January Question 2
Suppose you are approached by the Midwestern grocery chain from the Jahns et al. study. Company supervisors tell you that they were appalled by the results of the study and are interested in hiring a consulting dietitian to revamp their sales circulars to feature more foods that align with current dietary standards. They also tell you that the revamp is strategically planned to be implemented by season and you have complete creative freedom. As the nutrition expert, how would you approach this sales circular reinvention? Is there a particular season or HEI-2010 component you would want to focus on first? Which, if any, of the study’s findings would you use as a starting point?
posted by Unknown @ 8:51 PM
32 comments
32 Comments:
I would focus on the 9 HEI-2010 components that address adequacy. I think when creating circulars it would be easiest to focus on promoting consumption of healthier foods rather than moderation of certain items. Out of the 9 components I would first focus on the whole fruits and vegetables, I believe these are the most lacking in the average American diet. I also believe it would be most effective to target the summer months when fresh produce is more readily available, and tastier.
This is actually an interesting question to me because I watched a webinar on grocery store dietitians over break discussing how to be successful in the field. To me the most valuable point from the webinar was the concept of grocery store dietitians “wearing multiple hats.” Bottom line, a grocery store is a business. We would need to consider profitability (the business hat). Even if given complete creative freedom, the program will not fly with executives and managers if it is a money hole. Even if those same people have the best intentions and desire to promote health, they will not go bankrupt doing so.
My personal choice would be to start with promoting healthy additions to the diet to achieve a better nutrient intake. This response could get really long, so I will focus on just a few thoughts. I am always a fan of targeting produce first, especially considering seasonality. Placement in the ad matters, bright colors and pretty pictures of fruit and veggies on the front page would be visually appealing. Healthy can have a negative connotation, so caution might be necessary when choosing language. I might also propose certain health related criteria for an item to be eligible for feature in the ad. A featured seasonal fruit or vegetable of the week could be a nice touch. With a produce item of the week, taste tests and cooking demos for how to use it and have recipes with all necessary ingredients grouped in a case (with as many of those other ingredients also being on sale). It would be really important to get customers actively involved in promotions. Behavioral economics (example: product placement) is a concept which could help extend the circular promotions into the actual store. Making the healthy choice the easy choice greatly increases the odds of the healthy choice being made.
Bringing the focus back to implementation, marketing was another “hat” grocery store dietitians must wear at times. Any strategy we choose we would need to have a proper roll-out plan to ensure awareness and a smooth transition. It is important to consider rate and amount of change, like Windows 8 or the initial implementation of the 2012 NSLP, if you make too much of a leap to fast, people freak out. It’s not always how wonderful and idea is, that determines its success. It’s how well the idea is implemented.
Going along similarly to Gina's trail of thoughts...out of the components, I think focusing on healthier foods, particularly produce, would be a great start. Majority of Americans are almost always wanting to live a healthier lifestyle and they just don't know how or where to start. As future RD's I would guess we would all agree that the grocery store is the best place to start living a healthier lifestyle! For this reason, I am a huge advocate of RDs being in grocery stores (obviously). So having this opportunity would be a dream come true for an RD. I would have the main section of produce be the foods that are locally in season, of course, as well as allowing for a smaller section for out of season produce. Also, have easily accessible healthy recipes located throughout the store will not only help shoppers to figure out what to do with a less familiar food items they have been wanting to try to incorporate in their diet, but also increase sales of those other ingredients that the recipe calls for that aren't always on-hand at home.
How I would choose to reinvent the sales circular is to have more promotions and sales for fruits and vegetables, particularly in the summer months when the study found the highest percentage of total kcals coming from empty calories. Summer would be a fantastic season to start as local produce is at the peak of its season. An idea that may be beneficial to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables in the circular would be having an additional component of having recipes that include a few of the produce items on sale so the general consumer can see a set example of what they could use the produce for. Perhaps sales on nutrient-dense food options are low because the consumer is just not knowledgeable about how to prepare the item.
Total fruits and total vegetables are the components that I would like to focus on first. As Sophie mentioned, it seems to me these components are lacking the most in the typical American diet. I would focus on promoting vegetables other than potatoes, and introduce some vegetables and fruits that aren't as popular into each sales circular. I would include a recipe or two for a featured vegetable on each weekly ad to give customers some ideas how to use the vegetable without having to access the internet. I think summer is a great season to especially focus on these components since there is a wider selection of produce available. However, I think I would like to start with winter time since there may be a smaller selection of fresh produce, so people may need more guidance during this season to find ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into their diets.
