformation of companies toward an omnichannel model using a common scientific forecasting method (i.e., the Delphi method) to identify trends and problems. In this scenario of high complexity and uncertainty where there is insufficient relevant quantitative information for decision making, the Delphi method is applied to ensure a consensual decision-making process. Consensus was reached by a panel of 11 experts on the Spanish ophthalmology sector after three rounds of questioning. The final set of indicators involve 19 different criteria grouped into four categories (1) current situation of the distribution channel, (2) changes in distribution channels, (3) trends and near future of the distribution channel, and (4) consequences and adaptations for supply chain agents. The results from each round of consultation were then analyzed by means of statistical analysis with SPSS and discussed for each category. The results confirm that traditional intermediaries face difficulties to avoid being squeezed out of the sector because of shortening distribution channels and the entry of new online intermediaries with service integration models. We identify future scenarios and define actions that different agents can take to enhance their competitiveness in the short and long term. The arrival of omnichannel distribution is inevitable in the ophthalmology sector, entailing a major transformation from a rigid traditional distribution model to a more complex and flexible model following the entry of new online intermediaries.

The retail food environment plays an important role in shaping dietary habits that contribute to obesity and other chronic diseases. Food and beverage manufacturers use trade promotion-incentives paid to retailers-to influence how products are placed, priced, and promoted in stores. This review aims to: (1) catalogue trade promotion practices that manufacturers use to influence retailer marketing strategies, and (2) describe how these retailer marketing strategies affect consumer purchasing behavior and attitudes. Researchers searched five databases, Academic Search Ultimate, Business Source Ultimate, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science, to identify literature from industry and academic sources published in English through November 2019. Twenty articles describing manufacturer trade promotion practices were synthesized and provided insight into four types of trade promotion practices: category management, slotting allowances, price discounts, and cooperative advertising. Fifty-four articles describing the impact of retailer marketing on consumers were synthesized and graded for quality of evidence. While comparison across studies is challenging, findings suggest that retailer marketing strategies, such as price promotions and prominent placement, lead to increased sales. Results can guide efforts by policymakers, public health practitioners, and food retailers to design retail environments that improve healthy eating while maintaining retailer financial interests. Additional research should measure the impact of retailer marketing strategies on consumer diet quality and retailer outcomes (e.g., return-on-investment).

Given enterprises' participation in market competition and the development of sensory marketing, in addition to the traditional visual identity, some enterprises gradually begin to pay attention to auditory and then introduce sound design when designing logos. Audio-visual stimulation and media innovation are committed to creating positive attitudes among consumers. This study constructs a model of visual and auditory interactive relationships with consumer behavior using the SOR model. It tests the conceptual model and checks the hypotheses proposed in the study. This study summarizes and contributes to the visual and auditory interactive relationship between information integration, information synergy, mutual competition, and matching degree. It further proposes the influence of purchase intention and consumer support on consumer behavior of perceived brand perception, credibility, and quality perception. The results and highlights ensure brand identities reflect a significant positive result through consumer behavior. In this paper, we collected questionnaires from a random sample of 1407 respondents. We used regression analysis to test the association between visual and auditory interactive relationships as well as consumer behavior. We further verified the mediating role of consumer perception variables. Adding audiovisual logo design to the marketing process can be an effective way for companies and brands to attract customers and increase their support and purchase intentions.

Street food plays an increasingly important role in the nutrition of the inhabitants of European cities. Our study aimed to analyze Polish consumers' attitudes toward food offered in street food outlets, consumers' eating out behavior, and the factors that determine their choice of meals from street food vendors. A survey was conducted of 1300 adult respondents who eat street food in Poland. The research enabled a detailed and comprehensive assessment of consumer behavior toward the use of street food outlets, as well as consumer opinions on vendors' functioning, including hygiene and meals offered. Factors determining the frequency of street food consumption, preferred food types, and factors influencing the use of such outlets were identified. The most important factors were the quality of services and meals, personal preferences and price. Using cluster analysis, consumer profiles based on the types of street food outlets and food preferred were identified. Four main street food consumer preference profiles were identified: 'burger-enthusiasts', 'kebab-enthusiasts' and 'ice-cream enthusiasts', and 'no specific-oriented consumers'. The Internet and social media were identified as information and promotion channels for this form of gastronomy. Results also revealed Polish consumer behavior and opinions about the food safety of street food in Poland. In summary, in Poland the habits of eating typical Polish homemade dishes is being replaced by eating meals in street food outlets, which can be classified as fast food. Increasing consumer knowledge and awareness of the quality and safety of street food may counteract improper hygiene practices of sellers.

