Supermarket Interventions that Encourage Sustainable Healthy Habits: Long Term Learning of Fresh Fish Sales in Grocery Stores

Abstract

Guiding shoppers to purchase healthier and more environmentally sustainable food – such as fresh fish instead of beef – could possibly be accomplished by offering new selections at new prices or by changing the structure, signage, and service within a store itself. Of the 581 Norwegian grocery stores included in this long‐term study, 437 stores applied the treatment condition (changes were made to structure, signage, service, selections, and packaging), 144 stores applied the changes in new selections and packaging of fresh fish only. The average sales volumes per week before and after intervention (changes made in structure, signage and service) were compared. The sales period was between the 1st week of 2011 and the 43rd week of 2014. The process of changes in store structures may vary among the treatment stores but within 2013. In general, compared between the sales of the first 50 and the second 50 weeks, the changes in fish selections and packaging increased sales of fish by 124% (p<0.001). Furthermore, by comparing sales of control and treatment group after the intervention period, we found that the stores that changed structures, signage, and service sold 18.89% (p<0.001) more of fresh fish than the control stores did. The sales of beef went up slightly when stores introduced new structure. This combined approach can be a win‐win solution for both consumers whose health benefits might link to purchasing and consuming healthier food and retailers that want to increase their profits through sales of fresh fish.