IGA Drakeford & Nicholls Promoting healthier choices

“There is increasing public awareness and

response to the obesity epidemic, especially

when it comes to the impact on our kids, and we

wanted to see if we could help make a difference.”

Terry Karkazis - IGA Nicholls and Drakeford Owner

About IGA Nicholls and Drakeford

IGA are a network of independently owned supermarkets who

tailor their ranges and brands to give local customers more of

what they like. IGA proudly support Aussie producers by stocking

ranges of locally made products.

IGA actively participate in the communities around their stores

doing whatever they can to help local schools, surf clubs or

hospitals. Through the IGA Community Chest funds are raised

to support local communities, charities and other worthwhile

causes. To date IGA has put well over $60 million back into

communities across the country.

IGA Drakeford is located in the well-established Tuggeranong

suburb of Kambah, while Nicholls is in one of Canberra’s

relatively new suburbs on the other side of the city. These stores

have different customer demographics and demands which

helped to increase the learnings during the pilot.

Why we wanted to get involved

About Choose Healthier

The Choose Healthier local business pilot project is a

new and innovative way local businesses are tackling the

challenge of obesity in our community and is part of the

ACT Government’s push towards a target of ‘zero growth’

for obesity under the Healthy Weight Initiative.

Rising levels of overweight and obesity represent one of

the ACT’s biggest health challenges, with almost two-thirds

of adults and one in four children in the ACT overweight or

obese.

The ACT Government has partnered with the Canberra

Business Chamber and the ACT Nutrition Support Service

together with local businesses to increase the availability

and promotion of healthier food and drinks particularly

where targeted at children. What we did

The ACT Nutrition Support Service visited both stores and

undertook a comprehensive review against agreed criteria of

the entire product range to determine which product lines were

healthier.

The healthier products identified were promoted with shelf

signage as a healthier choice. This was further reinforced by

targeted messaging in aisles such as:

• Eat vegetables everyday

• Eat fish twice a week

• Choose treats carefully

• Choose wholegrains

• Eat fruit everyday

• Awesome, it’s a great choice

Each store also introduced a free fruit basket for kids. This

initiative saw children choosing a free piece of fruit instead of

purchasing snack foods.

What happened

The IGA's participation in the pilot was well received by

customers who appreciated the guidance to make healthier

choices. When customers saw similar product choices – type

and price – during the pilot we found they were more likely to

choose the option marked as healthier. We saw an upswing in

certain sales within product lines. For example, the wholemeal

and wholegrain varieties of bread sold faster than white. It was

definitely not a revenue loser.

Lessons learnt

IGA supermarkets are well placed to embrace the promotion of

healthier choices. We feel that the concept of influencing consumer

behaviour in store toward healthier choices was successful – this

was mainly due to in-store branding and ticketing. We believe the

adoption of a market-wide Choose Healthier concept, supported by

a consumer education campaign, would have a positive effect on

both consumer behaviour and also business participation, and

encourage widespread uptake of Choose Healthier options.

IGA Nicholls and Drakeford intend to continue offering Choose

Healthier products to their customers and encourage other

supermarkets to join them. By highlighting healthier products

local business can play a role in shaping an environment where

making the healthier choice is the easier choice.

The Choose Healthier pilot project is part of the ACT Government’s Healthy Weight Initiative, supporting a healthy, active and productive community.

“There was a

recognisable change in

customer choices towards

healthier options thanks to

the instore branding

and ticketing”