More than a Store is a regular column that delves into the experiential side of grocery retailing.
When Kroger rolled out its app refresh at the start of November, an employee with the grocer’s Kroger Health division summed up the changes in a LinkedIn post: “Health now has a front-and-center presence within the app.”
Indeed, a recent jaunt around Kroger’s app makes it clear that the grocer aims to position itself as not only a place to buy food but also as a provider of health and wellness services.
The “Health” icon is located in the middle of the bottom navigation row, with the main shopping and savings center tabs positioned to the left and the customer’s cart and search function to the right. Health is literally at the heart of the mobile experience.
Within the “Health” section, customers can manage prescriptions, schedule vaccines, access personalized care, find pharmacy locations and view nutrition insights if they have signed up for OptUp, a nutrition rating system. Kroger has said OptUp can nudge consumers toward healthier choices by highlighting items with a higher score.
In the Health section, customers can also access their health records and find dedicated shopping pages for specific lifestyle and dietary needs, such as high-protein, low-sugar and sports nutrition.
The prominence of the Health section isn’t surprising given the years-long efforts by Kroger Health, the arm of the grocer focused on health and wellness, to make food-as-medicine initiatives part of the typical shopper’s journey. Kroger is looking to be a leader in nutrition, health and wellness efforts as opportunities abound in the grocery industry for retailers and CPGs to leverage food as a way to help people manage their health.
Having health and wellness offerings in one easy-to-get-to section helps keep nutrition and healthy living top of mind for consumers and can help remind them that Kroger is helping them achieve their goals.
Kroger’s app refresh also took a similar approach for its other dedicated sections, including consolidating the deals, coupons, weekly ad and savings under the “Save” section.
So, how does it hold up to a test drive?
Navigating Kroger’s app, I had mixed feelings about the customer experience for the health and wellness offerings. On the one hand, the Health section provides straightforward access to those offerings and services. And it signals to people how important health and wellness are to Kroger’s mission to serve them as not just a place to buy food items but also as a destination with tools and services to support healthy lifestyles.
I wondered, though, if there’s a way to integrate the health services with other parts of the user experience. For example, Albertsons’ Safeway app offers gamification for mobile users who take healthy actions.
Safeway consumers can earn points or rewards for completing health-focused tasks, such as getting $5 off after completing their health survey or earning 2,000 points when they join the Recognize and Reflect challenge. People can redeem their points for money off select items, like fresh produce, private label frozen fruit or certain egg brands — reinforcing healthy eating objectives.
While some people may lean into gamification, others may find this off-putting and gimmicky. Still, integration could help further Kroger’s health goals by further incentivizing app users, especially those who haven’t yet explored the grocer’s health and wellness offerings, to get invested in tools such as OptUp.
Even though there are opportunities for Kroger to further integrate its health services into the rest of its in-app offerings, I do think the grocer did an effective job of making app users aware that it’s a health-focused grocer. People can’t miss the Health tab, and it’s easy to navigate. As someone already interested in nutritional insights for my diet, I could definitely see myself — if I regularly shopped at a Kroger banner — using OptUp to track my progress and discover ways to make healthier choices.
It’s easy to imagine Kroger connecting OptUp to rewards and deals to incentivize consumer behavior. Maybe in their next app refresh?