During my internship at WIC, I've noticed that many clients are more opened to increasing fruit intake in their diet, but not vegetables. I think as RDs we should continue to find more ways to promote vegetable consumption. Vegetables are known to be healthy, but we need to show others how tasty and wallet-friendly it can be also!
I think there are multiple factors that would need to be considered in this scenario. First, I would probably consider the seasons. This particular study took place in Grand Forks, ND, and if you are at all familiar with where Grand Forks is located or take a glance at a map, you will see that it is nearing the Canadian border. Therefore, the seasonal foods may be a little different in that part of the country than even here in Illinois. It would be important to find out what foods are in season each time of year and find creative ways to promote those items. One thing I really liked about the Fresh FAVs program here at ISU was the distribution of recipes utilizing the items each week. I think the grocery chain could also include recipes utilizing some of those seasonal sale items in a healthy manner. Then, consumers will have an idea already in mind for what they want to use those items for. As Vivian mentioned, people want to generally increase their fruit and vegetable intake, but lack the ideas to do so. Providing recipes might help give them those ideas. As Sophie mentioned, I would also focus on the 9 HEI-2010 components as well once I knew the seasonal food items I am working with.
I think one of the initial steps I would take in this project would be the marketing aspect and product placement in the weekly ad. I would want to analyze whether bright colors, eye-popping shapes, and placement of produce, whole grain, and healthier options on the covers and first pages of the ad would have any impact on the outcomes of these items being purchased in the stores. Another aspect that I would like to include would be blocked off text boxes with a quick sentence or phrase adding additional education to consumers. I find this an effective and large-scale method to educate consumers on seasonal items and other nutrition goals such as Eat the Rainbow, Five a Day, and More Matters.
Other than that, I love all of the ideas that we are all posting to create long-term behavioral changes in consumers. I think Gina's idea of having a featured fruit or vegetable of the week is GREAT - especially since most families will visit the grocery store on a weekly basis. I also agree with Amanda that distribution of recipes with the produce items on sale is a great idea to promote consumers using their new items. Additionally, offering these recipe ideas in the stores next to the specific produce item would be a great way to reinforce buying the item and trying new healthy recipes in the home.
I think that it would be most beneficial to focus on increasing the most pertinent of the nine HEI-2010 components by categorizing the circulars by season. With that being said, I would strive to make the Total Fruit and Total Vegetable HEI-2010 components the main focus of the circulars I create. It would be most economical for consumers to buy the produce in season, so I would create attractive and eye-catching circulars that focused on a few seasonal produce items each week. I think it would be helpful to have samples of the in-season produce for consumers to try, especially if the item is lesser known. I think that this exposure would make consumers more likely to purchase the produce.
I love Jenn's idea of adding bits of educational information to the circulars. As dietitians, creating educational materials for the layperson is a very important skill. By adding education to the circulars, we are answering the consumers' "why" question in addition to highlighting the sale of that particular produce item. With this combination, I could educate consumers on why consuming a particular produce item is healthful as well as providing incentive to buy it through the sale price.
Viv made a great point about consideration of fresh Winter produce variety. The challenge would be working with the limited selection. I wonder if the small selection would be a barrier to client motivation. Summer and its bounties seem like you could make a real event out of it. Spring might be a smart time to start because it will take time for things to get going. Awareness could be raised during this time. Everyone is just waiting for fresh produce at that point. The selection will be on an upswing (more and more things to look forward to). The Spring can be used to solicit lots of feedback for improvement. Then when the summer enthusiasm kicks in, most of the kinks will be worked out, and the program will be a little better tailored to population needs not initially anticipated. This would also allow some time to establish some patron loyalty over a longer period, before the challenges of winter hit and the prospects seem to be diminishing. If you have a following by that point, the patrons might have developed a stronger sense of self-efficacy and be more confident to take on the winter challenges. And as Amanda mentioned, we would have to consider the region the store is located in for what the equivalent of their "spring" would be.
