Expanding Health Initiatives with Smart Swaps

Healthier Habits Swaps by Schnuck Markets

Fragmented nutritional data and complex labelling often prevent shoppers from making healthier choices, even when they possess the intent to do so.

By integrating a sophisticated “Smart Swap” engine into the retail journey, Schnucks Markets successfully transformed nutritional complexity into effortless, high-value shopping decisions. This solution provided relevant, convenient, and trusted nudges that effectively bridged the gap between shopper intent and long-term health outcomes, turning a friction-heavy experience into a seamless path toward wellness.

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“Schnucks’ partnership with Spoon Guru has supported the growth and success of our health initiatives.”

Allison Primo

Manager, Health & Wellness Strategy, Schnuck Markets

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The Challenge: Automating Gentle Nudges Towards Healthier Alternativesnd Budgets

The primary barrier to healthier eating is not a lack of willpower, but the friction caused by unstructured product information and the cognitive load of comparing thousands of SKUs.

This lack of automated, scalable guidance reinforces the consumer perception that healthy navigation is unsupported, leading to stagnant shopping habits and missed retail opportunities. Without a reliable way to manage product reformulations and new developments, retailers struggle to provide the consistent, high-quality data required to foster trust and influence higher-quality, health-aligned purchases

The Solution: Scalable Intelligence and Clinical Validation

To power the Smart Swap functionality, Spoon Guru deployed a high-performance, real-time API that processes the product catalogue through a Similarity Engine and a Health Score module. 

By assessing items against 450 rigorous nutritional rules and regulated nutrient profiling science, the system identifies comparable products that meet exact customer need states. This “human-in-the-loop” framework combines AI speed with the oversight of registered nutritionists, ensuring every recommendation is clinically accurate, quality-assured, and instantly available. 

For the shopper, this results in relevant, convenient, and trusted healthier nudges across the entire journey that are proven to sustain healthier food choices over time.

The Application: Precision Customisation in the Shopping Journey

The front-end experience leverages behavioural science by offering “Quick and Easy” nudges that encourage small, sustained changes. 

These Smart Swaps are highly customised: parameters are set to ensure swaps remain within specific price and weight thresholds (e.g., “Similar price or less”), ensuring the alternative is always a practical and relevant choice for the consumer. Spoon Guru provides the flexibility to deliver these swaps across a variety of customer touchpoints, including native apps, e-commerce platforms, in-store interventions, and marketing campaigns, utilising either a Real-time API or batch file delivery.

The Impact:
Commercial Growth Through Healthier Baskets

Increased Basket Value:
The implementation of Smart Swaps drove a measurable 10-12% uplift in Average Order Value (AOV)

Proven Conversion:
The programme achieved a ~4% swap conversion rate, demonstrating high consumer receptivity to nutritional nudges

Enhanced Strategic Loyalty:
By meeting health-related strategic goals, the initiative increased Net Promoter Score (NPS) and improved overall retailer perception

Future-Proof Compliance:
The scoring system is aligned with international regulations, such as UK HFSS and EU nutrient profiling, allowing for seamless adaptation to legislative changes

Scalable Precision:
Automated everyday delivery ensures that even with constant inventory changes, the accuracy of health nudges remains uncompromised

Bridging the Gap: From Retailer Goals to Consumer Trust

The Schnucks Healthier Habits programme successfully reconciled the retailer’s need for larger, healthier baskets with the consumer’s desire for better nutritional support. Grounded in behavioural science, which identifies nudges as a highly effective intervention for encouraging small and sustained changes in shopping behaviour, the partnership transformed complex legislative and nutritional data into a simple, high-impact tool for loyalty and growth.