ATNi Releases the Indonesia Retail Assessment 2025

November 27, 2025 – A new analysis by ATNi (Access to Nutrition Initiative) highlights significant challenges in making healthy diets affordable and accessible through Indonesia’s rapidly expanding modern retail sector. While convenience focused retailers such as Alfamart and Indomaret are reshaping food purchasing habits, the findings reveal that private label products have limited nutrition value, and are financially out of reach for most households. 

The Indonesia Retail Assessment examines the nutrition-related policies and practices of the country’s three largest grocery retailers: Alfamart, Indomaret, and Super Indo, who together represent approximately 70% of modern retail sales in Indonesia.  

While the informal retail sector is still where three quarters of Indonesians purchase their foods, modern retail is growing rapidly. As retailers play an increasingly important role in shaping the diets of Indonesians, this new report looks at: 

• How do retailers’ private label products compare in terms of healthiness? 
• How healthy are the items retailers included in their promotional flyers? 
• Are retailers pricing strategies supporting access to healthier food? 

Indonesia stands at a critical crossroad, with more highly processed and packed foods displacing tradition diets. Overweight and obesity increased 10% in the last ten years, now affecting 1 in 3 Indonesians. Urgent action is needed to ensure the growth in modern retail does not push consumers towards less healthy diets.  

Read the Retail Assessment
Read the full report here

Key Findings from the Indonesia Retail Assessment 

• The healthiness of Private-label products remains low: Many retailers private label products are unhealthy, with an average Health Star Rating of just 2.0 (out of 5.0 stars) and up to 98% classified as high in fat, sugar, salt and/or containing cosmetic additives (colors, flavors, and non-nutritive sweeteners) that are markers of ultra-processing. 
• Promotions favour less healthy foods: Promotions in weekly flyers or online webpages from the retailers overwhelmingly featured sweets, snacks, refined grains, ice cream and sugar-sweetened beverages, limiting consumer incentives to choose nutritious options. 
• Affordability is a critical barrier: At Indomaret, the healthier food basket cost USD 21.45 per person per day compared to USD 19.37 for the less healthy basket—a 10.8% gap. For many households, healthier diets purchased through modern retail remain financially out of reach. 

A Call to Action 

These findings underscore the urgent need for coordinated action to improve the overall healthiness of modern retailer’s product offerings, and to make healthier products more affordable. Retailers can play a pivotal role by reformulating private-label products, rebalancing promotions toward healthier options, and exploring pricing strategies that narrow the cost gap. Policy actions are also needed. By implementing the proposed mandatory Nutri-Level front-of-package labelling, consumers will be empowered to choose, and demand, healthier options.  

Why research insights and accountability matters 

When buying a healthier food baskets requires nearly a full day’s income and where most retailers’ private-label products would not fit in a healthy diet, the system is failing consumers. Retailers and policymakers must act to make healthier choices the norm, making these more affordable, more visible, and genuinely easier—not harder—for families across Indonesia. – Dr Brenda de Kok, Senior Researcher at ATNi.