Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption

This paper presents the preliminary findings of an empirical study into a specific and novel form of contemporary consumption: ‘yellow sticker shopping’. This type of consumption involves the active targeting for purchase of food products that have been reduced in price because they are approaching...

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Main Authors: Kelsey, Sarah, Morris, Carol, Crewe, Louise
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49450/
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author Kelsey, Sarah
Morris, Carol
Crewe, Louise
author_facet Kelsey, Sarah
Morris, Carol
Crewe, Louise
author_sort Kelsey, Sarah
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper presents the preliminary findings of an empirical study into a specific and novel form of contemporary consumption: ‘yellow sticker shopping’. This type of consumption involves the active targeting for purchase of food products that have been reduced in price because they are approaching their expiry date. Given the complexities of food provisioning in austerity Britain, that include both non-conventional sites like markets and food banks as well as conventional ‘discounters’ and high street supermarkets the analysis reveals how this form of food provisioning goes far beyond the ‘cost-saving’ accounts that might be expected. The research uses autoethnographic material in the form of vignette, constructed around research conducted in the North of England, together with analysis of an online discussion forum. Data are thematically analysed using literature on shopping and supermarkets and then organised according to the three dimensions of social practice: materials, competences and meanings. The paper makes three key contributions in relation to the practice of yellow sticker shopping. Firstly, that it has distinct spatial and temporal qualities and the role played by the space of the supermarket and its associated fixtures and technologies is important. Secondly, that the uncertain supply of yellow sticker goods results in unpredictability. Successful shopping is celebrated and characterised in ways other than the drudgery often associated with the weekly shop. Thirdly, it reveals an assemblage of competences, skills and knowledge not only in relation to grocery shopping but that take place in the home, around food, its storage and preparation and cooking and recipe knowledge. The paper concludes by outlining further planned research associated with the practice of yellow sticker shopping that will contribute to ongoing study into the alternative modes of food provisioning and their spatialities that are characteristic of life in contemporary Britain.
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spelling nottingham-494502020-04-06T04:30:11Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49450/ Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption Kelsey, Sarah Morris, Carol Crewe, Louise This paper presents the preliminary findings of an empirical study into a specific and novel form of contemporary consumption: ‘yellow sticker shopping’. This type of consumption involves the active targeting for purchase of food products that have been reduced in price because they are approaching their expiry date. Given the complexities of food provisioning in austerity Britain, that include both non-conventional sites like markets and food banks as well as conventional ‘discounters’ and high street supermarkets the analysis reveals how this form of food provisioning goes far beyond the ‘cost-saving’ accounts that might be expected. The research uses autoethnographic material in the form of vignette, constructed around research conducted in the North of England, together with analysis of an online discussion forum. Data are thematically analysed using literature on shopping and supermarkets and then organised according to the three dimensions of social practice: materials, competences and meanings. The paper makes three key contributions in relation to the practice of yellow sticker shopping. Firstly, that it has distinct spatial and temporal qualities and the role played by the space of the supermarket and its associated fixtures and technologies is important. Secondly, that the uncertain supply of yellow sticker goods results in unpredictability. Successful shopping is celebrated and characterised in ways other than the drudgery often associated with the weekly shop. Thirdly, it reveals an assemblage of competences, skills and knowledge not only in relation to grocery shopping but that take place in the home, around food, its storage and preparation and cooking and recipe knowledge. The paper concludes by outlining further planned research associated with the practice of yellow sticker shopping that will contribute to ongoing study into the alternative modes of food provisioning and their spatialities that are characteristic of life in contemporary Britain. Wiley 2018-04-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49450/1/Area%20manuscript%20final.pdf Kelsey, Sarah, Morris, Carol and Crewe, Louise (2018) Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption. Area . ISSN 1475-4762 Consumption; Yellow sticker shopping; Supermarket; Market devices; Food provisioning; Analytic autoethnography https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/area.12435 doi:10.1111/area.12435 doi:10.1111/area.12435
spellingShingle Consumption; Yellow sticker shopping; Supermarket; Market devices; Food provisioning; Analytic autoethnography
Kelsey, Sarah
Morris, Carol
Crewe, Louise
Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption
title Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption
title_full Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption
title_fullStr Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption
title_full_unstemmed Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption
title_short Yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption
title_sort yellow-sticker shopping as competent, creative consumption
topic Consumption; Yellow sticker shopping; Supermarket; Market devices; Food provisioning; Analytic autoethnography
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49450/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49450/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49450/