-
Market Signals From Online Behavior
Nicole J. Olynk Widmar, Michael L. Smith, and Erin Robinson
Market Signals From Online Behavior asks, What do social media trends, Google searches, and online chatter reveal about consumer behavior? It also poses the question, How can we interpret these signals without losing sight of the people behind the posts? This book examines the digital traces left by consumers and explores how these signals intersect with food, agriculture, retail, and beyond.
Drawing from real-time data and social-listening analysis, Market Signals connects the dots between what is trending online and what it means for markets in the real world. Whether it is the rise of plant-based eating, changing holiday shopping norms, or shifting attitudes toward convenience and cost, the consumer voice online often reflects more than opinion. It signals action.
Blending applied research with cultural commentary, this book highlights what it means to listen to contemporary consumers, and how those insights shape, reflect, and sometimes surprise the industries built to serve them. For agribusiness professionals, communicators, and anyone trying to keep pace with an ever-evolving consumer landscape, Market Signals From Online Behavior offers a grounded yet agile perspective on the many ways we can learn from customers, even when they are not speaking to us directly.
-
Rethinking Consumer Data and Behavior
Nicole J. Olynk Widmar, Michael L. Smith, and Erin Robinson
Today’s food and agricultural consumers are driven by more than just price—they are influenced by trust, values, and perceptions that are often difficult to measure. Rethinking Consumer Data and Behavior explores what truly shapes consumer choices and how businesses can respond effectively.
This book utilizes research on loyalty, risk, sustainability, and ethical considerations, revealing how these factors influence purchasing decisions in ways traditional data often misses. It examines consumers’ willingness to pay for local and organic products, the impact of food labeling and safety messaging, and the surprising role of sensory cues such as appearance and taste. The book also addresses the behavioral economics behind decision-making and why stated intentions rarely match real-world actions.
Intended for professionals in food and agribusiness, Rethinking Consumer Data and Behavior delivers insights that go beyond the numbers, helping readers interpret consumer signals accurately and adapt strategies to keep pace with a rapidly changing market. By rethinking how we view consumer data and behavior, this book provides a roadmap for building trust, aligning values, and creating lasting connections with today’s consumers.
-
Consumer Lessons From a Pandemic
Nicole J. Olynk Widmar, Michael L. Smith, and Erin Robinson
What did we learn about consumer behavior when the world was turned upside down due to COVID-19? Consumer Lessons From a Pandemic examines how a global crisis exposed and reshaped the values, priorities, and decision-making patterns of everyday people. From disrupted routines to supply-chain shocks, this volume explores the consumer behaviors that emerged in response to extreme uncertainty and how those behaviors continue to evolve. Topics include pandemic-induced grocery spending shifts, the importance of consumer trust, lessons from the infant-formula shortage, and the rise of remote work both as a preference and a negotiation point.
-
Decisions That Shape Supply Chains
Nicole J. Olynk Widmar, Michael L. Smith, and Erin Robinson
What drives consumer decisions, and how do those decisions ripple through our food and agricultural systems? In Decisions That Shape Supply Chains, readers are invited to look beyond conventional models of behavior and explore the complex, sometimes counterintuitive factors influencing real-world consumer choices. Drawing on behavioral science and applied research, this volume examines how decisions made in grocery aisles, drive-through lines, and online shopping carts ultimately inform what gets planted, processed, packaged, and promoted across the food-supply chain. From attitudes toward GMO foods to parenting as a form of consumerism and emotional decision-making under stress to the environmental tradeoffs consumers weigh (or ignore), the topics covered in this book challenge assumptions and reframe the conversation about who holds influence in the marketplace. For agribusiness professionals, researchers, and policymakers, these insights offer better ways to connect with the people at the end of every supply chain: the consumers themselves.
-
Markets We Thought We Knew
Nicole J. Olynk Widmar, Michael L. Smith, and Erin Robinson
Markets We Thought We Knew explores the evolving nature of markets and how they shape—and are shaped by—consumer behavior. From essential life necessities such as water to everyday commodities and products including locally sourced foods, this book covers a variety of topics and invites readers to examine a diverse range of markets through a reflective lens. By revisiting past market dynamics and real-world examples, readers are encouraged to rethink how preferences are formed, how opinions shift over time, and how value is assigned—sometimes in unexpected ways. What insights might you gather from a deeper understanding of local and global markets, markets for water, or even markets for something you may have never considered valuable, such as carbon? Markets We Thought We Knew challenges assumptions and inspires fresh thinking about marketplaces, both near and far.
Why do consumers make the choices they do, and what can those choices teach us? The Consumer Corner series explores the subtle forces that shape consumer behavior, across topics that range from food, retail, health, vacations, and more. By spotlighting overlooked, counterintuitive, or nontraditional insights, the series challenges standard economic thinking and highlights the messy, human side of decision-making that sometimes occurs when humans engage in the marketplace. Drawing on behavioral science, lived experiences, and industry expertise, this series reveals what people can teach us as they make complex choices across the supply chain.
Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing.