Retail Assessment 2025

Modern food retailers influence consumer diets through their product offerings, pricing, promotions, and store design. As they expand—especially in low- and middle-income countries—their impact on nutrition and public health continues to grow. The rise of supermarkets and convenience stores is driving increased consumption of highly processed foods and rapidly rising rates of obesity—already affecting almost half of the adult population in some countries—and diet-related non-communicable diseases.

ATNi’s Retail Assessment 2025 examines how 18 leading retailers across six countries affect access to nutritious, affordable food. Analyzing nearly 20,000 private-label products, the assessment looks at companies’ nutrition policies, promotions, pricing and the relative cost of healthier diets, as well as current government policies to improve food retail environments.

Using a four-component methodology, the assessment offers actionable insights for retailers, investors, and policymakers to support healthier, more affordable diets—especially in markets with a rapid increase in modern food retail.

South Africa Retail Assessment
Kenya Retail Assessment
France Retail Assessment
Indonesia Retail Assessment
The Philippines Retail Assessment
The US Retail Assessment
Methodology
Executive Summary
Pricing Analysis

Healthier Diets Are More Expensive

• Healthier food baskets cost 10% to 60% more than less healthy ones, across all countries and retailers.
• In 2024, daily PPP-adjusted costs (USD) per person:
  – Healthier baskets: USD 10.76–27.58
  – Less healthy baskets: USD 8.74–20.84

Affordability Varies by Income Context

• In high-income countries, both healthier and less healthy baskets cost <10% of daily per capita income.
• In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), healthier baskets cost 40–110% of daily per capita GNI.
• Even in wealthy nations, low-income and minority groups face barriers to accessing nutritious food, despite proximity to modern retailers.

Retail Structures Are Reshaping Food Environments

• In LMICs, modern retail is expanding rapidly, leading to a shift away from traditional diets towards more processed and packaged foods.
• Retailer strategies (pricing, placement, promotion) and urban lifestyles (time scarcity, dual-income households) drive this demand.

Private-Label Products Are Predominantly Unhealthy

Private-label products are already accounting for 20–40% of grocery spending in mature markets and expanding rapidly in emerging ones.

• Only 41% out of retailers’ private-label portfolios met the ‘healthier’ threshold (Health Star Rating ≥ 3.5).
• 86% of private-label products assessed were classified as unhealthy foods high in fat, sugar, or salt, and/or containing markers of ultra-processing (colours, flavours, or sweeteners)

Policies remain fragmented and largely voluntary

• High-income countries (HICs) assessed largely leaned toward voluntary measures and industry self-regulation.
• LMICs assessed are showing greater momentum, driven by the rising rates of diet-related NCDs, reflected in the introduction and development of regulations such as front-of-package labelling, taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, and restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy foods.

Executive Summary

The Retail Assessment 2025 analyzes the top three grocery retailers in six countries using four research components:

1. Retail environment mapping–Examines market structure and trends.
2. Retail strategy and performance–Assesses nutrition policies, promotional practices, and private-label product healthiness.
3. Pricing and affordability–Compares costs of healthier vs. less healthy retail food baskets across income levels.
4. Policy and regulatory gaps–Reviews national regulations and identifies gaps to support healthier retail food environments.

Research was conducted between November 2024 and November 2025, drawing on secondary data (included Euromonitor International and Innova Market Insights), company disclosures, and national policy sources.

These were complemented by targeted primary online data collection across all countries and in-store data collection in Kenya,covering nearly 20,000 private-label products in total.

It’s the first multi-country analysis of retail food environments across diverse income settings, offering insights for retailers, investors, and policymakers. Developed with expert input and global frameworks, it builds on ATNi’s 13 years of benchmarking experience, expanding its scope from food manufacturers (Global Index) to the retail sector.

Methodology