Health Apps; The Key to a Shoppers Heart

Health apps are growing in popularity so why can’t supermarkets jump on board?

Not everyone can afford a personal trainer or a personal nutritionist, but a boom in health apps is providing a healthy alternative. Take for example this new app, Eat This Much, an online nutritional assistant that tells you exactly what you should be eating according to your goals and preferences – from losing weight to gaining muscle to gluten free.  It plans your meals and writes your shopping list and does everything but cook the food for you.

You can make choices from vegetarian to paleo to gluten free, you can also select the number of meals you want to eat per day. So, depending on your goals you can try and fit your daily calories into several meals or two meals, whichever fits into your lifestyle.  The app creates meal plans for the week with a detailed breakdown of their nutritional information and then emails you a shopping list with the ingredients and instructions for how to cook the meals. Additionally, Eat This Much will also work out how much the food will cost you.

Between apps like this one and exercise and nutrition tools like Fitbit all rising in popularity, it got us thinking, why can’t supermarkets help in this way? There’s plenty of things supermarkets can do in stores to guide customers, from tips and information on healthy choices to in store nutritionists and displays with meal suggestions. But supermarkets should look to guide the shopper before they get to the store as well.  Supermarket apps with shopping lists could personalize to cater to the needs of individuals or families. Help customers with their diet and health goals and assist with weekly meals plans and budgets. Connecting with customers’ online and through mobile apps and become a seamless nutrition and health guide from the home to the store.