Tesco Encourages Convenient Dieting
By Bernice Hurst, Managing Director, Fine Food Network
In an effort to encourage customers to spend their dieting dollars (or to lose bodily and monetary pounds as may be more relevant in the UK) on Tesco products, the supermarket has linked up with website ediets.com in a New Year's promotion.
According to The Times, "Britain's biggest supermarket chain has splashed out £2.5m on an overhaul of its Healthy Living range and the introduction of a new brand, Light Choices, aimed at dieters" - apparently its biggest investment in healthy eating products for more than two decades, Tesco is supporting its new lines with an updated health website and "a new online Healthy Living tracker that gives targeted, detailed advice on diet to shoppers."
According to the website, "Light Choices is a great new addition to the Tesco food range for dieters who don't want to compromise on choice or taste. All products meet strict criteria for sugar, saturates, salt and calories and either less than three percent fat or half the fat of a comparable product."
Customers wanting to determine which diet is best for them, link through to ediets and complete a profile which takes them to a choice of ten featured meal plans and eleven healthy living plans.
Deciding to choose one of the plans, at a cost of £2.99 per week, entitles shoppers to a personalized weekly meal plan and shopping list, weigh-in, access to nutritionists, motivational team and other dieters.
Carolyn Bradley, commercial director responsible for the project, explained that today's consumers equate healthy eating with preventing disease by positively choosing foods such as broccoli or oily fish rich in omega 3 acids. The Healthy Living range will therefore focus on balanced meals and will contain many natural foods. The new Light Choices range will be targeted more at those just wanting to lose weight and will include lighter versions of favorite foods to allow managed indulgence.
Tesco has also decided to introduce a 30-minute, four-in-one health-check service at some of its stores' pharmacies. The tests will look at weight management, blood pressure and cholesterol as well as diabetes screening.
Discussion questions: Do you think supermarkets in the U.S. should be much more heavily involved in encouraging shoppers to think more about what they buy and eat? Are there opportunities for retailers in the U.S. to create a point of difference with a program similar in nature to what Tesco is doing with ediets? Do programs such as this create loyal customers?
[Author's comment] At about the same time Tesco launched its healthy living and diet programs, journalist Martin Hickman was writing about an investigation by television program Dispatches that reveals confusion and frequent inaccuracies on the labels of ready meals, convenience and processed foods. Researchers also claim that some products promoted as premium and healthy often contain more of the dreaded fat, salt and sugar than economy ranges. As Mr. Hickman put it, "Dispatches found that own-brand ready meals in supermarkets with names such as 'Healthy Living' or 'Be Good to Yourself' were sometimes less healthy than cheaper, economy versions. In addition, some branded products promoted as healthy had more salt or sugar than junk food."