TIGARD, Ore. - The subject was health and wellness, but how retailers should promote those lifestyle objectives was the subject of debate among a host of retailers, manufacturers and others during last week's Executive Forum 2006, sponsored by the Food Industry Leadership Center at Portland State University.
Judi Dodd, food and nutrition adviser for Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh, said retailers can try to teach consumers how to make better and healthier food choices, "but we can't be the food police. We must allow consumers to make their own choices.
"About a third of the population is eating healthy and another third says it knows it should be and just needs some coaching, but the other third tells us to get out of their face, so when you try to help people make better choices, pick your audience and go after the ones where your efforts will produce a return."
Dodd, a registered dietitian, made her remarks as part of an SN-led panel on go-to-market strategies that promote healthier lifestyles.
Todd Hale, senior vice president, consumer and shopper insights, at AC-Nielsen, Chicago, said retailers with an older shopping base or those with more upper-income customers - particularly club stores - have a better chance of raising consumer awareness about health issues, "but it's a more difficult challenge for retailers who cater to lower- and middle-income shoppers or young families. That's where companies have to rely more on manufacturers to eliminate fats and sugars in their products or to work with local schools on educating students."
Matt Kistler, vice president, product and packaging innovation, Sam's Club, Bentonville, Ark., said different shoppers are looking for different things, "and it's important for retailers to understand that. That's why I think we'll see more focused retailers like Whole Foods and Wild Oats offering advice from pharmacists and nutritionists and people in the aisles with the proper expertise to help customers."
Dodd said she doesn't believe retailers should be doling out advice in a store's aisles. "To have a registered dietitian at every store doesn't make sense," she noted. "Retailers need to consider giving that responsibility to people who have the expertise and are trained in what to do and what not to do. That means referring customers to licensed professionals rather than having people counseling customers in the store aisles, and that requires retailers to form partnerships with the local heart association, diabetes foundation and other community outreach resources."
Dispensing advice on nutrition can be daunting, Dodd pointed out, "which is why retailers need to look to the community for partnerships."
Asked about the potential legal ramifications resulting from in-store counseling, Dodd said different states have different laws about who can give advice. "But no one should ever say using an item will 'prevent' something from happening, because what works for one person may not work for another. That's why you need people dispensing information who are absolutely qualified, though even that may not stop people who want to sue."
Kistler said no real guidelines exist for the kind of advice that ought to be dispensed. "We need someone to provide definitions for the industry because we're all going forward without clear definitions."
Besides nutrition, food safety is a growing health concern, panelists said. "We must educate store people to handle the products properly and utilize storage equipment properly," Dodd said, "and we must also educate consumers about their role once they leave the store."
Dennis Belcastro, vice president of customer development at Kraft Foods, Northfield, Ill., said the industry needs international standards for food safety. "The U.S. has standards, but many products come from overseas. Are U.S. standards being followed there?"
Potential problems are not limited to manufactured goods, Dodd pointed out. "What happens if the ingredients in a store's prepared foods don't have the exact amount of salt or mayonnaise we claim is there? We need standardization at that level to get consumers' trust before someone has some product analyzed and it becomes a media event."
In another session that tied in with the conference theme of health and healthy lifestyles, Art Turock, a Seattle-based consultant, described his view of the store of the future, which would include a health and beauty care section categorized by diseases or health benefits; fruit juice bars and produce pods, where customers could order different salads or vegetable soups; a cooking school that groups recipe items in the same area where the demonstration takes place rather than forcing shoppers to look all over the store; an in-store clinic; a "discovery center" for new products; and a nutritionist in a concierge center "who can answer questions at the same time he makes sales suggestions or offers community outreach referrals."
He also said if organics catch on at Wal-Mart, "then CPG companies will follow with more organic offerings."
Jonathan Ziegler, an analyst with Dutton Associates, El Dorado Hills, Calif., said awareness of organics "will definitely go up" as Wal-Mart adds organics.
Laurie Demeritt, president and chief operating officer of The Hartman Group, Bellevue, Wash., said there is a trend among most people to be healthier, "but it's up to retailers to figure out what matters. Most consumers care only selectively."
Schuyler Lininger, president and chief executive officer of Healthnotes, Portland, Ore., said most people would say they want a healthier life, "but they're not looking for someone to wag a finger at them. What they want is encouragement and ways to make it simpler, and the real challenge for the industry is to connect people with authoritative resources."
