Norwegian discount retailer Kiwi is removing chocolate and sugar products from its checkout areas to assist people with making healthier choices.
The initiative, which seeks to prevent shoppers from buying chocolate or other confectionery items while at the checkout, has been welcomed by the National Association for Public Health.
Healthy Choices
Nora Mile Helgesen, communications manager with responsibility for sustainability at Kiwi said, "In order to really mean something by the fact that we facilitate healthy choices, we had to do something with regard to tempting sugar products at the checkout.
"We know that there are many people who can easily purchase an extra chocolate or lollipop on the checkout line, and we wanted to do something about that."
Kiwi is currently implementing the measure across all its 703 stores in Norway.
Mina Gerhardsen of the National Association for Public Health said, "It must become easier to make healthy choices. The fact that Kiwi is now taking the lead and removing sugar from the tills is important to reduce the impulsive action of unhealthy, sweet products, and is an important contribution to better health."
Shopping Trends
Almost one in four Norwegians shop at Kiwi stores, and every week there are over four million transactions at the retailer's checkouts.
'Healthier tills' is one of the most important measures that can be taken to help people make healthier choices, Kiwi noted citing international reports, including UNICEF's report from 2023, entitled Guidance Framework to Support Healthier Food Retail Environments for Children.
Helgesen added, "We know that we can influence what customers put in the shopping cart, and we again want to lead by example.
"Doing something with sugar at the checkout was something we had plans for, and we received confirmation from the National Association for Public Health that this was something we should address."
Surveys carried out by the National Association for Public Health also showed support for removing sugary products from the checkout.
The retailer added, however, that it will not change the location of its candy segment inside its stores, especially in smaller stores where it can be perceived as being quite close to the checkout.
Sugar Reduction Goals
Kiwi has pledged to offer a healthier shopping basket for customers and seeks to reduce the sale of sugary items by 10% by 2025 compared to the baseline year 2020.
In the past, the retailer implemented several measures to reduce the sale of sugary drinks, including price reductions for sugar-free soft drinks.
"Sugar-free soda in Kiwi is still always cheaper than the variant with sugar," Helgesen added. "This has produced good results, because now close to 70% of all soft drinks we sell are sugar-free."
