Health promotion through in-store communication: a systematic literature review of real environment experiments

Promoting people's health has become a key aspect in retailers' strategies. In-store communication plays an important role as it can influence the consumer's decision-making process. The purpose of this study is to investigate previous research in the field of nutritional marketing that employs this approach. Specifically, the objective is to understand which elements of the tested initiatives are most effective in influencing consumer purchasing behavior toward healthier choices. To achieve this, we selected experiments related to in-store communication and conducted in real environment since the 2000's. Combining a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with a bibliometric co-citation analysis using VosViewer, the study identified four clusters. Cluster 1 includes issues related to health and poor nutrition, with a focus on nutritional education to promote healthier choices. Cluster 2 explores consumer awareness and how the information available to them can influence their behavior. Cluster 3 addresses how retailers can influence consumption choices and, consequently, their role in educating consumers towards healthier choices through in-store marketing strategies. Finally, Cluster 4 analyses the influence of economic variables on food choices, with a focus on low-income individuals, assessing how promotional initiatives on healthy foods can improve their accessibility. Findings suggest that while textual communication has a greater impact on purchasing decisions, combining textual and visual elements yields the best results. Additionally, positive and humorous communication strategies are more effective than negative or fear-based approaches. These results provide an overview of how to leverage in-store communication to drive healthier choices among consumers.