Grocery retailers serve up unhealthy food options to online shoppers

A new study has found that a large proportion of the products displayed to Australians shopping for groceries online are likely to be unhealthy, regardless of which retailer they buy from. On average, at least one third of products prominently displayed on any web page were unhealthy, the research showed.

Published in BMC Medicine, the study is believed to be the first in the world to comprehensively investigate the online presentation of products in grocery stores’ websites. Damian Maganja, Research Fellow in Food Policy at the George Institute and lead author of this study, explains why the results are concerning:

“Unlike in physical stores, in online settings shoppers can’t walk down aisles to look for other options or to avoid unhealthy displays. This means tactics such as advertising, and subtle promotions through targeted recommendations, themed lists and search results, are both pervasive and unavoidable. As people often use online shopping for its quick convenience, these prominent displays are likely to influence what people add to their shopping carts.”

The researchers attempted to capture a “clean” view of online supermarkets, unlinked to regular internet habits, to uncover retailers’ practices. Across 12,032 products in all placement types collected this study:

• 44% were assessed as unhealthy (Health Star Rating less than 3.5). 
• 54% of products presented on homepages were unhealthy, with these pages also individually promoting the most products (an average of 46 per log in), indicating that shoppers are bombarded with products such as lollies and sugary drinks as soon as they enter the online store
• One in seven promoted products also had the lowest Health Star Rating possible (0.5 stars)
• Though many promoted products were also found to have relatively high Health Star Ratings, this included many salty snacks, artificially sweetened drinks and high-sugar breakfast cereals currently exploiting gaps in the algorithm

While this study found that only a slightly higher proportion of unhealthy products (45% vs 43%) were displayed to online shoppers in more socioeconomically disadvantaged areas compared to the most advantaged areas, other factors such as tracking of purchases and personalisation of displays may increase the chances of people being targeted for unhealthy promotions by location. Previous research in physical supermarkets indicates that unhealthy products are more likely to be promoted in disadvantaged areas, despite the relative affordability of healthier dietary patterns.

There are no restrictions on the targeting of shoppers and marketing of unhealthy products online in Australia. Damian suggests that recent English regulations covering both price- and placement-type promotions should be introduced in Australia as a priority: 

“Higher standards for the type of products that are being actively pushed online to time-poor and financially stretched Australians are sorely needed. This will help improve the healthiness of diets and reduce other risk factors for disease such as unhealthy weight. The ever-increasing health impacts and costs of preventable chronic conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many types of cancer demand this of our governments and food industry.”