Report on location-based promotions of less healthy food in supermarkets

Executive summary

This report is independent research commissioned and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Policy Research (NIHR) PRP-PRU-02-15-Healthy Weight. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Institute for Health and Care Policy Research, the Department of Health and Social Care or its arm's length bodies, or other Government Departments.

This report focuses on changes to the extent of food and drink high in fat, sugar, or salt (HFSS foods) displayed in specified locations (store entrances, end of aisles, checkout areas including self-checkouts, and standalone units) in supermarkets and convenience stores in England before and after the introduction of the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations in October 2022. These regulations restrict the placement of HFSS foods from specific food categories in these locations, in retail outlets that are 2,000 square feet or over and have 50 or more employees. HFSS foods are identified using the Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) scoring system (detailed in the NPM Technical Guidance). The purpose of this report is to provide a baseline from before the implementation of the regulations, followed by a comparison after implementation of the regulations. This research contributes to the evaluation of the impact of the legislation and its effects on the display of HFSS foods in specific restricted locations.

Findings

Findings presented here are based on observational data collected from 23 individual stores (19 supermarkets and four convenience stores) from four chains in England in spring/summer 2022 (pre-legislation) and spring/summer 2023 (post-legislation). Observational data of products displayed at the locations identified by the regulations were captured using video glasses. The data was then coded.

First, products were assigned to one of three groups:

1. HFSS food or drink (products from one of the 13 categories included in the regulations which did not pass the nutrient profiling model scoring threshold and are considered ‘less healthy’).
2. Non-HFSS food or drink (products from one of the 13 categories but which did pass the nutrient profiling model scoring threshold).
3. Out-of-scope food or drink (which includes products that do not fall within one of the identified food categories and products from one of the 13 categories identified in the regulations as exempt).

Second, the relative location space used to display products within a store was estimated:

1. for each product type in relation to other products in a location;
2. for each location type in relation to other locations within a store.

This report presents findings describing the proportion of location space used to display different product types. This assessment uses relative area of location space, which enables comparisons of percentage differences between the baseline data and follow-up data, accounting for changes in store layout.

This work was intended to be representative of supermarket and convenience stores in England, but unforeseen recruitment issues significantly reduced the number of stores and chains in the final sample. As such this report presents a case study of 23 stores from four chains (19 supermarkets and four convenience stores) and is not intended to be used as a representation of all food and drink retailers.

Pre-legislation data collection showed that substantial proportions of location space were being used for the display of food and drink high in fat, sugar, or salt, providing a clear rationale for implementation of the restrictions. Post-legislation data collection allows for comparisons in the use of space before and after the implementation, to test whether HFSS products have been removed, and to quantify the proportions of space used to display HFSS, non-HFSS and out-of-scope products. See section 2.4 in the report for detailed definitions of these three groups products were assigned to.

Key findings from pre- and post-legislation comparisons show that:

• Across all 23 stores the proportion of space in all the restricted locations used to display HFSS products, reduced by 32 percentage points (from 38 to 6 percent) following the implementation of the regulations, with related increases in the display of out-of-scope products.
• With the exception of store entrances (where there was an increase of 2 percentage points), the proportion of space used to display HFSS products reduced across locations with the largest reduction in standalone units (30 percentage point decrease) followed by end-of-aisles (11 percentage point decrease), and checkouts (10 percentage point decrease).
• Post-legislation, the area used to display non-HFSS foods did not change across locations overall.
• Pre-legislation, the four convenience stores had higher average area used to display HFSS products (54 percent) than the 19 supermarkets (35 percent) (accounting for relative store size); post-legislation there was a decrease of 50 percentage points in convenience stores and 28 percentage points in supermarkets.
• Post-legislation, the average area used to display out-of-scope products in the four convenience stores increased from 33 percent to 82 percent. In the 19 supermarkets, the average area used to display out-of-scope products increased from 48 percent to 77 percent. The average area used to display non-HFSS foods did not largely differ (1 percentage point increase in convenience stores; 1 percentage point decrease in supermarkets).
• Pre-legislation, results varied by chain; the average area used to display HFSS products ranged from 27 percent in Chain B to 50 percent in Chain A; post-legislation the percentage point decrease ranged from 18 to 44 (across all chains it was 32).
• Confectionery is the product category where the biggest changes can be seen in the proportion of space across the restricted locations used for its display. Confectionery accounted for 18 percent of space across all locations pre-legislation, decreasing to 2 percent after the legislation was introduced. Increases were seen for ready meals (14 percentage point increase of space in restricted locations) and for drinks (3 percentage point increase).
• Pre-legislation data showed that restricted locations were not always used for HFSS foods before the introduction of the regulations, at least at the time the research was undertaken. Post-legislation data showed that, despite reductions overall, in some stores these locations were still being used for HFSS foods, with maximum values of proportions of space including 74 percent of store entrances and 40 percent of checkouts.

Methodology

Observational data were collected from 23 individual stores (19 supermarkets and four convenience stores) from chains in England in spring/summer 2022 (pre-legislation/baseline) and spring/summer 2023 (post-legislation). Observational data of products displayed at restricted locations were captured using video glasses, and coded based on their nutritional content to determine whether they were high in fat, sugar, or salt. The relative amount of space each product took up within a location, and the amount of space locations took up relative to one another, was also coded, and used to determine the proportion of space used to display products that were high in fat, sugar, or salt.