I think this would be an incredible opportunity and I would start in produce as well. As Sophie mentioned, most Americans lack fruits and vegetables in their diets therefore, this would be a great place to start. The summer months would defiantly offer a variety of fruits and vegetables however, I think that even during the winter months there are great opportunities for in season fruits and vegetables. Labeling the in season fruits and vegetables would be a helpful way to market these healthier options to the consumers. I also think that providing recipes for the consumers next to the in season produce would be a good way to help consumers incorporate these options into their diet.
Vivian, I love your idea on adding recipes to the adds themselves. As you mentioned, this would give consumers access to recipes without using the Internet, which is important because some consumers do not have direct access to the Internet. I also agreed with your reasoning for starting this during the winter. Many people in my family complain that they have hard times incorporating vegetables into their diet. I have given them recipes before and they found it very helpful! I think this is a great idea to help consumers consume more produce and a great marketing strategy for businesses.
I would begin this revamp by focusing on the HEI-2010 components of total fruit, total vegetables, and whole grains. While the American diet is lacking in many areas, I feel that these three components are of particular importance for the circular modifications. These items are all nutrient-rich and provide significant fiber—a nutrient of particular concern for the American population. The circular would be an excellent platform to promote varieties of fruits and vegetables that are in-season, and to promote various whole grain products that consumers may be unfamiliar with (such as wheat berries, farro, etc).
Further, I would focus on the study finding that circulars were higher than the population in sodium and empty calories. Part of my revamp strategy would involve replacing these types of items with comparable lower sodium or nutrient-rich counterparts. For example, advertised boxed refined macaroni and cheese products could be replaced by whole grain pasta. An additional example would be replacing advertised flavored snack chips with plain popcorn kernels.
The season that I would select to begin the circular revamp with would be fall. The fall season generally offers a selection of fresh fruit and vegetables that keep for some time without spoiling, such as apples, potatoes, squash, onions, etc. For this reason, this may be a good time of year to attempt to increase sales of such seasonal produce. The customers that use the circular to guide their shopping habits may then begin to incorporate these seasonal foods into their diets without worrying as much about spoiling as with some more perishable items, like summer berries or peppers. Additionally, I believe that fall may be a good season to begin the revamp because it is the time when children return to school. While the customers at the grocery store likely come from a variety of family types and households, it is reasonable to assume that a large portion of the customer base have children in school. With school not in session during the summer months, families’ daily schedules and typical meal patterns may be altered from the rest of the months of the year. This may also be true if families travel during summer months and if more meals are prepared at home while the children are not in school. I believe that families may establish a more stable meal pattern and routine when school begins, so fall may be a good time to attempt to alter shopping habits through circular content.
As a starting point, I would focus on increasing fruits and vegetables. By pinpointing which produce items are in season, it can be financially attainable to include more fruits and vegetables in the store’s sales circular. Advertising is essential, and it may take more than just the sales circular to increase fruit and vegetable intake. Providing in store samples or even recipes in the sales circular for specific produce items in season can bring awareness to produce items, and hopefully increase intake. I would also be sure focus on frozen fruit and vegetables, too. These items are available year round and may be easier for the store to adopt new standards for their sales circular since these items aren’t changing from season to season.
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As many of you mentioned I think focusing on increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables would be where I would start. I think it would be great to start a sales push in January or the summer months when a lot of different produce is in season. I chose January as well because it seems with new years resolutions everyone is more focused on eating healthier and more willing to try new food items in my opinion. Providing a recipe of the week that incorporates a featured fruit or vegetable would be my sales approach. I would also incentives customers to try the recipe by having an instagram or facebook competition to go along with the recipe. For example, customers would be encouraged to make the recipe and then post a picture on instagram or facebook and tag the grocery store, then later in the week a winner would be chosen to win let say a $25 giftcard to the grocery store or 15% off the next "item of the week." I believe this promotion would not only encourage fruit and vegetable consumption, but would also be free advertisement for the grocery store on social media.
As Amanda, Sophie, and others mentioned I agree its important to promote the produce that is in season. I also think it is important to educate consumers through out the year about who produce is in season. Maybe having a sign in the produce section displaying examples of produce that is currently in season would help educate and promote in season items.
Tessa, I love your idea about free samples of certain produce. People are more likely to buy something once they have tasted it and know they like it. Whenever I go to the grocery store I only see packaged items being sampled, so why not have some free produce samples as well.
