When Tesco boss Philip Clarke announced last year that the retailer planned to put marketing experts Dunnhumby back at the heart of its business, few thought it would result in it using Clubcard data to make its customers eat less food.
But this week the UK’s biggest retailer revealed that Clubcard - as well as a raft of other changes in-store - would indeed be deployed in the fight against obesity.
Tesco claims it wants to nudge customers towards healthier choices, help the government’s battle against illnesses like diabetes, and reduce what Clarke brands the “staggering” volume of food wasted.
So is this just a case of PR from Tesco, or does it really mean business?
Tesco has set out what it says are groundbreaking plans to present its millions of Clubcard holders with the hard truths on their food choices. It has also promised to work with the government and health bodies to use Clubcard data to launch joint research projects to tackle obesity. This will involve using anonymised information about customers but Tesco is also looking to volunteers willing to donate their Clubcard data to assist health research.
“We know this is a big ambition, so our response has to be equally comprehensive and wide-ranging. One of the first steps will be changing our stores”
Tesco CEO Philip Clarke
Tesco is also promising sweeping changes in-store to back the initiative. It plans health-oriented layouts at selected store checkouts. “We need to encourage more balanced choices and healthier lifestyles through promotions, layout and ranges,” says Leonie Foster, head of a new action team on health behind its report Tesco and Society. “In the UK we have already stopped selling checkout confectionery in our big stores and we are moving towards ensuring a more balanced range at all our stores.”
The retailer also plans big changes to its soft drinks aisle, with an onus on a new health & wellbeing section, including at least two new own-label ranges of flavoured waters. Meanwhile, new “product profiling” will flag up products it defines as healthy and the emphasis of in-store marketing will be switched to make healthier food “more appealing”.
Underlying this approach is Tesco’s surprise leading role in government plans for a new universal front-of-pack labelling system - a hybrid system of traffic lights and daily “reference intakes” (replacing GDAs) due to be unveiled by ministers next month. Tesco says it plans to use its sign-up as a springboard to develop new “product profiling” in store marketing. “We will define our criteria for what makes a product healthy based on levels of fat, saturates, sugar and salt and apply these criteria to our complete product range,” says the report.
To chart its progress, Tesco is also developing a new online tool - the ‘healthy little differences tracker’ - which will measure changes to the typical customer shop at its stores as the project progresses and show whether it is getting results.
The timing of Tesco’s new approach could be highly significant - and for the industry as a whole. This week a report commissioned from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine for the DH found there was “little evidence” voluntary deals such as the Responsibility Deal achieved better results than regulation.
It also called for sanctions against companies that miss targets and action against those that fail to tackle health issues. The DH is hoping to secure a raft of commitments from retailers and suppliers to make sweeping commitments to promote healthy foods. The Grocer understands health minister Anna Soubry met recently with supermarket chiefs to ask how they would be prepared to help ramp up action on health. Tesco now may well be setting the agenda.
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