According to Nielsen data, nearly 60 percent of grocery shoppers don’t fully understand nutrition facts on product packaging.
Since recognizing ingredients ranks first among consumers in terms of what influences their decisions to purchase a food or beverage, Raley’s recently launched a unique shelf tag program to help customers make informed food purchasing decisions.
Raley’s Shelf Guide combines current food trends and leading research to set strict standards for packaged food claims and provide label transparency. The new tool differs from other shelf tag programs by taking a closer look at packaged ingredients, food processing, and nutrition. Using simple and colorful icons, Raley’s Shelf Guide helps customers quickly interpret whether a product meets their needs, without having to analyze multiple labels.
Emmie Satrazemis, Raley’s wellness evangelist, talked to Loyalty360 about this one-of-a-kind program.
“Many package food labels are not well defined or understood by shoppers,” Satrazemis explained. “This is leading to the demand for label transparency continues to increase. Traditional shelf tag programs, which focus on third-party verifications, we’re not solving for many of the common consumer concerns, such as looking for less processed foods made without artificial ingredients, added sugar, and GMOs. Raley’s goal is to help identify more of the products our customers are looking for and create an easier and better shopping experience. We also hope to influence food manufacturers to use less added sugar and sodium and higher quality ingredients, and for other retailers to match Raley’s standards for trusted label transparency.”
Satrazemis noted that Raley’s Shelf Guide is not influenced by any brands or marketing dollars and strives to provide unbiased label transparency.
“It is one way we are striving to serve as a trusted resource to our customers and change the way the world eats, one plate at a time,” she said.
Raley’s Shelf Guide started rolling out in stores in July 2017.
“In November of 2015, Raley’s surveyed our customers and found that 66 percent of Raley’s shoppers agree that additional information on product ingredients and nutrition can influence what they buy,” Satrazemis explained. “In addition, Nielsen data shows that over half of shoppers have a difficult time understanding product labels. Raley’s spent over a year looking at the latest health trends and research and used sound data to develop a comprehensive solution to what our customers were looking for. We also used our loyalty data to better understand customer buying trends to develop the custom attributes.”
Raley’s Shelf Guide goes beyond the nutrition facts label by also considering the processing and ingredients of the products.
“By providing a more well-rounded picture of what’s in packaged foods, customers can make better, more informed decisions that benefit their individual dietary needs,” Satrazemis said. “Our program is unique because it includes attributes (Minimally Process, Nutrient Dense, and No-sugar added) that are authentic to Raley’s. And all attributes include consideration for added sugar and sodium, two ingredients most added to products to improve taste, but not quality.”
Raley’s is tireless when it comes to fine-tuning the customer experience it offers.
“We are improving our customer experience daily,” Satrazemis added. “In store, the new tags are easy to read and understand. We have expanded our online resources with a full list of the definitions and qualifications for all attributes. The most impressive tool is the use of the attributes on shop.raleys.com. Customers can sort products by attribute by using the icons on the home page or the filter when searching for your groceries in categories, like breakfast or frozen foods. This will make it much easier for customers to shop for products that meet their personal needs.”