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Online Shopping: Hazardous To Junk Food's Health

Rambo Tribble writes "Reuters is reporting that the trend toward online shopping is reducing the sales of impulse-purchase items, most notably candy and snacks often displayed at the checkout counter. As even grocery shopping shifts online, junk food producers are feeling the squeeze. From the article: 'Anthony Hopper, chief executive of advertising agency Lowe Open, said brands need to change how people buy chocolate, but acknowledges that it won't be easy. "If you're somebody who on average buys one bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk on impulse once a week, can I encourage you that it's actually better value to buy a pack of four when you're doing your next online shop? It's a long-term strategy," he said.'"

13 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. will it help against impluse eating? by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    besides, you could plan to buy one at a time.

    if I'd buy four candybars and they would come in the mail I would eat them all! ALL! excuse me while I go raid the fridge for some kitkat.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    1. Re:will it help against impluse eating? by sayfawa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's exactly why I never buy beer or snacks for "tomorrow". Because it would just get consumed tonight. Controlling the eating means controlling the buying. At least in my case. Forcing myself to go outside every time I want fat or alcohol helps a lot.

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  2. Junk Food by BringsApples · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yeah, because it's something that everyone should be buying, despite the fact that:

    so many are struggling financially
    people want to live better and feel better

    Right? It's got to be because of online shopping.

    --
    Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
  3. A higher likely reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People are getting poorer.

    But don't mind my life experience.

  4. Validates what your home ec teacher said by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Remember your home ec class? One of the lessons was to use a shopping list -- and stick to it -- in order to avoid impulse buys.

    Well an online shopping cart is, for all intents and purposes, a shopping list. Looks like your home ec teacher was right all along.

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
  5. Re:Or, maybe by Cryacin · · Score: 5, Funny

    This comment was proudly brought to you by the Monsanto corporation.

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
  6. Re:Or, maybe by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In fact, people who don't eat processed foods are extremely rare, even indigenous tribes devoid of modern technology process their food.

    When people say to avoid processed food, they're not talking about some tribeswoman grinding it up with a mortar and pestle. They're talking about things like Cheez Whiz, which despite what you may think, is not a healthy food source.

    Words you don't recognize, or even things that aren't "natural" aren't inherently bad, in fact most of them are fine to consume.

    I'm sorry, but "most" isn't good enough. When you're talking about things that people stuff into their bodies, they damned well better all be fine to consume.

  7. Invoking Betteridge's law in 3... 2... 1... by pla · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you're somebody who on average buys one bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk on impulse once a week, can I encourage you that it's actually better value to buy a pack of four when you're doing your next online shop?

    No. No, you cannot. Because:

    1) Most people prone to impulse-buying your crap would eat it all the same day it arrives,
    2) Impulse buyers tend to act on impulse, and wouldn't actually seek it out deliberately, and
    3) People intentionally buying chocolate buy chocolate. Not your "HFCS, carob and soy lecithin" garbage.


    Now, if we consider junk foods beyond just candy, let's consider margins of impulse-buys vs planned buys. I happen to like Doritos. Yeah, complete crap, and bad for me, but I intentionally (whether impulse or actually on the list) buy them every now and then.

    As an impulse buy, I pay basically a buck for a 1.5oz bag of their crap. For two bucks, I can get a full-sized bag. So, Frito Lay needs to ask itself something - Can you afford to sell Doritos without the insane margins on your "vending-machine" sized packs? Or do those basically subsidize the price of "family packs" that you may well only sell for the purpose of keeping us "hooked"?

    Because the same logic applies to almost every less-than-bulk sized junk-food out there. Sodas make a great example - a 20oz soda at the register costs MORE than a 2-liter bottle. A 3-pack of gum in the candy aisle costs less than a single pack of the same gum at the register. Can "impulse-buy"-centric companies actually afford to sell only their more economical sizes?

  8. Re:Or, maybe by c0lo · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've asked said people what they think of ascorbic acid, to which most of them effectively say they'd avoid anything containing it. Not a very good idea to completely shut out one of the most important amino acids from your diet.

    Would you please show me the amino (NH2) group specific to aminoacids in the C6H8O6 molecula formula of the ascorbic acid?

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  9. Re:Or, maybe by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Trace amounts of hydrogenated oil are harmless, but large quantities are probably not a good idea.

    Gee, and guess what a lot of "processed foods" contain?

    Large quantities of hydrogenated oils.

    Foods you pick off of the vine contain these things.

    In general, they contain trace amounts of bad things, and a large number of essential things.

    Processed foods, OTOH, tend to include large amounts of bad things and omit many of the essential things you'd find growing on a vine.

    The key is in the amounts, not whether they or not they can be detected in one food or another.

  10. Cadbury Dairy Milk... by mjwx · · Score: 4, Informative

    "If you're somebody who on average buys one bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk on impulse once a week, can I encourage you that it's actually better value to buy a pack of four when you're doing your next online shop? It's a long-term strategy,"

    If you're somebody who on average buys one bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk on impulse once a week, can I encourage you to try some decent chocolate.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  11. On a scale of 10... by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On a 0..10 scale of problems to worry about, this ranks around 0.01.

    The dynamics of on line food ordering could get interesting. Has anyone noted interesting suggestions from Amazon Fresh?

  12. Re:Or, maybe by Guy+Harris · · Score: 4, Informative

    Even if it was, does the source of information make it any less true?

    No, but the fact that ascorbic acid isn't an amino acid makes

    I've asked said people what they think of ascorbic acid, to which most of them effectively say they'd avoid anything containing it. Not a very good idea to completely shut out one of the most important amino acids from your diet.

    sound, at best, like an odd combination of two sentences talking about different unrelated things.