Health and Well-being Strategy: Getting Started

May 20, 2020
Annette Maggi
Business Skills

By RDBA Executive Director, Annette Maggi, MS, RDN, LD, FAND

In this recent article, reasons for all retail dietitians to have a documented health and well-being strategy were featured. There are four steps to creating this strategy, and today we’ll discuss the first two steps in the process.

Step #1: Gather and Analyze Information

While you may be ready to jump in and start defining your goals and objectives, strive first to understand the complete environment in which your nutrition programs and services are operating. There are four types of information to gather and analyze in this step.

• Retailer insights. Retailers are very effective at adapting to changes in their communities and in consumer demand. Knowing and understanding the retailer’s short- and long-term goals and objectives allows you to build strategies to align with the overall corporate plan. Look to other departments such as produce, pharmacy, communications and corporate social responsibility to have a comprehensive picture of the organization’s priorities. If your company has an overall corporate vision for health and well-being, document it is a part of your strategy.
• Competitive Landscape. Comp shopping is a standard occurrence in the retail industry, as companies seek to understand what their competitors are doing well and where their own business has competitive advantage. Comp shopping on health and well-being allows you to compare approach, programs, and effectiveness as well as to be prepared to explain why your suggested strategy makes the most sense for your company, key markets, and priority shopper demographics.
• Shopper Insights. Retailers have vast amounts of data on their shoppers. Access this data to understand key demographics, definition of your most loyal shoppers and key shopping patterns. Consider responses to any surveys or program evaluations to understand your target shoppers’ healthy living goals and needs and prior use of your programs and services.
• SWOT Analysis. Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats – these are the four pillars of this analysis. Watch this video for an overview of conducting this analysis. Based on your work environment, complete your own SWOT analysis at the store, regional, banner or corporate level.

Step #2: Create a Vision Statement

Based on all the information you gather and analyzed in step one, develop a vision statement for your health and well-being programs. A vision statement is a view into the future with hope and a positive outlook. It describes a inspirational, long-term plan for what you’ll accomplish in your program, who they will help, and how the company’s health and well-being brand will be perceived. The vision is often out of reach for now, but not so far out of reach as to be unattainable. It gives everyone a description of what you're working towards.

In our next article, the final two steps in developing a health and well-being strategy – Defining, Objectives, Goals and Tactics and Evaluation – will be addressed.