Do you ever walk around a grocery store and feel overwhelmed with just how much product choice there is? While some people may appreciate an abundance of food options, I sometimes consider how much simpler supermarket shopping must have been even a few decades ago.
What kind of shopper are you? Do you look for what’s on your list and ignore the rest?
Do you go through every aisle and browse, or are you a mixture of the two?
We sometimes choose products because of the environment we are in, rather than our actual need or want of it. For example, how many of us have grabbed an extra fifteen items off the shelves that weren't on our shopping list?
I always go into the shops with a list and seem to always come out with extra items based on what’s on special that I eat and want to stock up on, or what new food I want the family to try, or what I see that I had forgotten I needed. However, one thing I have tried to be conscious of as I do a grocery shop, is the level of control I have over my food choices.
Due to the ever-increasing number of food manufactures and competition between brands, it’s no secret that they have become savvier in marketing and advertising to receive, (and maintain) our business. Food companies use a wide range of factors to exert power over our food choices in their marketing strategies, which are based on the Four P’s. (Product and Price are intrinsic factors, as they relate to the product itself, and Place and Promotion are external factors as they are external to the product).
Product: Includes taste, smell, look and packaging
Price: Ensures the product is set at a price point that is appealing to the demographic
Place: Includes the location on the shelf, stores it is sold in etc
Promotion: Includes how the product is seen and the message that is used to sell it.
Did you know? For every $1 the World Health Organisation (WHO) spends on initiatives to support greater nutrition around the world, the food industry spends $500 promoting processed food.
The advertising strategies used by food manufacturers to sway us to purchase their product in store can be direct or indirect. An example of a direct strategy is to advertise a benefit of an ingredient or nutrient in the food. What is found to have a stronger effect though on our choices is the indirect (or peripheral) route that accesses our behaviours and emotions. Peripheral adverts appeal more to our intuitive nature, using images, feelings, symbols, music, and implied messages to speak to us on a deeper level than fact-based adverts.
When you look at the food on the shelves, your mind is accessing all the stored information you have from years of the brand or item, that has helped you to come to the decisions you currently do. You may be loyal to a brand that your parents always purchased, or you may try a food based on the TV advert you recently saw. You may like the collaboration the brand had with the athlete that promotes the food, or you may have a positive emotional response when you see the packaging of a 'comfort food'. We are more conditioned than we realise when it comes to food choices.
The good news is, you don't have to be the victim of your environment. Here are some ways you can be in greater control when you shop for food.
Firsrtly, know your nutrition ideals, and keep them in mind when shopping.
Consider what food ideals/values are important to you and factor them in when making choices on purchases. Examples include.
Cost
Convenience
Brand name (loyalty)
Taste
Level of nutrient value
Vegan/Vegetarian/Paleo (or other dietary requirement)
Popularity with children
Ease of cooking/preparing
Low in sugar
Few additives
Can you list your own top 3 food ideals to help you in your next shopping experience?
Secondly, be discerning about the layout of your grocery store.
-End caps are money making machines. (45% of Coca-Cola sales come specifically from end of the aisle racks.)
-The more expensive brand products are often found at eye level.
-Parents of toddlers are all too aware of the purpose of child height impulse bars at the checkout.
-The outer walls of the supermarket are where you’ll find more wholefoods, whereas the aisles hold more packaged/processed foods
- The store wants you to travel past as many shelves as possible to reach the everyday items like tissues and toilet paper, to prompt you to see more items and therefore buy more.
Thirdly, consider how your ideals may be influenced by advertising in a variety of environments.
-Television. Studies show that watching TV while eating dinner causes us to eat more than we would but also hinders our ability to reflect on how much we've eaten.
-Social media promotes food through advertisements, and influencers promote products to their followers.
-Opening your advertising mail can cause you to want food items that you wouldn’t have otherwise thought about.
Some tips for greater control of your nutrition choices through environmental design include:
Keep to your shopping list in the grocery store
Turning off the TV during mealtimes to help reduce your exposure to food advertising
Not looking through letterbox advertising mail
Hide/remove food adverts on your social media feed
Ask yourself when reaching for a food product what the appeal is or what prompted you to choose it.
Don’t shop on an empty stomach
Use nutritional label information to get to know your packaged foods better
So, the next time you go grocery shopping, first spend a few minutes getting your mind out of autopilot and into a curious state of mind to see how many marketing tactics you pick up on. But ultimately, go in feeling empowered knowing you have a firm foundation of your ideals and can make your own food decisions with confidence.
Happy shopping,
Alyssa
Redwood Wellbeing