ST. LOUIS — Save-A-Lot shoppers aren't exactly the picture of health: 54% have high blood pressure, 45% have high cholesterol and 27% have diabetes.
Getting in shape is hard not only because of their limited income (most earn an average of $39,600 and 19% are on food stamps), but also because they live in low-income communities that have limited supermarket choices.
“We cater to an underserved consumer, one who lives in an inner city or rural areas, places where other food stores don't want to or can't go,” said Andrea Wagner, Save-A-Lot's vice president, consumer segments and brand strategy. “Our shoppers don't have access to healthy solutions.”
Save-A-Lot is doing something about it.
This month, it launched a new campaign aimed at educating shoppers of the wide array of affordable, yet better-for-you options in its stores.
Save-A-Lot teamed with ConAgra Foods and food industry analyst Phil Lempert to execute and promote the program.
The initiative focuses on Save-A-lot's new Smart Selections products, sugar-free jam, low-sodium soup and several dozen others that are better-for-you options that cost the same price per ounce as their traditional counterparts. All items are marketed under Save-A-Lot's existing exclusive brands, but carry a Smart Selections logo on the front of the package.
Along with Save-A-Lot's brands, the effort promotes ConAgra products like Healthy Choice Café Steamers and Hunt's no-added-sugar crushed tomatoes.
Lempert's role is to publicize the program in online videos, in-store signage, his regular appearances on the television show “The View,” and in other ways.
Lempert expects the effort will be well received because low-income shoppers increasingly want to eat healthier for financial reasons.
“They can't afford to go to a doctor,” Lempert told SN.
The initiative includes shopping lists and recipes that make it easy to live healthier lives with a better diet. It also involves simple recommendations like what Save-A-Lot calls Switch with a Purpose (SWAP). Save-A-Lot suggests that shoppers make simple changes like swapping their favorite products with better-for-you versions, like low-sodium canned green beans as opposed to regular beans.
“We're focused on helping this population understand that it doesn't cost more to eat healthy,” said Lempert.
