Supermarkets
Expanding Collaborations
The team have expanded their retailer collaborations through the DIO Food research project.
They are working with ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, who collectively represent 65%* of supermarket sales, to understand the impact of the High Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) legislation restricting location placement of HFSS products.
The analysis will answer the following research questions:
(1) What happened to HFSS product sales after introduction of the policy?
(2) What happened to the retail product portfolios after introduction of the policy?
(3) Were impacts of the HFSS legislation equitable across different sociodemographic groups across the country?
(4) Has the HFSS legislation led to healthier overall purchasing using Eatwell guide as a metric?
These questions will be answered using store level sales data, supplemented by contextual information collected in interviews and surveys with the retailers and customers. For further information Read the protocol on Open Science Framework.
In addition to the sales data analysis, the team will seek to better understand the customer and retailer perspective on the legislation, through surveys and interviews. For further information Read the protocol on Open Science Framework.
The collaboration with IGD continues to grow in 2024, with a research portfolio now of >£900K. Two large studies have been conducted in 2024, evaluating the impact of retail interventions. For further information, please refer to two study protocols below with results coming soon.
- Investigating the impact of message framing on plant-based mince purchasing on an online grocery platform: a multi-arm randomised controlled trial; and
- Is eye-level health messaging effective in encouraging ‘healthier’ snack choices, in the context of ‘meal deal’ offers?
The team have presented their work the collaboration with IGD and the FIO Food projects at a number of conferences including the Nutrition Society Congress in Belfast, the Digital Footprints ‘25 Conference in Bristol (which Prof Morris is co-founder and co-organiser) and the University of Leeds Food science and Nutrition Industry Day.