Nutrition shelf-labeling and consumer purchase behavior

Abstract

A nutrition information program, consisting of brand-specific nutrition shelf-tags and a supplementary explanatory booklet, was tested for two years in Baltimore stores of the Giant Food chain, replicating a previous successful trial of the program in Washington, DC. Over the two-year evaluation period, market shares of shelf-tagged products increased 12% on average in Baltimore stores in 8 of 16 product categories that had been included in the original program trial. The largest marketshare increases occurred for products with the most flagged nutrients. Products with fewer flagged nutrients actually lost marketshare, suggesting that shopper purchases tended to be influenced by the number of featured nutrients as well as by the nature of the nutrients themselves. Responses to a shopper survey as well as the sales data converged to indicate that shopper concerns about nutrition and health status of family members are more highly correlated with program use than are education, income, and age.