Quantifying the effect of striking with picketing on grocery store foot traffic

Abstract Unionized workers often use striking and picketing to raise attention to their grievances, dissuade customers from patronizing a business, and pressure employers in negotiations. Despite its wide use and recognition in popular culture, the effects of picketing and striking on retail business are not well understood. Adjacent literature has used cell phone tracking and other digital geo-tagging techniques to measure the effects of factory closures, COVID-19 restrictions, and stimulus payments on store patronage and economic activity. This article provides a case study using mobile geolocation data to quantify the loss of store foot traffic due to striking with picketing by analyzing the 2022 King Soopers strike in Colorado, USA. Using the historic foot traffic data of the past two years for 118 King Soopers locations, 78 of which went on strike, two SARIMA models were trained, and their predicted foot traffic values were compared to the actual values during the strike period. This technique indicates an average 47% decrease in foot traffic for striking stores and a 14% decrease in foot traffic for nonstriking locations.