Online Grocery Shopping by NYC Public Housing Residents Using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits: A Service Ecosystems Perspective

This paper examines adoption of online grocery shopping, and potential cost and time savings compared to brick and mortar food retailers, by New York City public housing residents using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. A mixed methods action research project involving the co-creation of an online shopping club, the Farragut Food Club (FFC), recruited 300 members who registered to shop online using SNAP, and received waivers on delivery minimums and provided technical assistance and centralized food delivery. We conducted a survey (n = 206) and focus groups to understand shopping practices; FFC members collected receipts of groceries over two weeks before and after the pilot to measure foods purchased, stores patronized, and prices. We interviewed FFC members to elicit experiences with the pilot, and estimated cost differences between products purchased in brick and mortar stores and equivalent products online, and transportation time and cost differences. Online shopping represented a small (2.4%) percentage of grocery spending. Unit prices for products purchased on Amazon ($0.28) were significantly higher than for equivalent products purchased in brick and mortar stores ($0.23) (p < 0.001.) Compatibility with existing routines, low relative advantage, and cost of online products limited the adoption of online shopping among SNAP users.

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P30 Perceptions of Online Grocery Shopping Using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer Card

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior ◽

10.1016/j.jneb.2020.04.075 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 52 (7) ◽

pp. S29

Author(s):

Shivani Gupta ◽

Carolyn Gunther

Keyword(s):

Benefit Transfer ◽

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽

Grocery Shopping ◽

Supplemental Nutrition ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Electronic Benefit Transfer ◽

Nutrition Assistance

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Choice and Location of Food Retailers for Grocery Shopping Among Low-Income Adults Participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) in Georgia

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior ◽

10.1016/j.jneb.2016.04.092 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 48 (7) ◽

pp. S34

Author(s):

Jung Sun Lee ◽

J. Shannon ◽

W. Cai ◽

J. Hibbs

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽

Grocery Shopping ◽

Supplemental Nutrition ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Food Retailers ◽

Nutrition Assistance

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Does Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Reduce Food Insecurity among Households with Children? Evidence from the Current Population Survey

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18063178 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 3178

Author(s):

Jun Zhang ◽

Yanghao Wang ◽

Steven T. Yen

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

Current Population Survey ◽

Population Survey ◽

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽

Supplemental Nutrition ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Current Population ◽

Households With Children ◽

Nutrition Assistance

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to improve household diet and food security—a pressing problem confronting low-income families in the United States. Previous studies on the issue often ignored the methodological issue of endogenous program participation. We revisit this important issue by estimating a simultaneous equation system with ordinal household food insecurity. Data are drawn from the 2009–2011 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS), restricted to SNAP-eligible households with children. Our results add to the stocks of empirical findings that SNAP participation ameliorates food insecurity among adults only, but increases the probabilities of low and very low food security among children. These contradictory results indicate that our selection approach with a single cross section is only partially successful, and that additional efforts are needed in further analyses of this complicated issue, perhaps with longitudinal data. Socio-demographic variables are found to affect food-secure households and food-insecure households differently, but affect SNAP nonparticipants and participants in the same direction. The state policy tools, such as broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) and simplified reporting, can encourage SNAP participation and thus ameliorate food insecurity. Our findings can inform policy deliberations.

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