Shopping list

A shopping list is a list of items to be purchased by a shopper. Consumers often compile a shopping list of groceries to purchase on the next visit to the grocery store. The list may be compiled immediately before the shopping trip or incrementally as shopping needs arise through out the week. The shopping list itself may be a scrap piece of paper or something more elaborate. There are pads with magnets for keeping an incremental list handy on the refrigerator [ [http://www.islandheritage.com/kliban/big_cat/shopping_list.html HTTP 602 Unsupported Browser ] ] . Any magnetic clip with scraps of paper can be used to achieve the same result. There is a device that dispenses a strip of paper from a roll for use in a shopping list [ [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00020V88G Amazon.com: Shopping List Keeper (Satin Silver) (10"H x 4"W): Kitchen & Dining ] ] . Some shopping carts come with a small clipboard to fit shopping lists on.

Home computers enable consumers to print their own custom list so that items are simply checked off instead of written down or they can manage the list completely on the computer with custom shopping list software [ [http://www.soft32.com/download_19147.html Download Shopping List 4.1 Free Trial - Shopping list maker, recipe manager ] ] . PDAs eliminate the need for a paper list completely and may be used to aid comparison shopping. Online software exists to manage shopping lists from cellphone text messages as well the web [ [http://www.grocerylistlive.com Grocery List Live ] ] . Electronic commerce websites typically provide a shopping list online for repeat shoppers at the site. Incremental lists typically have no structure and new items are added to the bottom of the list as they come up. If the list is compiled immediately before use, it can be organized by store layout (i.e. frozen foods are grouped together on the list) to minimize time in the store [ [http://www.wilsonmar.com/1shopng.htm Shopping Strategies ] ] . Preprinted lists can be similarly organized.

Some studies show approximately 40% of grocery shoppers use shopping lists [ [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1109071146552&call_pageid=968867496431&col=969048867839&DPL=JvsODSH7Aw0u%2bwoRO%2bYKDSblFxAk%2bwoVO%2bYODSbhFxAg%2bwkRO%2bUPDSXiFxMh%2bwkZO%2bUCDSTmFxIk%2bwgXO%2bQMDSTvFxIu%2bw8RO%2bMKDSPkFxUj%2bw8UO%2bMNDSPgFxUv%2bw8YO%2bILDSLkFxQh1w%3d%3d] . ] Other studies show 61-67% use lists. [ [http://smib.vuw.ac.nz:8081/www/ANZMAC1998/Cd_rom/Thomas102.pdf Art Thomas and Ron Garland, Grocery shopping: Why take a list to the supermarket?] ] Of the items listed, 80% were purchased. However, listed items only accounted for 40% of total items purchased. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1057-7408%281999%298%3A4%3C343%3ASLAAEM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7&size=LARGE Lauren G. Block, Vicki G. Morwitz, Shopping Lists as an External Memory Aid for Grocery Shopping: Influences on List Writing and List Fulfillment, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1999), pp. 343-375] ] Use of shopping lists clearly impact shopping behaviour. [ [http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&contentId=854697 Thomas, A & Garland, B R. Grocery shopping: list and non-list usage. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. v.22, no.6, 2004. p.623-635.] ] "Written shopping lists significantly reduce average expenditure." [ [http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldAbstractOnlyArticle/Articles/0890210202.html Art Thomas, Ron Garland, Supermarket shopping lists: their effect on consumer expenditure, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 1993 Volume: 21 Number: 2] ]

Use of shopping lists may be correlated to personality types. There are "demographic differences between list and non list shoppers; the former are more likely to be female, while the latter are more likely to be childless." [ [http://smib.vuw.ac.nz:8081/www/ANZMAC1998/Cd_rom/Thomas102.pdf Thomas, W., & Garland, R. (1998). "Grocery shopping: Why take a list to the supermarket?" In ANZMAC98 Conference (pp. 2603-2617), November-December 3, 1998, Dunedin, NZ. Dunedin, NZ: University of Otago.] ]

Shopping with a list is a commonly employed behavioral weight loss guideline designed to reduce food purchases and therefore food consumption. An empirical survey does not support the effectiveness of this technique. [ [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3830932&dopt= Beneke WM, Davis CH., Relationship of hunger, use of a shopping list and obesity to food purchases, Int J Obes. 1985;9(6):391-9.] ] Other studies do. [ [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=3198311 Beneke WM, Davis CH, Vander Tuig JG., Effects of a behavioral weight-loss program food purchases: instructions to shop with a list, Int J Obes. 1988;12(4):335-42.] ]

Remembering a shopping list is a standard experiment in psychology [ [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/11946/ABSTRACT Giuliana Mazzoni, Remembering the Grocery Shopping List: a Study on Metacognitive Biases, Applied Cognitive Psychology, Volume 11, Issue 3 , Pages 253 - 267] ] .

There are surviving examples of Roman shopping lists [ [http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s253805.htm Anna Salleh, "Roman shopping list deciphered", Australian Broadcast Corporation, Monday, 5 March 2001] ] .

Collecting discarded shopping lists is a niche hobby.

References

External links

* [http://www.GroceryWiz.com Free shopping list manager web site]
* [http://www.grocerylists.org/ The Grocery List Collection]
* [http://grocery-list.sourceforge.net/ Open Source Shopping List Software that can utilize barcodes as input]
* [http://www.redhotscott.co.uk/shoppinglists/ The Shopping List Compendium's Collection]
* [http://www.jansenprice.com/shoppinglists/ The Shopping List Collection]
* [http://howto.wikia.com/wiki/Howto_make_a_reusable_shopping_list Howto make a reusable shopping list]
* [http://www.caartz.com Caartz : Free Online Shopping List Manager]
* [http://www.what2grab.com What2Grab: Create & Share Shopping Lists Online]