This study aims to analyze supermarket retail practices and identify retailers’ motivators for and barriers to promoting healthy products. The research team will engage in semi-structured and qualitative interviews with 16-20 supermarket managers (or key decision-makers), at least 10 of which will be in New York City and 6 in rural areas in New York State, to understand decision-making factors that affect product sales, and examine the conditions under which they would change their retail practices. The interviews will accomplish four goals: 1) catalogue the 4 Ps (product selection, promotion, placement, and pricing) and retailing mix strategies (e.g., personnel, presentation approaches) used by the supermarkets; 2) identify the motivations for using these strategies; 3) identify external barriers to promoting healthy products; and 4) explore possible conditions under which retailers would alter their strategies. Additionally, the research team will attempt to identify store chain headquarters or food industry representatives (e.g., PepsiCo, Frito Lay) that may be willing to participate in slightly modified interviews about the conditions under which they would consider altering marketing strategies to promote healthier products.
Start Date: March 2016
ID #: CAS035
Organization: NYU School of Medicine
Project Lead: Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH
Resource Type: Commissioned Research Project Summary
Keywords: Food advertising, Food outlet, In-store marketing, Point-of-decision prompts, Rural, Supermarket, Urban
Focus Areas: Food Marketing, Food Retail
State: New York
Related Research
January 2019
Evaluation of the USDA FINI Program Finds Benefits for Consumers, Farmers and Retailers, and Local Economies
In December 2018, Congress passed a new farm bill which included a reauthorization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) Grant Program. This brief summarizes the findings of a recent qualitative evaluation of FINI, which concludes that the program has benefits for consumers, farmers and retailers, and local economies. This MoreOctober 2018
A Qualitative Evaluation of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) Grant Program
This research describes findings from interviews conducted with grantees of multi-year community-based and large-scale projects funded by the FINI mechanism, as well as with stakeholders who could speak to FINI on a broader level. A total of 22 interviews were conducted with 19 organizations. Key elements addressed in this evaluation include: 1) Best practices and MoreOctober 2024