Getting ready for High Fat, Salt & Sugar (HFSS) Regulation Changes
This article will take approximately 3 minutes to read
Published 24 Aug 2022 in Raising Awareness
Did you know obesity costs the NHS over £6 billion a year? Hear from Hannah Phillips, Space, Range and Display Manager in Food Retail who explains more about the High in Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) regulation which comes into force in England on 1st October.
A regulation which is all part of the Government's plans to tackle obesity-related illnesses, means stores in mainland England with more than 2,000 sq ft of selling space will need to make some big changes to where they display some products – this is 135 stores across our estate.
What does the HFSS regulation mean for us?
From 1 October this year, pre-packaged high fat, sugar, salt products such as chocolate, sugary drinks and crisps can’t be displayed in locations where we see lots of customers pass through our stores – e.g. near the front door, near the checkouts, or on our promotion ends. And display units on the shop floor will also only be allowed in authorised places.
To get ready for this, we have been ‘relaying’ the ambient merchandising space (where products are displayed on the shop floor), as well as updating our product category planograms (what products are displayed on our shelves). For many stores, this represents some big changes.
What is an HFSS Product?
Location Restrictions in store
Store Entrance
Checkouts
End of Asile Displays
It’s all in the planning
Our Store Development team have done a fantastic job of planning the store relays and supporting the stores through this process. Implementing this level of change across 2/3rds of our estate is no easy task!
HFSS point of sale material
Due to the location restrictions imposed by the HFSS legislation, non-compliant promotions and feature bays must be located in aisles or on the perimeter walls in-store. To mitigate against sale loss and help promote these areas to our member's new point of sale(POS) has been rolled out to stores this week.
The main kit consists of hanging boards, floor vinyls and pennants, see below.
HFSS will impact all colleagues
It is not just in-store; HFSS will relate to all colleagues in some way or another: from watching the news, visiting other retailers, or chatting with family and friends. I am absolutely certain our members and customers will understand the importance of what we’re changing and why we’re doing it.
Our members won’t be able to see HFSS products on the promotion ends from 1 October, and they’ll likely shop our aisles much more. But this will provide more choices in what to buy and the opportunity to make some positive changes in how they shop and what they eat.