Ahead of tighter regulations being introduced next year, new research commissioned by shareholders’ group ShareAction has found that the leading supermarkets in the UK are still heavily promoting unhealthy food and drink products in their online stores.
Over a five-week period from August to September this year, research foundation Questionmark tracked all promotions of food products in the online stores of Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. It analysed the health profile of these products, using the Government’s Nutrient Profiling Model, which assesses whether products are high in fat, sugar and/or salt (HFSS).
The research found that the Big Four supermarkets ran 48,600 food promotions for approximately 11,700 distinct food products in total. Over 21,000 (43%) of these promotions were for less healthy HFSS products. Sainsbury’s and Morrisons ran the most promotions for HFSS products in total: each approximately 5,700 over five weeks, closely followed by Asda and Tesco with each about 5,000 promotions.
The study also assessed which supermarkets were best prepared for new health legislation approved by the UK parliament last month, restricting the most harmful online and in-store promotions of HFSS products by price and location.
The Food (Promotion and Placement) Regulations will ban multibuy promotions of HFSS products in product categories that are considered to contribute significantly to children’s calorie intake. These include chocolate, crisps, sweets and soft drinks.
The research found that Sainsbury’s is the only supermarket prepared for the new restrictions, having already ceased multibuy promotions of all HFSS products. By contrast, the other major supermarkets still rely heavily on promotions that will be banned under the new measures. Asda and Morrisons each ran over 300 of these promotions per week, on average. At Tesco, the number was more moderate with 120 such promotions per week on average.
HFSS multi-buy promotions per retailer (over 5 week period)
However, the research found that Sainsbury’s has not stopped promoting unhealthy products, but rather shifted its strategy away from multibuy promotions towards meal deals and other price promotions, which will not be addressed by the new regulation.
In the research period, Sainsbury’s ran over 1,100 such promotions for HFSS products per week – far more than its rivals – including over 800 promotions in categories particularly relevant to children.
HFSS meal deals and other price promotions per retailer (over 5 week period)
From a health perspective, the study suggested that the increase does not nullify the benefits of refraining from multibuys. Research by Public Health England has shown that a plain price reduction may cause a 14% increase in consumption but multibuys can lead to up to a 22% increase. Nevertheless, the research authors said that “the shift that seems to have taken place in Sainsbury’s promotion strategy may considerably weaken the effectiveness of their policy on multibuys.”
As such, the report recommends that UK policymakers should consider including price promotions and meal deals within the scope of the legislation.
Ignacio Vazquez, Senior Manager at ShareAction, commented: “With two in every three pounds spent in food going to supermarkets, these companies have a major influence on the nation’s eating habits.
“By better integrating considerations around nutrition in their promotional and marketing strategies, progressive retailers can stay ahead of growing regulation in this space while driving improvements in public health outcomes.”
Charlotte Linnebank, director Questionmark, added: “Superlist Health 2021 shows that the new legislation leaves ample room for individual supermarkets to lead the way towards a healthy food environment. Our research findings confirm the importance of improving transparency across supermarkets’ current practices.”
A recent survey suggested that retailers need more time and clarity to prepare for the new government regulations that will limit the placement and promotion of HFSS products in stores from next October.
ShareAction has been campaigning for supermarkets to do more to support moves to tackle the growing obesity crisis in the UK. After ShareAction put forward a ground-breaking health-based shareholder resolution that called on Tesco to set targets to increase the proportion of healthy products in its sales, the supermarket committed to 65% of its total sales coming from such products by 2025.
NAM Implications:
- The key issue is how quickly the government can move from letter-of-law to spirit-of-law enforcement…
- Meanwhile, think consumer reaction to mults’ moves…
- …when spirit-of-law compliance gradually becomes a basis for a competitive advantage.
