URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2019_Melissa-McCarthy

Belmont Marketing Director Susan Hoopes, AgroParis Tech graduate student Elie Perraud, URI Professor Vadiveloo, URI Ph.D. students Xintong (Cynthia) Guan and Haley Parker.

team developed an algorithm that deploys personalized coupons based on each customer’s unique purchasing behavior. The project also involved surveying the participants to understand of the quality of their diet and their diet preferences. “For someone with a vegan diet, it doesn’t really matter if fatty fish would improve their diet quality, they’re not going to buy that fish,” Vadiveloo explains. During the summer and early fall of 2018, in addition to food preferences, the team collected information on education level, household income, body weight and health goals. “My hope is that this is a proof of concept level analysis,” she says. “I want to show that giving people specific coupons that are relevant to them, and not to a general population, can improve what they purchase.”

“I want to show that giving people specific coupons that are relevant to them, and not to a general population, can improve what they purchase.”

- Maya Vadiveloo

| 24 | The University of Rhode Island { Momentum: Research & Innovation }