Last updated on September 7th, 2012 at 10:48 am
A year after pledging to develop a front-of-pack label that would give its customers an easier way to identify healthier food, Walmart Stores Inc. has unveiled the “Great For You” icon. The icon, part of the company’s healthier food initiative, is an effort to implement a transparent, summary icon for its private label brand products backed by nutrition criteria. “Great For You” will initially appear on select Walmart Great Value and Marketside items as well as on fresh and packaged fruits and vegetables at Walmart U.S. stores nationwide this spring.
“Walmart moms are telling us they want to make healthier choices for their families, but need help deciphering all the claims and information already displayed on products,” said Andrea Thomas, SVP of sustainability at Walmart. “Our ‘Great For You’ icon provides customers with an easy way to quickly identify healthier food choices. As they continue to balance busy schedules and tight budgets, this simple tool encourages families to have a healthier diet.”
“(This) announcement by Walmart is yet another step toward ensuring that our kids are given the chance to grow up healthy,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “Just over a year ago, Walmart committed to save shoppers a billion dollars in their cost of fruits and vegetables, and the fact that Walmart exceeded this number is a real accomplishment and a milestone in our efforts to support families eating better. In addition, the healthy seal will be another tool for parents to identify the best products for their kids. Giving parents the information they need to make healthy choices is a key piece of solving childhood obesity.”
Items with the “Great For You” icon must meet nutrition criteria informed by the latest nutrition science and authoritative guidance from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Institute of Medicine (IOM). Developed in consultation with food and nutrition experts from the public and private sectors as well as leading health organizations, the “Great For You” nutrition criteria are available to the public on the web (www.walmartgreatforyou.com).
“Walmart’s effort to bring healthier food to kitchen tables nationwide was inspired by our customers and informed by the latest food science and policy,” said Leslie Dach, EVP of corporate affairs at Walmart. “Last year we stood with the First Lady and showed how Walmart, working with its suppliers, the public sector and non-governmental organizations, can truly make a difference in people’s lives.”
Dach added: “We are proud to announce that after a year of working with nutrition stakeholders, meaningful progress is being made. We have the opportunity to address an issue many feel is too complicated or too hard to tackle and to demonstrate that it doesn’t have to be.”
The icon serves as a guide to help people make incremental changes to their diet by encouraging more nutritious food choices, according to Walmart. The science-based criteria uses a two-step process: Step one focuses on encouraging people to eat more fruits, vegetables, fiber-rich whole grains, low-fat dairy, nuts and seeds and lean meats. Examples of these items include brown rice, 1 percent milk, raw almonds and 93 percent lean ground beef. Step two limits the amount of total trans and saturated fats, sodium and added sugars that can be found in items such as sweetened oatmeal, granola bars, flavored yogurt and frozen meals.
“When it comes to food, our customers want a variety of choices, but they also want help identifying healthier options. Customers asked us to make healthier food choices easy while keeping prices low,” said Jack Sinclair, EVP of grocery for Walmart. “The nutritionists we engaged told us to make the criteria tough and significant. We feel confident the ‘Great For You’ icon balances those objectives, and will become an important tool Walmart shoppers can use to fill their pantries with healthier food at prices our customers can afford.”
The NPD Group signs point-of-sale cooperation agreement with Walmart
The NPD Group Inc., a global leader in consumer and retail market research for a wide range of industries, has reached an agreement with Walmart to receive and analyze its point-of-sale information in the U.S. NPD currently receives information from more than 900 retailers representing 150,000 retail doors worldwide. The addition of Walmart data will enhance this information and allow NPD to continue to expand its portfolio of solution-oriented products and services, the company said.
Under the agreement, NPD will receive sales data from Walmart U.S. stores and walmart.com. The agreement covers a broad set of general merchandise categories spanning the following Walmart merchandise units: Entertainment, Apparel, Home, Hardlines, and Toys. NPD and Walmart are working together to integrate Walmart information into NPD products, which are used by thousands of decision makers at manufacturers and retailers to identify high value market opportunities and monitor business performance.
“This agreement is truly a game changer for NPD and for the industry,” said NPD president and COO Karyn Schoenbart. “With Walmart data, we will be able to provide our clients with world class information and solidify our leadership position as the premier source of market insight in our industries. We look forward to offering our clients the best information ever for understanding their customers in order to drive better decisions and grow their businesses.”
“Our agreement with NPD will provide Walmart with deeper insights into what consumers are buying and what they are looking to buy,” said Cindy Davis, EVP of Walmart global customer insights. “We are sharing our point-of-sale information so that we’re able to identify opportunities sooner and work with our manufacturer partners to develop more impactful customer-driven programs in the future.”
Walmart will be using NPD as the primary provider of data for the general merchandise categories tracked by NPD and NPD DisplaySearch as a new supplier of forecasting analysis for the electronics team. NPD recently signed an agreement with Sam’s Club to receive point-of-sale information from Sam’s Club and samsclub.com.
