Consumer Behavior Journal

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR JOURNAL 2

Consumer Behavior Journal

My journal entries detail the items that I purchased from November 10 through November 29, and include the products that I purchased, the date and time the purchase was made and the location from which I made the purchase. I saved my receipts from each shopping excursion in order to accurately track my purchases. The items that entered in my journal were only entered if they were private label or brand items and I did include produce when the brand was known, and daily purchases such as coffee at Starbuck's were entered as well.

Purchasing Dates, Times and Locations

I am a single professional with very limited time for shopping, so my shopping either take place very late in the evening, generally after eight at night, very early on the weekend, which is before six in the morning or during my lunch time which is one or two o'clock in the afternoon. I frequent four stores for my purchases: Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Target and Whole Foods. Through my journaling process, I discovered that all of the purchases that I made at Whole Foods, were items already prepared or cooked and were not items that could be brand identified, and thus, were not entered in the journal. In collecting my data for my journal, I identified that I preferred to shop on Sunday morning at Sprouts and Trader Joes, Friday nights a Target and Wednesday at Trader Joe's on my lunch period.

Consistent Product Selection

The three products that I consumed most regularly are Trader Joe's Spicy Thai Chicken Salad, which was consumed for lunch and dinner more than any other item, Progressive Healthy

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Heart Italian-Style Wedding Soup and StarKist Chunk White Albacore Tuna. I selected Trader Joe's Spicy Thai Chicken Salad, which a salad that is made fresh daily and consist of chicken breasts, noodles, vegetables and a spicy peanut dressing because it is sold in a plastic container with the dressing and utensils included and can easily be eaten while at my desk or driving. It is delicious, healthy and low calorie and portable and three salads can stack perfectly on top of each other in my refrigerator. This item is sold for $3.99 and is only sold at Trader Joe stores, and this particular retailer never has sales. Trader Joe's has many other salads which I purchased and logged in my journal, but this was my favorite salad that is sold through their store. Through this journaling process, I realized that I consumed this salad for four lunches during the week of the 10th, three lunches and three dinners the week of the 17th and three lunches and two dinners during the week of the 24th, which equated to fifteen salads. My shopping experience at Trader Joe's has always been wonderful, whether I frequent the location by my work or the one by my home. The product that I selected provides a great value due to the cost and consistent taste of the product, and is a product that I will continue to purchase.

The two products that I purchase most regularly at Target are Progressive Heart Healthy Italian-Style Wedding Soup and StarKist Chunk White Albacore Tuna, respectively. I discovered through my journal entries that I stop at Target after work on Friday nights, because it is on my way home and has a lighted and safe parking lot. I selected the Progressive brand of soup over Campbell's, Market Pantry, which is the Target private label and Chunky Brand because of the predictable taste of the soup and the pull top of the can, which makes this soup easy to consume at work as no can opener is required. I have tried this style of soup in other brands and have discovered that Progresso offers better tasting product and is a better value than other soups sold.

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I was pleased to find that Target had the Progresso soup on sale for $1.25 a can, and I purchased eight cans in the first and second week of my journaling. I took eight cans of soup to work for lunch and dinner and since I do not enjoy breakfast food, consumed the other eight cans for breakfast over the past three weeks. I was pleased with the Progresso soup because of the price and quality of the product and will continue to purchase this product.

I consumed almost as much albacore tuna as soup but only purchased five cans of tuna per week. I select the StarKist Chunk White Albacore Tuna because of taste of the product and the cost per can. This albacore tuna is certified by the American Heart Association and meets their criteria as a heart healthy food, which is a perceived value to me, has a "Omega-3's logo and is a dolphin safe tuna, which means that this manufacturer uses dolphin safe fishing nets. The cost of this tuna varied between $1.25 to $1.50 a can, and the heart healthy and dolphin safe logos on the can, make this product worth the price. I purchased five cans of this tuna each week at Target as a regular part of my shopping. I did compare the product to others such as Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea and even Trader Joe's private label, but chose StarKist because I prefer the flavor and have purchased this product for so many years that I find it difficult to switch brands. I will continue to purchase this brand unless I read that it is not a dolphin safe product.

Conclusion

I shop at retailers that I am familiar with and are close to my work or in my neighborhood and I did not purchase any items from any retailers other than my four favorites. I became aware of the times I shopped but did not change my shopping times even when I became aware of how early or late it was when I began or concluded my shopping. The shopping experience is a very

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important experience to me and I discovered that part of my ego is enhanced when I shop at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and I am recognized by the sales clerks, which was an unexpected discovery in my journaling experience. I purchased the same products that I always have, but was unaware of how often I made those purchases until I started saving my receipts and entering the items in my journal log. I also realized that many albacore tunas offer the same benefits as the brand that I purchase, but I