Online Program

320158
Impact of an in-store supermarket marketing and coupon campaign on skim and low-fat milk purchases


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 2:30 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.

Allison Karpyn, PhD, Center for Research in Education and Social Policy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, PhD, RD, School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
Stephanie Weiss, ScM, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA
Barbara Ruhs, M.S. RDN., Neighborhood Nutrition LLP, Phoenix, AZ
Donna Levine, Donna Levine Associates Inc, Chicago, IL
Darya McClain, PhD, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
Introduction

            Many food-purchasing decisions are made in grocery stores, which provide a promising venue for environmental, policy, and pricing initiatives focused on improving dietary health outcomes. This presentation will describe how one public-private partnership worked to launch an in-store marketing campaign targeted toward low-fat milk purchasing in a population that typically buys full fat milk.

Methods

Sales of full-fat milk purchases were tracked through customer loyalty cards in Food City stores in Arizona. Out of the population who purchased full-fat milk (73,000), 20,000 shoppers were randomly selected as a control group and 53,000 were eligible to receive the coupon over the 16-week period. Radio ads, refrigerator clings and hang tags were implemented in all stores to promote the purchasing of lower fat milk, and coupons were issued to a randomized group of consumers who had exclusively purchased full-fat milk in the past year.

Results

            44,050 coupons were issued over the 16-week period and 5.3% were redeemed. Sales of low-fat and skim milk increased among full-fat milk buyers over the course of the intervention, and 42% of those who tried low-fat or skim milk and who received a coupon repurchased the milk.

Discussion

            Overall, efforts to advertise and incentivize with a coupon offering a lower-calorie milk enticed consumers to try products that they are not accustomed to purchasing. Such shifts in purchases can represent a substantial calorie savings per purchase, which is promising in the fight against obesity.

Learning Areas:

Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs

Learning Objectives:
describe how one public, private partnership worked to launch an in-store marketing campaign targeted toward low-fat milk purchasing in a population that typically buys full fat milk

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an Associate Director of The Center for Research in Education and Social Policy, Associate Professor of Education and Associate Professor of Behavioral Health and Nutrition at the University of Delaware. I hold faculty positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University. Before UD, I served as the Director of Research and Evaluation at The Food Trust in Philadelphia for 11 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.