Background
Retailers are key stakeholders in the co-design and implementation of strategies to modify retail food environments to be health enabling. They hold concerns about potential loss of profit and customer loyalty. A large Indigenous corporation, ALPA, that owns and provides retail services to remote community stores partnered with researchers to test the impact on business outcomes of a strategy to limit merchandising of unhealthy foods.
Methods
A set of strategies considered acceptable to trial by ALPA from a business perspective and likely to be the most effective based on best available evidence were identified and implemented over a 12-week period, August to December 2018. Impact on gross profit (GP) was assessed using sales data. Implementation fidelity, impact on ordering, stocking practices, customer satisfaction and resources required to maintain the strategy were assessed using store manager interview data and photographic material.
Results
A small increase in gross profit (6.1% [0.8,11.6]; p=0.022) occurred in association with reductions in sales of targeted unhealthy products and concomitant increases in sales of healthier products. Store conversions were successfully implemented and maintained without adverse impacts on customer satisfaction or retail operations other than adjustments in stock ordering required in the first few weeks of the trial.
Conclusion
Healthy Stores 2020 provides evidence that restrictions on promotion of unhealthy food in food retail can occur without adverse impact on business outcomes. This evidence gave ALPA the confidence to scale Healthy Stores 2020 through their company nutrition policy. Research to support policy uptake of restricted promotion on unhealthy food in the wider remote and non-remote food retail setting is needed.