I agree with many of the other comments and would start the revamp of the circulars by focusing on the HEI-2010 component of fruits and vegetables. By focusing each circular on the fruits and vegetables that are in season, customers can save money because in season products generally cost less (and taste better) than out of season products. The variety of shapes and colors fruits and vegetables come in would also enhance the visual appeal of the circulars and provide more exposure of these products to consumers, eventually leading to increased consumption of these healthy foods.
As many have mentioned, focusing on produce, especially vegetables should be prioritized. Just buying a vegetable such as a squash can be intimidating to a consumer. Providing little tips on the circular can increase purchasing and an interest in buying produce in season. An example of this can be explaining how to prep a squash for cooking or how to simply roast it, and have that information next to the sale item in the ad. Even adding quick ideas (through pictures) for what to use a specific vegetable for can increase sales. Having pictures and tips can make it more comfortable for a consumer to purchase a product, having different ideas from the circular.
Stephanie,
I love your thought about having healthy recipes around the store. Not only highlighting fruits and vegetables in the circular, but using those fruits and vegetables to make recipes for consumers in the store to take can be very beneficial if they are unsure how to incorporate them into their meals. It can give them a sense of confidence and understanding of how to prepare them, and also hopefully increase their fruit and vegetable intake in the long run.
As many have mentioned, I would also implement the HEI-2010 component of fruits and vegetables. People tend to lack consuming fresh fruits and vegetables in their daily diet and by introducing and promoting such food groups individuals may be more susceptible to implementing them in their meals or snacks. Some common excuses to why people do not eat enough is because they claim they taste bad or that they are expensive. Education is key here to increase familiarity and acceptability of new foods. Marketing recipes along with supplying a sample of the product would be one strategy I would recommend. Stationing all of the ingredients for the recipe within a close distance of each other, or even within the same shelve or aisle, would make purchasing foods for the recipe much easier. Free cook books with coupons inside may be a successful option.
A large barrier to implementing a circular which depicts food intake recommendations is the removal of the high sugar, high fat, processed snack and comfort foods commonly advertised prominently in grocer adds. These food adds have the benefit of drawing the attention of customers. The brand recognition for lower nutrient dense foods, sodas and cookies make these items easier to promote in a discount special and draw customers into the store. After eliminating these high sugar foods to national recommendation levels, I would attempt to utilize the same marketing style to increase other food groups. I would associate foods by their holidays, drawing people in with what they are already familiar, and recommend some additional specimens. Areas of the HEI which seem easy targets are total/whole fruits and whole grains. The US population is surpassing circulars in HEI scores for total fruits and whole fruits. This indicates public interest in this area, which if advertised would generate a response of store visits and purchases. The US population is on a matching trend HEI score with the circulars for whole grains. This indicates an increase in whole grain adds and publicity within the circulars and in store may have a direct effect upon US consumption in this category.
The potential partnership between grocery store ads and RDNs representing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans has a lot of possible power and potential. As many others have said, highlighting in-season, local produce would be a great place to start. I think that having on-the-floor demos, tastings, or recipe cards relating to these items would be effective in increasing customer confidence and interest in buying new fruits and vegetables. I also think that whole grains would be an important component as well. Using weekly ads to highlight different types of whole grains might be useful in increasing whole grain consumption and steering people away from preprepared grain dishes. Again, I think on-the-floor demos, tastings, or recipe cards would be important to showcase how delicious and versatile whole grain options can be.
As others have previously mentioned, focusing on the fresh fruits and vegetables portion of the HEI-2010 seems to be the most logical choice for me as well. I really love the idea of focusing on advertisements for particular fruits and vegetables during the week, as Gina mentioned. It reminds me a lot of the Fresh FAVs program. As Jenn mentioned also, including recipes within the circular sales ads that correspond to the designated fruit/vegetables of the week would be great to help encourage the purchase of these food items!
I also like the idea that Moriah had brought up about focusing on the winter months as the time to advertise for fruits and vegetables. I feel that many individuals that I talk to do not realize what types of fruits and vegetables are in season during this time and educating them about this would be a great place to start.
I agree with Tessa's point to include and target frozen fruits and vegetables in stead of worrying primarily on fresh because that may be a more attainable goal for this population. If the population in this study is currently on purchasing fruit and vegetables and more conventional foods, than frozen may be a good starting point to increased consumption. While fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables a great to promote, the circulars should also include frozen alternatives.
