Sensible shopping: A sensory exploration of the information environment of the grocery store

Grocery shopping is an everyday activity ideal for exploring how the body impacts information behaviors in the form of sensory-based information sources. Previous information behavior research has largely ignored the body and its relationship to information behaviors. The present work expands two areas of information behavior research, the importance of the body in information behavior, and our understanding of nontextual and verbal information sources. Both expansions work toward creating a more accurate and holistic understanding of information behaviors and the contexts they exist within. Through two empirical studies using qualitative methods, the sensory experience of the grocery store is explored. Findings demonstrate that grocery shoppers rely on their sight, taste, touch, and smell in the act of information seeking, encountering, sharing, and browsing throughout the process of grocery shopping.