A US study published 30 June, has revealed that efforts by retailers to direct shoppers to higher-margin healthier foods could trigger a public health shift. In the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, they reported that arrows on supermarket floors directing customers towards the fresh produce section increased the amount people spent on fruit and vegetables without increasing their overall spend.
The study authors pointed out that although it is commonly assumed that the availability of fruit and vegetables is a barrier to purchase, better availability doesn’t necessarily result in frequent purchases. Instead, they suggested, preferential in-store marketing of ‘less healthy’ foods might be a greater influence on consumer spending on fruit and vegetables. They designed a study to test the effect of an in-store marketing intervention in focusing attention on fruit and vegetables and influencing spending habits.
The researchers placed 10 large (2m x 1m) green arrows on the floor of a supermarket, in highly visible areas around its perimeter, pointing to the fresh produce section. The arrows were printed with written messages such as “Follow green arrow for health” and “Follow green arrow for a healthy [heart, weight]”, as well as with graphics of fruit and vegetables and an emoticon to facilitate social approval of a desired action. For comparison, another supermarket in the same chain, and in an area with similar demographics and poverty levels, was left without arrows.
They reported that in the intervention supermarket, over a 14-day pilot period there was a significant 8% increase in the amount that was spent on fruit and vegetables in each customer transaction; but there was no significant change in the overall spend on food per customer.
Although spending on fruit and vegetables increased at the intervention store, the total food spending per customer did not change significantly between the two stores.
Following the initial trial, the intervention was repeated over longer periods at further pairs of supermarkets, with different demographics and poverty levels to those in the pilot study (but similar to each other), and this confirmed the initial findings.
Source: onmedica.com