The “When” and “Where” Dimensions of Cherry Picking

Due to the use of promotional pricing by supermarkets, there is considerable price variation across weeks within a store and across stores within a week. Consumers may therefore save on their groceries by (1) cherry picking over time (“when”) and (2) cherry picking across stores (“where”). The research focuses on three substantive research questions associated with cherry picking: (1) What variables explain the segmentation by consumer cherry picking patterns on the “when” and “where” dimensions? (2) How much do the different segments save by cherry picking? (3) How do cherry picking patterns affect store performance? A unique data collection approach that allows us to have access to both observational and survey data on a set of households enables us to demonstrate that findings from survey based research are comparable to findings from objective behavioral data.