A Replication of the "Shopping List" Study

quoted pieces of research in marketing.1 That study, reported in 1950, supported three general conclusions. First, many products (such as instant coffee) have meaning and significance for consumers that go far beyond the physical attributes of the products themselves. Second, these hidden values in products are a major influence on the consumer's purchase decisions. Third, the identification and assessment of such motives require indirect approaches, such as projective techniques. To these conclusions drawn by Professor Haire can also be added the observation that convenience foods, such as instant coffee, carry a certain opprobrium. However, if asked directly why they did not purchase instant coffee, people had been found to say "I don't like the flavor." This is a much more acceptable explanation than "People will think I am lazy and not a good wife." The authors' hypothesis was that the differences between the "Maxwell House (Drip Grind)" housewife and the "Nescafe Instant" housewife which Haire identified in 1950 would not be found in 1968. There is strong evidence that convenience foods in general and instant coffee in particular have become much more acceptable to the American housewife. Soluble (i.e., instant) coffee sales have increased from less than 20% in 1955 to over 30% of total U.S. coffee sales in 1965. Well over half of the products on grocery store shelves in 1968 were not available to the consumer in 1957. The majority of new products offered to the housewife have been convenience items such as boil-in-the-bag frozen foods, baking mixes, prepared foods, snacks, canned meats, and dietetic foods.2