This study was conducted to estimate the generation of single-use plastics (SUPs) and elucidate consumer behavior towards a plastic-free university. The results show that the consumption rate of plastic bottles was the highest at 1.39 g per student per day (g.s-1.d-1), followed by plastic cups (0.20 g s-1.d-1), and plastic bags (0.14 g s-1.d-1). Approximately 94.41% of students were highly aware of the negative impacts of SUPs. More than four-fifths of the students (82.32%) assumed that they were responsible for the SUP pollution issue, whereas 59.52% considered SUP reduction (or lack thereof) by individuals, governments, and producers/businesses be important factors. Approximately 19.03% of the students supported implementing a high fine, one-tenth agreed for a total ban on SUPs, while nearly one-fifth believed reducing SUP consumption was unnecessary. Strategies for plastic-free universities was initiated by establishing the goal of "plastic-free university" and implementing integrated actions including a ban (plastic cups and bags) awareness-raising, and suitable alternatives.

Consumers show high interindividual variability in food liking during repeated exposure. To investigate consumer liking during repeated exposure, data is often interpreted on a product level by averaging results over all consumers. However, a single product may elicit inconsistent behaviors in consumers; averaging will mix and hide possible subgroups of consumer behaviors, leading to a misinterpretation of the results. To deal with the variability in consumer liking, we propose to use clustering on data from consumer-product combinations to investigate the nature of the behavioral differences within the complete dataset. The resulting behavioral clusters can then be used to describe product acceptance. To test this approach we used two independent data sets in which young adults were repeatedly exposed to drinks and snacks, respectively. We found that five typical consumer behaviors existed in both datasets. These behaviors differed both in the average level of liking as well as its temporal dynamics. By investigating the distribution of a single product across typical consumer behaviors, we provide more precise insight in how consumers divide in subgroups based on their product liking (i.e. product modality). This work shows that taking into account and using interindividual differences can unveil information about product acceptance that would otherwise be ignored.

An increasing number of individuals adopt plant-based diets for their potential health benefits. Understanding vegetarians' dietary behavior in the context of their socioeconomic background is essential for pro-vegetarian messaging and to influence public beliefs about plant food consumption. Thus, this study sought to investigate diet and consumer behaviors in U.S. vegetarians. This is a cross-sectional, population-based study with data from the Nutrition and Health Examination Surveys (2007-2010). Selected items from three modules (diet and nutrition behavior, consumer behavior, and food security) were compared between vegetarians (n = 352) and the general population (n = 14,328). U.S. vegetarians consumed significantly fewer calories and less cholesterol but more fiber than their omnivorous counterparts. Moreover, vegetarians had significantly fewer soft drinks and salty snacks available at home. We also observed significant intergroup differences with regard to the availability of fruit and dark green vegetables. Vegetarians spent less money on eating out and indicated a lower number of not-home-prepared meals and ready-to-eat foods. We found no differences regarding money spent at supermarkets or grocery stores. Our study contributes to a better understanding of dietary and consumer behaviors in vegetarians. We shed a new light on the economic feasibility of vegetarian diets, highlighting that these diets are not necessarily more expensive than an omnivorous diet.

In diverse tropical webs, trophic cascades are presumed to be rare, as species interactions may dampen top-down control and reduce their prevalence. To test this hypothesis, we used an open experimental design in the Galápagos rocky subtidal that enabled a diverse guild of fish species, in the presence of each other and top predators (sea lions and sharks), to attack two species of sea urchins grazing on benthic algae. Time-lapse photography of experiments on natural and experimental substrates revealed strong species identity effects: only two predator species-blunthead triggerfish (Pseudobalistes naufragium) and finescale triggerfish (Balistes polylepis)-drove a diurnal trophic cascade extending to algae, and they preferred large pencil urchins (Eucidaris galapagensis) over green urchins (Lytechinus semituberculatus). Triggerfish predation effects were strong, causing a 24-fold reduction of pencil urchin densities during the initial 21 hours of a trophic cascade experiment. A trophic cascade was demonstrated for pencil urchins, but not for green urchins, by significantly higher percent cover of urchin-grazed algae in cages that excluded predatory fish than in predator access (fence) treatments. Pencil urchins were more abundant at night when triggerfish were absent, suggesting that this species persists by exploiting a nocturnal predation refuge. Time-series of pencil urchin survivorship further demonstrated per capita interference effects of hogfish and top predators. These interference effects respectively weakened and extended the trophic cascade to a fourth trophic level through behavioral modifications of the triggerfish-urchin interaction. We conclude that interference behaviors capable of modifying interaction strength warrant greater attention as mechanisms for altering top-down control, particularly in speciose food webs.

The rapid increase in online shopping and the extension of online food purchase and delivery services to federal nutrition program participants highlight the need for a conceptual framework capturing the influence of online food retail environments on consumer behaviors. This study aims to develop such a conceptual framework. To achieve this, mixed methods were used, including: (1) a literature review and development of an initial framework; (2) key informant interviews; (3) pilot testing and refinement of the draft framework; and (4) a group discussion with experts to establish content validity. The resulting framework captures both consumer- and retailer-level influences across the entire shopping journey, as well as the broader social, community, and policy context. It identifies important factors such as consumer demographic characteristics, preferences, past behaviors, and retailer policies and practices. The framework also emphasizes the dynamic nature of personalized marketing by retailers and customizable website content, and captures equity and transparency in retailer policies and practices. The framework draws from multiple disciplines, providing a foundation for understanding the impact of online food retail on dietary behaviors. It can be utilized to inform public health interventions, retailer practices, and governmental policies for creating healthy and equitable online food retail environments.

