Raley’s supermarket rethinks the cereal aisle

Statement of CSPI senior policy associate Julia McCarthy

Raley’s is on a roll. The nation’s 27th largest grocer is taking a next step toward reducing unhealthy marketing, by committing to move the highest-sugar cereals to the less-visible bottom shelves.

Placing products at eye level is a powerful marketing strategy. Food and beverage manufacturers spend billions each year on trade promotion fees to ensure that their products occupy the most-visible stores spaces. Trade promotion fees are so effective at increasing impulse purchases that food and beverage manufacturers now spend three times more on in-store product promotion—like shelf placement—than on traditional advertising.

Earlier this year, Raley’s removed 25 percent of the candy from its checkout aisles. In 2016, the grocery chain eliminated sugar-sweetened soda from near its registers.

CSPI continues to work to increase healthy—and decrease unhealthy—in-store food marketing, including a campaign in Grand Rapids and Lansing, Michigan, urging the Meijer chain to adopt healthy checkout aisles.