Improving the quality of food shopping for the prevention of diet-related disease
- Apps, Databases, and Digital Health
- Changing Behaviours for Better Health and Preventing Disease
- Evaluation
- Public Health
- Weight, Health, and Behaviour
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Collaboration for Healthier Lives (CHL) is a partnership between researchers, a public health charity, and the food industry. It aims to identify business-led changes that support healthier food choices.
This project analysed store-level sales data from a major UK retailer to assess how different supermarket strategies—such as pricing, product positioning, and promotions—affect customer food choices. Specific interventions included:
- Removing unhealthy foods from prominent store locations
- Introducing price promotions on healthier items
- Changing the placement of healthier alternatives next to regular products
- Using signage and branding to encourage healthier purchases
The study used interrupted time-series analysis to evaluate how these interventions influenced food purchasing patterns.
Impact and Implementation
The study provides strong evidence that UK Government legislation banning the prominent placement of unhealthy foods can reduce calorie and fat purchases, supporting policies to promote healthier diets.
Findings highlight that short-term supermarket promotions alone are unlikely to drive lasting behaviour change, reinforcing the need for more sustained public health interventions.
The project established a successful partnership with a national retailer, demonstrating that academic-retail collaborations can generate valuable insights. However, challenges in data sharing agreements delayed research, pointing to the need for more efficient methods for accessing and analysing store sales data.
As a result of this collaboration, the Consumer Goods Forum has become a co-applicant on two further research grants to explore new food business interventions and improve data-sharing mechanisms.
Next Steps
The study team has published a report analysing how promotional activities in UK supermarkets affect consumers' purchasing of more sustainable and healthful goods. Read the publication Do promotions of healthier or more sustainable foods increase sales? Findings from three natural experiments in UK supermarkets to gain insights into the research.
Completed Project
Key Findings
- Restricting unhealthy food placement reduced confectionery sales by 21kg (127 units) per store per week and lowered total energy and fat purchased.
- Price and positioning interventions had mixed results—low-fat versions of products sold better when placed next to regular versions, but eye-level placement of healthier cereals had no effect.
- Seasonal price promotions of seasonal fruits and vegetables did not increase sales.
- Branding interventions (e.g., Disney characters on low-sugar baked beans) led to higher sales, while shelf labels for low-sugar drinks had no impact.
- Price promotions on foods promoted for ‘Veganuary’ and plant-based milk with no-added sugar led to increased sales during the promotional period.
- None of the tested interventions led to long-term changes in purchasing behaviour once promotions ended.
Who we worked with
- Consumer Goods Forum
- Multiple major food retailers / supermarkets
We have been working with the retailers involved in the ‘Collaboration for Healthier Lives’ initiative to help people make healthier purchasing decisions in stores and when shopping online. We have confirmed data sharing agreements with three of the retailers involved, enabling us to access the necessary data required to evaluate in store interventions that promote healthier food purchasing behaviours