In this study, we aim to investigate the influence of the time spent reading product information on consumer behavior in e-commerce. Given the rapid growth of e-commerce and the increasing importance of understanding online consumer behavior, our research focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of customer navigation on e-commerce websites and its effects on purchasing decisions. Recognizing the multidimensional and dynamic nature of consumer behavior, we utilize machine learning techniques, which offer the capacity to handle complex data structures and reveal hidden patterns within the data, thereby augmenting our comprehension of underlying consumer behavior mechanisms. By analyzing clickstream data using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, we provide new insights into the internal structure of customer clusters and propose a methodology for analyzing non-linear relationships in datasets. Our results reveal that the time spent reading product-related information, combined with other factors such as bounce rates, exit rates, and customer type, significantly influences a customer's purchasing decision. This study contributes to the existing literature on e-commerce research and offers practical implications for e-commerce website design and marketing strategies.

To determine if the public consumption of herbs, vitamins, and supplements changes in light of emerging negative evidence.

The traditional approach to e-commerce marketing encounters challenges in effectively extracting and utilizing user data, as well as analyzing and targeting specific user segments. This manuscript aims to address these limitations by proposing the establishment of a consumer behavior analysis system based on an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The system harnesses the potential of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) technology for product identification encoding, thus facilitating the monitoring of product sales processes. To categorize consumers, the system incorporates a k-means algorithm within its architectural framework. Furthermore, a similarity metric is employed to evaluate the gathered consumption information and refine the selection strategy for initial clustering centers. The proposed methodology is subjected to rigorous testing, revealing its effectiveness in resolving the issue of insufficient differentiation between customer categories after clustering. Across varying values of k, the average false recognition rate experiences a notable reduction of 20.6%. The system consistently demonstrates rapid throughput and minimal overall latency, boasting an impressive processing time of merely 2 ms, thereby signifying its exceptional concurrent processing capability. Through the implementation of the proposed system, the opportunity for further target market segmentation arises, enabling the establishment of core market positioning and the formulation of distinct and precise marketing strategies tailored to diverse consumer cohorts. This pioneering approach introduces an innovative and efficient methodology that e-commerce enterprises can embrace to amplify their marketing endeavors.

A large number of wearable activity monitor models are released and used each year by consumers and researchers. As more studies are being carried out on children and adolescents in terms of sedentary behavior (SB) assessment, knowledge about accurate and precise monitoring devices becomes increasingly important.

Activity trackers are increasingly popular with both consumers and researchers for monitoring activity and for promoting positive behavior change. However, there is a lack of research investigating the performance of these devices in free-living contexts, for which findings are likely to vary from studies conducted in well-controlled laboratory settings.

Although desperate need and drug counterfeiting are linked in developing countries, little research has been carried out to address this link, and there is a lack of proper tools and methodology. This study addresses the need for a new methodological approach by developing a scale to aid in understanding the demand side of drug counterfeiting in a developing country.

Interest in “natural” food has grown enormously over the last decade. Because the United States government has not set a legal definition for the term “natural”, customers have formed their own sensory perceptions and opinions on what constitutes natural. In this study, we examined 20 ingredients to determine what consumers consider to be natural. Using a national database, 630 consumers were sampled (50% male and 50% female) online, and the results were analyzed using percentages and chi-square tests. No ingredient was considered natural by more than 69% of respondents. We found evidence that familiarity may play a major role in consumers’ determination of naturalness. We also found evidence that chemical sounding names and the age of the consumer have an effect on whether an ingredient and potentially a food is considered natural. Interestingly, a preference towards selecting GMO (genetically modified organisms) foods had no significant impact on perceptions of natural.

Neutral theory assumes all species and individuals in a community are ecologically equivalent. This controversial hypothesis has been tested across many taxonomic groups and environmental contexts, and successfully predicts species abundance distributions across multiple high-diversity communities. However, it has been critiqued for its failure to predict a broader range of community properties, particularly regarding community dynamics from generational to geological timescales. Moreover, it is unclear whether neutrality can ever be a true description of a community given the ubiquity of interspecific differences, which presumably lead to ecological inequivalences. Here we derive analytical predictions for when and why non-neutral communities of consumers and resources may present neutral-like outcomes, which we verify using numerical simulations. Our results, which span both static and dynamical community properties, demonstrate the limitations of summarizing distributions to detect non-neutrality, and provide a potential explanation for the successes of neutral theory as a description of macroecological pattern.

The popularity of consumer-wearable activity trackers has led the scientific community to conduct an increasing number of intervention studies integrating them to promote physical activity (PA) and to reduce sedentary behavior (SB) levels among school-aged children. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to estimate the effects of consumer-wearable activity tracker-based programs on daily objectively measured PA and SB among apparently healthy school-aged children, as well as to compare the influence of participants' and programs' characteristics.