Tesco could 'warn shoppers' against buying unhealthy food by 'using Clubcard data'

Tesco has said it could use shoppers' Clubcard data to warn them when their baskets are becoming unhealthy. The supermarket's chief executive Ken Murphy said artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to monitor how customers were shopping to help 'nudge' them towards healthier choices.

Speaking at the FT Future of Retail Conference on Tuesday, he said: "I can see it nudging you over time, saying: 'I've noticed over time in your shopping basket that your sodium salt content is 250 percent of your daily recommended allowance. I would recommend you substitute this, this and this.'"

Ken continued: "It can help to bring your shopping bill down, reduce waste and improve the outcome and the power of that Clubcard," before adding that AI "will completely revolutionise how customers interact with retailers."

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Clubcard data could also tell customers they should wait a week to stock up on products if Tesco had an offer coming up that could make their shop cheaper. Mr Murphy said the aim was for customers to feel that "Clubcard is literally doing their job for them and making their lives easier".

He said this was "very simple stuff" which could "really improve people's daily lives". Tesco has said it does not "sell or share any individual customer data and we take our responsibilities regarding the use of customer data extremely seriously". It stressed it was not currently looking at rolling out a "nudge" policy.

Tesco, as Britain's largest supermarket chain, boasts over 22 million households enrolled in its Clubcard scheme, introduced back in 1995 to offer customers more favourable prices.

Meanwhile, Henry Dimbleby, the lead on the Government's national food strategy, emphasised the urgency of tackling diet-related health issues to the BBC's Today programme: "It's great to hear that there's recognition that if we don't get a grip on food-related ill health it's going to destroy our health, the NHS and the economy. But he (Ken Murphy) isn't going to be able to do it on his own."

Reflecting on past initiatives during the food strategy conversations, he stated: "During the food strategy we talked to the CEO of a supermarket who'd tried to do a similar thing in five stores and they had succeeded in improving the baskets of food that their customers were buying. But all five stores lost profitability, so they couldn't roll it out."

Additionally, he revealed: "So (former chancellor and health secretary) Sajid Javid, before he resigned, was about to launch a piece of work which will be in the Department for Health about how you could take exactly what he's referring to the healthiness of baskets and then put in place incentives so that all of them had to improve over time, so it wasn't just Tesco who would be hurting their own profits, everyone would have to do it."

When queried if consumers would approve of their purchase data being scrutinised this way, Mr Dimbleby acknowledged: "Their data is being looked at in this way whether they like it or not.

"They're constantly being marketed to, they're constantly having often whether it's online, whether it's on social media unhelpful and destructive attempts to change their behaviour. And the work we did suggested that people are quite up for being helped to be healthier."

Professor Susan Michie, director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London (UCL), also told the Today programme: "This in general is very good in terms of people's health, because, especially things like salt content, people often have no idea.

"However, it's really important that people be told what technology is being used in what way and for what purposes. So transparency's really important.

"The other thing that's really important is choice. So, as it seems to be at the moment, people just feed in their data and get these recommendations. However, what would be a step better would be they would have a choice about what data they give.

"Do they want to share their health data for example? Because if they do share their health data they'll get more useful recommendations. But they may not want to.

"But also what are their own goals? Their goals might be to be healthier, but their goals might be to spend less money or be more sustainable."