Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-Authorized Retailers' Perceived Costs to Use Behavioral Economic Strategies to Encourage Healthy Product Sales

Houghtaling, B., Serrano, E., Chen, S., Kraak, V. I., Harden, S. M., Davis, G. C., & Misyak, S. (2021). Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-Authorized Retailers’ Perceived Costs to Use Behavioral Economic Strategies to Encourage Healthy Product Sales. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 60(2), 212–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2020.1833873

SNAP-authorized retailers could use marketing-mix and choice-architecture (MMCA) strategies to improve SNAP purchases, but associated costs are unknown. Perceived cost and inconvenience to implement eight MMCA strategies were assessed among 29 U.S. retailers. Differences in perspective were explored (owners vs. managers, corporate vs. independent retailers, and by format). Place changes (e.g., added refrigeration) were perceived more costly and prompting (e.g., shelf labeling) less costly. Managers rated the perceived inconvenience to make proximity changes higher than owners (3.78 ± 1.4 and 2.33 ± 1.2, respectively) (p