ArticleBMC public health2020
Can unhealthy food purchases at checkout counters be discouraged by introducing healthier snacks? A real-life experiment in supermarkets in deprived urban areas in the Netherlands.
Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Altering product placement to create a healthier layout in supermarkets: Outcomes on store sales, customer purchasing, and diet in a prospective matched controlled cluster study.PLoS medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Effects of a healthy checkout ordinance on the sale of soft drinks and confectionery in Berkeley, CA, USA: a quasi-experimental study.The Lancet. Public health · 2026Article
- Women intend to buy, and attend more to, healthy foods in supermarkets: attention to product placement observed in women in a 2-dimensional simulated supermarket environment.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Consumer Perception of Innovative Fruit and Cereal Bars-Current and Future Perspectives.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Real-life experiments in supermarkets to encourage healthy dietary-related behaviours: opportunities, challenges and lessons learned.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2023Article
- Consumer Motives for Choosing Fruit and Cereal Bars-Differences Due to Consumer Lifestyles, Attitudes toward the Product, and Expectations.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Junk Food Intake Among Adults in the United States.The Journal of nutrition · 2022Article
- Article
- A detailed mapping of the food industry in the European single market: similarities and differences in market structure across countries and sectors.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Article
- Can Healthy Checkout Counters Improve Food Purchases? Two Real-Life Experiments in Dutch Supermarkets.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Association between Neighborhood Food Access, Household Income, and Purchase of Snacks and Beverages in the United States.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe checkout area in supermarkets is an unavoidable point of purchase where impulsive food purchases are likely to be made. However, the product assortment at the checkout counters is predominantly unhealthy. The aim of this real life experiment was to investigate if unhealthy food purchases at checkout counters in supermarkets in deprived urban areas in the Netherlands can be discouraged by the introduction of the Healthy Checkout Counter (HCC). In addition, we examined customers' perceptions towards the HCC.
methodsThe HCC was an initiative of a leading supermarket chain in the Netherlands that consisted of displays with a selection of healthier snacks that were placed at the checkouts. We used a real life quasi-experimental design with 15 intervention and 9 control supermarkets. We also performed a cross-sectional customer evaluation in 3 intervention supermarkets using oral surveys to investigate customers' perceptions towards the HCC (n=134). The purchases of unhealthy and healthier snacks at checkouts were measured with sales data.
resultsDuring the intervention period, customers purchased on average 1.7 (SD: 0.08) unhealthy snacks per 100 customers in the intervention supermarket and 1.4 (SD: 0.10) in the control supermarket. Linear regression analyses revealed no statistically significant difference in the change during the control and intervention period of sales of unhealthy snacks between the control and intervention supermarkets (B = - 0.008, 95% CI = - 0.15 to 0.14). The average number of healthier snacks purchased was 0.2 (SD: 0.3) items per 100 customers in the intervention supermarkets during the intervention period. Of the intervention customers, 41% noticed the HCC and 80% of them were satisfied or very satisfied with the intervention.
conclusionsThis real life experiment in supermarkets showed that the placement of healthier snacks at checkouts did not lead to the substitution of unhealthy snack purchases with healthier alternatives. Although supermarket customers positively evaluated the HCC, future studies are needed to investigate other strategies to encourage healthier food purchases in supermarkets.
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