What research shows
Reviewing the evidence: what can retailers do to increase sales of fruit and veg?
What we did
We summarised insights from individual studies in the academic and grey literature. We excluded any studies looking at hypothetical consumer behaviour, limiting our search to studies carried out in retail settings. The body of recent evidence for the UK is small, and so where relevant, we have also included findings from other high income countries with similar demographics.
Why
Just 33% of adults and 12% of 11-18-year-olds in the UK are currently getting their 5-a-day. Yet 66% of people are thinking about, or already changing their diets to be more sustainable and healthier, and they want help from industry to do this.
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Reviewing the evidence
Price and promotions
- The SHELf trial in Australia found that women who received a 20% discount on all fruit and veg when bought from one particular supermarket chain, purchased 35% more fruit and veg than they usually did as a result.
Place and space
- Visibility matters. When posters were placed in display spaces for vegetables and at all checkout counters for 60 days, one Japanese supermarket chain saw an 18.7% increase in sales across all vegetable categories compared to a control store.
The more the merrier
- Department of Health and Change4Life trial back in 2010 found that convenience stores offering a package of interventions designed to better promote fruit and veg in deprived areas led to an average sales increase of 143%.
The road ahead
- There is little published evidence from UK retail settings on the outcome of interventions specifically targeting sales of fruit and veg. This is an area ripe for innovative pilots and trials, that could be included as part of Peas Please pledges.
