You may well have heard on the news that the Government has changed its mind on the dates for introducing the new HFSS regulations. With so many consumers struggling with the cost of living crisis, it was felt that tightening up the rules governing discounts on food (however unhealthy) would be a step too far for many at such a difficult time.
So what has changed?
The government has delayed two of the three parts of HFSS legislation for a year. The restrictions on volume promotions, such as multibuys and extra fill, planned for October 2022 will now not take place until October 2023. While the restrictions being applied to advertising will now come into force in January 2024 rather than January 2023. It’s great news that you now have more time to plan for these parts of the legislation.
However, the changes planned for store display will still come into force this October, as had been originally intended. These cover restrictions on the placement of non-compliant products at store entrances, the end of aisles and close to the checkouts.
The original criteria still apply, which means that the rules only apply to stores with selling space greater than 2,000 square feet and with 50 or more employees.
What can you do?
As we’ve been saying for a while, you really need to put all your preparations in place in good time, so you can take the introduction of the new legislation in your stride. The fact that you have more time to get organised for most of these changes will certainly help.
But, as you don’t have that luxury with the location restrictions, it’s time to focus your attention on testing different store layouts to optimise performance and ensure customers will still be able to find the products they need from October.
SalesOut can give your business the edge in this respect with our specialist store layout testing. We can analyse the business impact of different product locations and layout changes in-store to help you find the solutions that work best for you.
You will then have one year, until October 2023, to focus on getting the right promotional plans in place, without multibuys or extra fill packs. We still expect PMPs to become increasingly popular as an effective tool to replace extra fill as a way of clearly demonstrating value to consumers.
How SalesOut can help
The extra year means that, at SalesOut, we have more time to work with suppliers and wholesalers to help them fully understand how the legislation will impact them and what they need to do to can make these changes work for rather than against them. We have an array of HFSS tools and analytics services available to help forward-thinking clients make the most of what lies ahead.
Our vast coverage of Wholesale, Convenience and Foodservice means we can provide the most robust analysis, predictions and actions for affected suppliers or wholesalers. Find out how we can help your business with HFSS by getting in touch today.