Consumers are not more likely to buy healthy products if they are more visible in the supermarket. This is shown by research by the Amsterdam UMC. People continue to buy a relatively equal amount of healthy products regardless of their position on the shelves, offers or other visible advertising.
The reason that people do not opt ​​for more healthy products is difficult to determine, according to researcher Josine Stuber of the Amsterdam UMC. ‘We are afraid that the overwhelming supply in the supermarket – 80 percent of the products are unhealthy – turns out to be too tempting to grab. And they are often cheaper, easier to prepare and, above all, very tasty.’
To determine whether people respond to offers of healthy products, Stuber tested the experiment in a real supermarket. ‘I must also say that we tested quite a few offers at the same time, and it is quite exciting for a store to test that. So in that sense, we’ve made quite a few price offers, but we know from previous research that it works very well. For example the sugar tax.’
eye level
According to Stuber, the research was mainly about the positioning of products. ‘Positioning products at eye level and in extra places, et cetera. So now we have found out that that does not help to sell extra healthy things.’
However, the result was unexpected, says Stuber. “We actually expected sales of healthy things to increase by two percent,” she continues. ‘That sounds like a low percentage, but if everyone in the Netherlands bought two percent more healthy things, it could make a difference to public health. But unfortunately that turns out not to be the case.’
Price mechanism
And so the most obvious option seems to be to adjust the price mechanism, with unhealthy products becoming more expensive and fruit and vegetables cheaper. ‘In addition, something has to be done about the overwhelming range of unhealthy products. Rules could be drawn up for this, so that, for example, unhealthy checkout sales are no longer allowed. Or that there should be more placements of healthy products, or adjust the marketing of unhealthy products.’
And steering towards healthier products is very important, says Stuber. She argues that people are now going in the wrong direction. ‘People think they make their own choices, but it is the food manufacturers who determine what they eat. And those are usually not the healthy products. So we are already being sent, and it would be nice if we were all sent a little more in the healthy direction.’
