Protecting Low-Income Consumers in the Era of Digital Grocery Shopping: Implications for WIC Online Ordering

Abstract

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is now expected to allow participants to redeem their food benefits online, i.e., via online ordering, rather than only in-store. However, it is unclear how this new benefit redemption model may impact participants’ welfare since vendors may have an asymmetric information advantage compared with WIC customers. The WIC online ordering environment may also change the landscape for WIC vendors, which will eventually affect WIC participants. To protect WIC consumers’ rights in the new online ordering model, policymakers need an appropriate legal and regulatory framework. This narrative review provides that framework by reviewing the literature, legal treatises, and reports on enforceable laws and regulations in the U.S. relevant to digital marketing. The results identify key issues that may arise with adopting WIC online ordering. This paper suggests “privacy, transparency, and fairness” as guiding principles to protect the welfare of WIC participants in WIC online ordering.

A scoping review of online food retail: Who’s using it, what they are buying, and what tactics are used to promote healthy or unhealthy purchases

“…Others have highlighted concerns related to marketplace discrimination and targeted marketing of unhealthy foods in online grocers to communities with low incomes and communities of color [143]. Ensuring equitable access to healthful food in the online retail space will require a variety of community, government, and industry-led solutions, such as community delivery hubs, expansion of government approved online grocers, rigorous privacy policies for online grocers that accept federal nutrition assistance dollars, and support for companies to conduct impact assessments of their unhealthy food and beverage marketing practices [10,143,144].…”

Vendors’ Perceptions and Experiences with WIC Online Shopping Implementation

“…Recent research demonstrates that identifying, engaging, and retaining vendors to implement WIC OS is challenging for WIC State agencies [ 19 ]. However, there is limited information available on vendors’ experiences and perceptions with WIC OS [ 11 , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] ]. Over the past 2 years, ARPA waivers and funding opportunities related to WIC OS have demonstrated their importance and potential; thus, it is imperative to understand the current perspectives of vendors, including their plans and experiences with adopting and implementing WIC OS.…”

Fostering Inclusion in Digital Marketplace: Vistas into the Online Shopping Experiences of Consumers with Visual Impairment in India

“…Initial research to understand online shopping behavior focused on attitudes toward online shopping and motivations to shop online (Bhatnagar et al, 2000;Kim & Park, 2005;Shim et al, 2001). Recent research has endeavored to understand the online shopping experiences of various consumers like women (Sathya et al, 2023), students (Xiao et al, 2023), young consumers (Tan et al, 2024), senior citizens (Roy et al, 2023) and low-income consumers (Zhang et al, 2023). However, little attention has been paid to the shopping experiences of persons with disabilities (PWD), especially consumers with visual impairment (CWV) (Yu et al, 2015).…”