1. Meredith Ledlie-Johnson Elena Serrano Virginia SNAP-Ed ASNNA 2018
Shop Smart, Eat Smart Using Evidence-Based Strategies to Inform a Consumer-Oriented Healthy Food Retail Initiative
Meredith Ledlie-Johnson
Elena Serrano
Virginia SNAP-Ed
ASNNA 2018

2. Introduction
Business goals and public health nutrition goals to enhance consumer purchases of Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), may not align.1
Finding common ground is necessary for sustainable behavioral economic interventions.2 This essentially includes altering the way foods are presented and marketed to the consumer without restricting purchasing choices.3
There are practical concerns from the retailer perspective that may influence the success of food store interventions, including:
available space and structures
the convenience, demand, profitability, and shelf-life of unhealthy food products

3. Interviews with store managers Market basket assessment tool
Focus groups with SNAP participants
Market basket assessment tool (MBAT)
Inform food images within Shop Smart, Eat Smart logo
Inform In-Store Resources
Identification of Stores for Partnership
Identification of Strategies to Use within Stores and to Guide Conversations with
Development of a Curriculum to Support “Asking” Behavior of Consumers in Direct Education

4. Phase 1: Inform Food Images within Shop Smart, Eat Smart logo

5. Market Basket Assessment Tool
Developing the MBAT
Market Basket Assessment Tool
Adapted from Nutritional Environment Measures Survey (NEMS)
4-page survey tool
Assesses availability and affordability of nutritious food items promoted by SNAP-Ed
Grains, fruits, meat, dairy and eggs, beans, seeds, nuts, and nut butters
Cheapest healthy item available (price/oz.)
Misyak, S., Hedrick, V., Pudney, E., Serrano, E., & Farris, A. (2018). Reliability of a Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT) for use in SNAP-Ed Healthy Retail Initiatives. Accepted for Publication in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

6. Market Basket Assessment Tool
Developing the MBAT
Market Basket Assessment Tool
Based on assessments in 37 stores, the following food items were found to be the most popular nutritious options in SNAP- eligible stores:
Canned Veggies – 37
Canned Meat – 37
Hot Cereal – 35
Milk – 34
Eggs – 32
Nut butter – 36

7. Phase 2: Design and Selection of In-Store Promotions and Marketing, including Recipes

8. Interviews with Food Store Managers (n=29)
Low-income and low- access rural areas of central Virginia
Measures –
Survey with cost analysis
Free list exercise
Card sort based on marketing mix/nudge strategy (Kraak & co-workers)
Market Basket Assessment Tool (MBAT)
Kraak VI, T Englund, S Misyak, EL Serrano. A novel marketing mix and choice architecture framework to nudge restaurant customers toward healthy food environments to reduce obesity in the United States. Obesity Review 2017.

9. Results High Agreement Results - ~70% or at least 20 retailers
Increase healthy snack product stocking.
Increase self space of healthy foods and beverages.
Provide MyPlate shopping lists for consumers to promote healthy foods and beverages.
Use an appealing display to highlight healthy foods and beverages.
Use shelf labels (messages or nutrition info) in support of healthy foods and beverages.
Use product labels (messages or nutrition info) in support of healthy foods and beverages.
Use a standardized shelf or product labeling system to indicate if a food is healthy, unhealthy, or neutral.
Attach recipes and nutrition info to convenience food products to support healthy foods and beverages.
Add healthy foods and beverages to check-out lanes.
Use store aisle endcaps to display healthy foods and beverages.
Place healthy foods and beverages at eye level locations.
Move healthy foods and beverages to the front of the store or to high consumer traffic areas.
Move healthy foods and beverages closer to the easy reach of children.
Using categories Profile, Promotion, Prompting, Priming, and Proximity to promote purchases of DGAs—supported foods and beverages

10. Retailer-Facing Menu Strategies

11. Retailer-Facing Menu Strategies

12. Shelf-labels to highlight healthy foods & beverages

13. Retailer 1-Pager

14. Youth Scavenger Hunts

15. Nutrition Education for Staff

16. Food Demonstrations
Food Demo Guidebook coming in early 2018

17. Store Tours

18. Targeted Social Media to Promote Partner Stores to SNAP-Consumers
From other FNP programs, we know SNAP consumers use social media to learn about healthier food options in their communities
Promoting stores vs. map of stores to target areas
Propel app talks

19. Phase 3: Development of a Curriculum to Support “Asking” Behavior of Consumers

20. Focus Groups with SNAP-Ed Participants
Held 4 focus groups with SNAP-Ed participants in rural and urban parts of Virginia to help consider opportunities within Virginia SNAP-Ed to support consumer demand
Questions designed to explore if participants felt:
comfortable asking for specific foods to be sold
learning how to ask retailers to sell healthier foods was valuable
Found broad support for this approach and these types of lessons
Felt “empowering”

21. “Voice Your Choice” Lessons for Consumers

22. Phase 4: Identification of Stores for Partnership

23. Using data to choose retail partners
Step-by-step guide to assist SNAP-Ed Agents in identifying retail partners in their communities. Decision based on:
Gathering ata from the census, CDC BRFSS & USDA ERS food environment atlas among others
Partner stores must be in an area with 50% or more pop at 185% FPL or have $50K or more monthly SNAP sales
Assessing potential community stakeholders for partnership
Conducting MBAT in potential retail sites to ensure minimum score
Approaching retailer with potential strategies and partnership proposal

24. Thank you! Meredith Ledlie-Johnson, meredil@vt.edu
Elena Serrano,
Acknowledgements:
Sarah Misyak, PSE Evaluation Specialist
Liza Dobson, Healthy Food Retail Initiative Coordinator
Kara Lubischer, Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy

25. Signs, posters, & pictures to promote healthy foods & beverages

26. Use cues to guide consumers to healthy foods & beverages
HEALTHY FOOD THIS WAY
HEALTHY FOOD THIS WAY

27. Use store aisle endcaps to display healthy foods & beverages

28. Develop appealing displays to highlight healthy foods & beverages

29. Move healthy foods & beverages to check-out lanes/areas

30. Place healthy foods & beverages at eye level locations