Dive Brief:

• Albertsons has launched an online platform designed to guide consumers in making informed decisions related to nutrition, exercise, sleep and self-awareness and rewards them for meeting health-related goals, the supermarket operator announced Monday.
• The new digital tool, known as “Sincerely Health,” is available to shoppers through apps and websites run by 16 of the chain’s banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Shaw and Acme.
• Albertsons is rolling out the new offering as food retailers increasingly position themselves as essential links in promoting well-being in areas they serve.

Dive Insight:

Albertsons is describing Sincerely Health as emblematic of its interest in helping people manage their lives by gaining a clearer sense of how factors such as nutrition, gender, age, lifestyle choices and mental health affect them.

The platform uses those factors in combination with a questionnaire and actuarial techniques to determine a person’s “health score.” Sincerely Health also allows people to share information from activity trackers including Google Fit, Apple Health and Fitbit and enter information about their vital signs and medications they take, according to the announcement. 

Sincerely Health also lets users set goals to boost their score and measure their progress toward those milestones, and provides feedback and rewards as people make headway. In addition, it allows people to handle pharmacy-related tasks like keeping track of prescriptions, arranging vaccine appointments and setting up telehealth appointments, Albertsons said.

Shoppers who join the program will initially receive as much as $25 to apply toward a future grocery purchase, and can accrue more points by setting a health goal or acting on a suggestion made by the system.

Albertsons, which runs more than 1,700 in-store pharmacies, said it developed Sincerely Health in partnership with healthcare providers, insurers and technology companies “who share a broader purpose to improve the health and well-being of every community they serve.” The company also noted that it took into account information from more than 10,000 shoppers and employees to build the platform.

The program’s launch comes on the heels of health-care related announcements from other large retailers, including Kroger. In early January, the grocer’s healthcare division began a brand campaign to draw attention to wellness-related services consumers can access in stores run by the chain. Later in the month, the unit, known as Kroger Health, said it would tap the grocer’s in-store health centers to recruit people to help researchers conduct research into gut and immune health. 

Also in January, Amazon unveiled a subscription program that offers Prime members discounts on generic medications, and Food Lion announced that it is working with a North Carolina hospital to provide boxes of healthy foods to departing patients who face food insecurity.