When it comes to holiday baking, consumers in the northern U.S. reach for baking supplies — like readymade frosting, cake decorations, chocolate chips, and food coloring, while southerners prefer to stick to the basics: flour and sugar.
Last November and December, supermarket shoppers in northern markets like Hartford and New Haven, Conn. and Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y. spent almost one-third more, percentage-wise, on baking supplies than average American consumers, Nielsen reports.
During the same period, shoppers in southern markets like Birmingham, Ala. and Memphis dominated sales of flour, spending 106% and 78% more, respectively, than average Americans.
Consumers in Memphis and Birmingham also dominated sales …

Coupon clipping is on the rise, according to Nielsen.
In June, a Nielsen survey of 50,000 consumers found that nearly one-third used grocery coupons once a week or more.  In December 2007, just one-fourth of those surveyed were clipping coupons at that rate, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Thursday. 
According to a separate study by Scarborough Research, a joint partnership with Nielsen and Arbitron, Milwaukee residents reported the highest rates of coupon clipping — 40% of all city households use grocery coupons once a week or more. 
Rochester, NY ranked second, with 38% of …