Understanding how people purchase food is essential for promoting public health, sustainable food systems, and societal well-being. The LoCard research group investigates consumers’ food purchasing behaviour using one of the world’s most extensive loyalty card data resources for scientific research.
In collaboration with S Group, Finland’s largest retail cooperative, customers were invited to voluntarily share their loyalty card data for research purposes. All data are processed in accordance with strict ethical and data protection principles: no individual consumer or household can be identified, and only data from participants who have provided informed consent are used in the research.
LoCard researchers use detailed food purchase data together with food classification systems and information on the nutritional and environmental characteristics of foods to examine how purchasing patterns relate to diet quality, sustainability, affordability, and consumer decision-making. Our research explores topics such as food purchase patterns, environmental impacts of diets, food waste, price sensitivity and affordability, and sociodemographic differences in food choices. By transforming everyday purchase data into scientific evidence, LoCard generates knowledge that supports healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable food systems for consumers, businesses, and policymakers.
Our list of publications can be found the Julkaisut page.
Jaakko Nevalainen
Professor in Biostatistics
Tampere University
jaakko.nevalainen@tuni.fi
Areas of expertise: Statistical and data science methodology and analysis, with public health relevant applications mainly in nutrition, cancer and diabetes.
Mikael Fogelholm
Professor in Nutrition
University of Helsinki
mikael.fogelholm@helsinki.fi
Areas of expertise: Nutritional epidemiology, diet and health, environmental influences of diet.
Maijaliisa Erkkola
Professor in Nutrition
University of Helsinki
maijaliisa.erkkola@helsinki.fi
Areas of expertise: Dietary assessment methods, sociodemographic differences in health behaviors, and diet – health relationships, especially among families and children.
Hannu Saarijärvi
Professor in Marketing
Tampere University
hannu.saarijarvi@tuni.fi
Areas of expertise: The societal role of retailing, customer data, customer value, customer orientation.