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Does Shopping in Bulk Lead to Bulk Calories?
Club memberships at retailers like Costco and Sam’s Club offer consumers a place to buy in bulk, potentially allowing them to save money in the long run. However, research by Kusum Ailawadi, a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Dhruv Grewal, and Yu Ma have found that shopping at club stores may be an unwise health decision.
According to the study, the number of packaged food items per household for those who frequented club stores was 5% higher than those who didn’t, they spent 15% more time shopping, and consumed 8% more calories.
Along with buying more products in one visit, the cost of having paid for the membership has a psychological effect on consumers who want to make their investment feel “worth it.” This leads to an average of 2.5 more trips to the wholesaler per month. All told, what’s the additional calorie count of shopping at club stores? A supposed 3,500 more in packaged food calories than those without club memberships.
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