It looks like so far the majority of commenters said they would start an ad revamp with fruits and vegetables. I hadn't really considered incorporating frozen options into ads, what a great point! I also liked that a few people included swapping produce into the add for some of the less desirable items. I think creating recipes that incorporate a balance of ingredients (produce AND a little bit of the less desirable ingredients) would be a good way to draw consumers in with the familiar while encouraging them to increase their F+V intake.
The mean circular scores (42.8/100) were even worse than the mean U.S dietary intake score (55.4/100). This finding should be used for a reference point and motivation for the sales circular reinvention. I would start the revamped program in the summer months and focus on increasing fruit and vegetable sales. One idea would be to create a smaller circular cycle of these items so that customers get into a habit of purchasing the product. A link on the grocery stores page could talk about the weekly produce sales and include recipes for those sale items as well.
In response to Rachel's comments, I agree that removing high fat, high sugar, highly processed items from grocery store circulars is a key step in more healthful marketing. It is completely true that customers respond to brand recognition in sale ads, and that the most highly recognized brands are processed, packaged, typically unhealthy foods. When these items are advertised with price discounts, customers are likely more driven to spring for these palatable items that offer consistency in flavor and quality. While there are some highly recognized brands of fruits and vegetables, I suspect that these brands have less customer loyalty than their junk food counterparts. Further, many healthy foods are not associated with a highly advertised brand. I also agree with Rachel's suggestion to focus on marketing novel healthier foods around holidays. Holidays are periods of the year when consumers may purchase more than usual and may be preparing food for larger group, which increases the desire for cost savings. For these reasons, discounting and advertising healthier food products around holidays may increase the sales of such products.
I agree with Sophie and Viv that total fruits and total vegetable are components that are important to focus on. I think incorporating more servings of fruits and vegetables would benefit everyone. I agree that promoting fruits and vegetables on the weekly ads would be great, but I think that Amanda made a great point by taking into consideration the location. Local produce would be great, but in a lot of places the time period that local produce would be available would be very short.
I think that the front page of the weekly ad is very important because that is the customer’s first impression. I think it has to including bright and coordinating colors. I think it would be great if we could run weekly specials on items that make a certain recipe. For example, if the week’s recipe was chicken fajitas then there could be a special ran on chicken, bell peppers, onions, low sodium fajita mix, and whole wheat tortillas. This would give the customer an easy meal idea and help them plan their weekly grocery list.
I think Moriah's idea about labeling fruits and vegetables in the store as "in-season" is great! The average consumer may not know when many things are in season and this is a great opportunity to educate them on this. Since produce in season generally tastes much better than when out of season, it may also be a great opportunity to push recipes that incorporate uncooked fruits and vegetables. Guidelines recommend consuming a combination of raw and cooked produces, and raw vegetables are sometimes more difficult to incorporate, especially if they are not at their peak deliciousness. Placing recipe cards near the in-season produce may increase the chance that consumers will not only purchase the item, but prepare it in a similar way to the accompanying recipe.
Vivian, I appreciate your notes of the points of increasing not only vegetable variety, but nutrient variety with the targeting of less commonly consumed food items. Additionally, your inclusion of application, with the recipe, would provide coherence to your add composition. The display of foods items used to prepare the featured fruits and vegetables such as seasonings in the add and in the store may benefit shopping list development for patrons.
Tessa and Holly had a great point about providing in-store samples of various fruits and vegetables. I agree that samples are a great way to introduce or remind consumers about the variety of produce options available. Furthermore, the increased exposure should translate into increased sales of these products. Samples also provide an opportunity to present customers with new ideas or techniques for preparing produce as Vivian pointed out.
I like Justine's idea about doing more promotions in the store- like cooking demos and tastings. By creating a presence and being in front of customers, shoppers would be curious to see what's going on. I think this could reach a lot of people and keep them engaged with trying new healthy food.
In response to John, Jen, and others, I agree that there is great power in advertisement. Beginning an advertisement campaign could be something to consider based on the grocery stores/dietitians resources. The dietitian could create a slogan that would highlight their revamped sales and maybe have in information board in the produce section of the store. It could highlight which fruits and veggies are in season/ on sale, give helpful preparation tips, and provide take home recipes for shoppers.
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