Effect of Personalized Incentives on Dietary Quality of Groceries Purchased

Abstract

Key Points Question Does a semiautomated, personalized, healthy food incentive intervention improve grocery purchase dietary quality and percentage spending in targeted food groups? Findings In this randomized clinical crossover trial of 209 adult participants, healthy food incentives personalized according to customer data were associated with a small but significant improvement in grocery purchase quality and percentage spending on targeted food groups. Meaning A personalized healthy food incentive intervention increased grocery purchase quality and may be a promising population-based strategy for improving dietary intake.

The Availability and Quality of Food Labelling Components in the Canadian E-Grocery Retail Environment

“…Consistent with other studies [ 15 ], we found consumer-friendly features (e.g., re-purchase or ‘save’ foods), easy search functions for specific foods and beverages, and filter options based on dietary preferences (e.g., kosher, vegetarian, gluten free) or other factors (e.g., price, popularity) available to improve the shopping experience through customizations, using personal and other data collected from consumers. E-grocery retail platforms can also have the opportunity to promote healthy purchasing behaviors, by providing ‘healthier’ alternative product recommendations [ 37 ], exclusive online coupons or incentives [ 38 , 39 ], price discounts for ‘healthier’ foods [ 40 ], and/or nutrition messages targeted for consumers’ shopping behaviors. The use of accurate product descriptions and recommendations are also needed to ensure consumers are protected against misleading information, through an increased scope of the current food labelling regulations and/or establishment of new regulations specific for e-grocery retailers.…”