Majority of Shoppers Don’t Make Lists

[Sherman A1]

Fewer than half of primary grocery shoppers (44 percent) normally prepare a shopping list prior to a trip to the supermarket or grocery store, according to The Hartman Group.

The Hartman Group’s Shopping Topography 2012 research also revealed that in the store, 18 percent of consumers consult a shopping list maintained online or on a mobile device.

“Today, consumers think less about shopping per se than about what else they’re trying to accomplish, and shopping trips emerge from culturally defined patterns of living that by themselves may or may not have anything to do with shopping,” the consulting group noted in its recent “HartBeat” newsletter.

The group’s research suggests that shoppers typically rely on some combination of primary shopping tactics to complete their trips: taking inventory of needs prior to leaving home, shopping up and down the aisles, circling the perimeter, looking for at-shelf sale promotions, assembling recipes, reading circulars, collecting coupons and using lists.

http://www.progressivegrocer.com/top-stories/headlines/shopper-behavior/id39002/majority-of-shoppers-dont-make-lists/

I almost always use a list when shopping, unless it is a trip for a single item and even then I often write it down on a post it or whatever.