We all want to eat more healthfully, that's not really news. In addition, health costs are rising, both in direct terms and for insurance. As a result of these two factors, more and more shoppers are seeking healthy alternatives for meals, both at home and away.
The challenges to eating a better, more healthful diet are numerous. Cost is one; it's generally cheaper to eat over-processed packaged food than fresh or organic products. Another is knowledge, because it's not easy to know what to eat, what's good, what's not and what benefits various foods provide. This is an obvious opportunity for retailers to step in and help. But even then there are different approaches when it comes to how to communicate with shoppers. The entire process is more complex than it might appear.
Many people are looking for condition-specific information on the food they buy. For example, if I'm diagnosed with hypertension, then my doctor likely told me to cut down on salt. But finding low-sodium food on the shelf at a typical supermarket is a challenge in itself. I have to hunt, looking for labels with those words, or reviewing nutrition fact panels to find sodium content and then trying to determine if it's low.
Add in other attributes like heart healthy, gluten free or no trans-fats, and the shopping process can quickly tum into a nightmare of claims and comparisons that leave the shopper frustrated and confused.
The first question for the retailer is usually "Can we provide this information ourselves?" Once the retailer finds out how complex nutrition is, the next question is "Who can do this for us?"
What's In-Store for Us?
Major players in the health and wellness space for in-store communications each use a slightly different method to inform and educate the shopper. Although there are some similarities, the differences are far more important when choosing a specific partner.
The biggest similarity is that all programs utilize the shelf edge to communicate with the shopper. In addition, these programs are managed by third-party providers that operate outside of - and absent the influence of - packaged food manufacturers.
The differences start with the fundamentals: One approach is to assign a score that is some measure of the overall nutrition value of the food in question. This might be a numeric score or a graphic representation of a score. Scales might be from one to three, one to 100 or somewhere in between. The other method is to point out attributes such as whether it is indeed low sodium or has zero trans fats, and present that information to the shopper.
Scoring Systems
There are various scoring methodologies. One is to score all items in the store, regardless of perceived health benefits. This begs the question of whether Hostess Twinkies for example, need a score to tell the shopper they aren't part of a healthful diet.
Whether all products are scored or not, each of the ranking programs uses some sort of algorithm - generally secret and patented - that takes all the ingredients and crunches them into a single score. The higher the score, the better the nutrition quality. Going back to that hypertension diagnosis, these scores won't help point out low sodium. In addition, the algorithms don't explain why products get their scores. And if shoppers want anything when it comes to food, it is transparency and clarity.
Using Attributes
This leads us to attributes. It's a simple idea: Point out to shoppers items that have specific, health-related attributes such as products that are low in sodium or heart healthy. As with most seeming-ly simple ideas, the execution of a program like this is deceptively complex.
First, don't rank everything. Attribute systems use a baseline "filter" for healthfulness, which all items must pass through to even be added to the pool of products eligible for an attribute. Although those Twinkies might be low in salt, that's not what we want to know. So rank only what will help the shopper's decision-making, instead of just adding clutter to the aisle.
Next, call out those most relevant attributes for the core population - things like sodium or fat content. Finally, present the attributes in a transparent and intuitive manner.
It's critical to work from a valid base of knowledge; if something is low sodium, that's according to which authority? The best answer is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture. These agencies publish levels defining what constitutes things like low sodium or a "good source of calcium." The information is available to anyone, anytime, via the agencies' websites.
A well-designed program will make sure the information includes what's known as "reference amount commonly consumed" (RACC). Every nutrition fact panel has a "serving size" on it; RACC makes sure that the attributes aren't just from the serving size, but are based on what people generally eat from that package. Finally, the best programs make the presentation at the shelf edge easy to understand, incorporating color-coding - e.g., blue for low sodium - to help the shopper.
The best advice for retailers considering an in-store health and nutrition program is to start with the shopper. What will she find useful? How can we make her trip easier, more enjoyable, and help her find what she wants? Honest answers to those questions should be the guiding force for selecting a nutrition information program.
Jeff Weidauer is vice president of marketing at Vestcom, the leading provider of customized shelf-edge communication for the retail industry, driving sales and reducing costs for the nation's top retailers and their suppliers. Mr. Weidauer can be reached at jweidauer@vestcom.com or 501.663.0100.
