Implementation of a 2-for-1 Price Incentive for Fruits and Vegetables in a Grocery Retail Setting

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Nutritional Science
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Growing interest in retail-based healthy eating interventions.
• Evaluating a 2-for-1 price incentive for fruits and vegetables (F&V) in a grocery chain.
• Assessing impact of a double-dollar F&V incentive on purchasing behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate the implementation of a successful 2-for-1 price incentive for fruits and vegetables (F&V).
• Assess whether a supermarket double-dollar F&V incentive increased purchases.
• Examine barriers and facilitators to intervention implementation.

Main Methods:

• Convergent, parallel mixed-methods design.
• Randomized controlled trial (RCT) pilot study (2015-2016) and larger RCT (2016-2017).
• Evaluation of six implementation outcomes: acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, and perceived cost.

Main Results:

• Intervention deemed highly acceptable, appropriate, and feasible by shoppers, retailers, and researchers.
• High initial adoption rate for the F&V discount.
• Moderate implementation fidelity, which improved over time.

Conclusions:

• Partnerships between academic researchers and retailers are effective for promoting healthy purchases.
• Findings are relevant for implementing similar grocery retail-based interventions.
• The double-dollar incentive model shows promise for public health initiatives.