Supermarket trolleys with advertising that prompts shoppers to buy fruit and vegetables could lead to healthier grocery purchases, research finds.
A recent study published in Nutrition Bulletin tested if ‘social norm nudges’ placed in shopping trolleys could influence shoppers to buy more fruit and vegetables.
The results were positive.
Supermarkets and grocery stores hold a lot of sway over shoppers, contributing to 68 per cent of the Australian retail food market share.
But many major supermarkets put junk food front and centre on shelves; a major issue considering only 6.1 per cent of adults eat the recommended two fruit and five vegetables per day.
Fruitful trolley ads
Out of about 100 trolleys at Melbourne’s Essendon Fields-based independent supermarket LaManna, 30 were fitted with placards with the message: “More than nine out of 10 LaManna shoppers buy fruits or vegetables at each shop.”
The 109 shoppers who used trolleys featuring the placards spent $9.10 more on fruit and vegetables than the average shopper. Quantity wise, this equated to an extra 1.25 kilograms of fruit and vegetables than the average shopper.
Study author Greg McGrath, private health program lead – obesity at Bupa Health Insurance, told TND the potential returns could be “huge”.
This means not only would shoppers be nudged into getting their proper fill of fruit and vegetables, but supermarkets would gain financially.
Dr McGrath estimates supermarkets could make 16 cents per trolley if about 1000 shoppers are exposed to the social norm nudges every month.
“My advice would be to keep them installed for a full month and then take them away, and then reintroduce them three or four months after,” he said.
“If [supermarkets] did that for a year … you could make maybe $150,000 with a few thousand dollar [investment].”
However, Dr McGrath said larger studies need to be conducted to confirm the results; after all, he only conducted the study over one day at a single supermarket.
Coles, Woolworths and Aldi all declined to take part as they’re “highly competitive with their information”, but he is hopeful he might convince them to participate in the future.
Potential uses
Trolley nudges have the potential to become a key marketing tool for fresh produce, which Dr McGrath said can sometimes be a struggle to market compared to products like chocolate bars, because general fruit and vegetable categories can’t be trademarked.
Prices also vary depending on the season and weather conditions.
However, supermarkets are already making a killing on fruit and vegetables because of high markups.
Promoting fresh produce could have good impacts on wellbeing, with benefits including protection against diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Dr McGrath said trolley nudges could also be used to promote overall health messages like protecting skin against the sun, and avoiding excessive drinking.
“The trolley is normally with shoppers for about half an hour,” he said.
“So there’s quite a unique place to modify [the nudges].”
