PG Web Extra: Health Links in Store
Since opportunities to promote better health exist throughout the store – even some relatively unlikely places – grocers should make sure that customers are aware of better-for-you options no matter what aisle they’re shopping.
Citing her company’s recent research, Jaime Schwartz Cohen, MS, RD, director of nutrition at New York-based public relations and marketing agency Ketchum, observes that “shoppers closely align fresh with health, so creating a relationship between fresh and the middle of the store and front of the store, as well as informing consumers of how frozen and canned can be equivalent to fresh support a health position across the store.”
Adds Cohen: “Retail merchandising strategies that gives a clear path from the store shelf to the home kitchen and real-life behaviors are most successful in supporting healthier habits among consumers. This includes cross-merchandising so that all of the ingredients in a recipe are found in one place, providing recipe cards, and offering in-store resources like registered dietitians and chefs who help guide shoppers to simple preparations and healthful habits.”
Orlando, Fla.-based Produce for Kids (PFK) recommends similar strategies to help boost fruit and vegetable consumption among children and their families. “Grocery stores can take advantage of opportunities to showcase healthy meal solutions that incorporate produce as well as other items across the store,” says PFK VP Trish James. “Many retailers are also utilizing registered dietitians in-store. For those retailers, we recommend regular communication with their registered dietitians as to what products/items they recommend based on current promotions and what’s in season.”
In fact, this year PFK plans to roll out an initiative incorporating RDs, whom James believes will become even more popular as a resource for health-seeking shoppers, both in terms of “specific health needs and general lifestyle questions.” The We heart RDs program “will provide in-store registered dietitians with a monthly toolkit to assist them in their day-to-day interactions with shoppers,” notes James. “Our kits will include recipes, a guide to What’s in Season, Healthy Eater stickers and more.”
Nutrition on Display
An additional way to direct shoppers to the healthy foods they seek is to display those foods’ nutritional attributes. As Jeff Weidauer, VP, marketing and strategy at Little Rock, Ark.-based Vestcom International Inc., which offers the healthyAisles nutritional marketing program, “The first step for a grocer to become a destination is to make it easy for shoppers to find what they want.”
Natalie Menza, MS, RD, manager of health and wellness at Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern Food Corp., a cooperative whose members operate ShopRite stores in the Northeast, agrees. “At ShopRite, it’s important to us that shoppers can easily find healthy product choices in every aisle of our stores – yes, even in the center aisles,” she says. “In many of our stores, we have a dedicated section, aisle or area where we feature natural/organic niche products and highlight what is new, exciting and on-trend when it comes to health and wellness.” The chain also uses a proprietary shelf tag system calling out such attributes as low sodium and heart healthy.
Karen Buch, RDN, LDN, founder of and principal consultant at Nutrition Connections LLC and a member of Nutrition Advisory Board of the Washington, D.C.-based National Turkey Federation, also believes that retailers should “[u]se signage or shelf tags that make it easier for customers to find/shop for healthier food options throughout the store.”
Beyond that, Buch favors a comprehensive approach to health and wellness in supermarkets. “In my recent past, I worked as a director for a grocery retailer and created and implemented a Superfoods program to guide shoppers toward highly nutritious, whole foods throughout the store,” she recounts. “Consumer communications include a combination of shelf tags, in-store signage, a Superfoods shopping list and in-ad messaging. The program highlights Superfoods in produce, center store, frozen, dairy, seafood, deli and meat departments. I believe a layered approach works best. This program complements other efforts such as nutritional-attribute tagging, nutrition education store tours, healthy recipes with videos, a bimonthly magazine and blog, associate wellness, and more.”
The important thing is for the grocery industry to spur consumers to want to cook and eat better-for-you foods. “Provide the shopper with inspiration on meal ideas to enable her to cook homemade meals versus going out, or to cook with items that she perceives to be healthy,” recommends Nicolas Martinez, director, shopper insights at Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra Foods.
For more about drving health in-store, read PG's March issue.