Australian grocery retailer Coles Supermarket has launched a new ‘Wellness Road’ range of foods to give health-conscious customers a more affordable range of nutritious options. By branching out into health foods, Coles is carving out its own health-aligned positioning and communicating to shoppers that it is striving to help Australians improve their diets and live healthier lives, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The Wellness Road range includes 28 products such as Organic Black Rice Noodles with Chia, Organic Cacao Powder, White Chia Seeds and Australian Almond Flour – items that would typically be found in a premium health food store, or on the menu of a high-end organic restaurant.

Katrina Diamonon, Consumer Insights Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Upon closer inspection, however, it is evident that Wellness Road is not simply about making highly sought-after health food more accessible. The inclusion of products such as ‘nutritional yeast flakes’ and ‘textured vegetable protein’ illustrates that the range is not simply targeting everyday Australians looking to make healthier choices. In fact, it is arguably geared more towards the ‘healthy foodie’ segment that would otherwise be shopping at an upscale natural grocer.”

The range even has the potential to draw new shoppers to the store. According to GlobalData’s 2018 Q3 Consumer Survey, 42% of Australians say the ‘availability of healthy and nutritious products’ is one of the most influential factors in deciding where to do their grocery shopping.

While this still lags behind the influence of low prices (77%), high quality fresh produce (68%), and proximity to home or work (68%), it nonetheless gives health-attentive shoppers one more reason to continue shopping at Coles.

Diamonon concludes: “The launch is an important one from a branding perspective: their main rival, Woolworths, already owns the ‘fresh’ space, having effectively positioned itself as ‘The Fresh Food People’ since the 1980s. Ultimately however, by tapping into the needs of both aspiring and dedicated healthy eaters, Coles is effectively positioning itself as a more convenient and accessible health food destination.”