Check-pointing

‘Check-pointing’ is characterized by customers’ demand for feedback about the healthfulness of their groceries in relationto the recommendations provided by the authorities. Being able to know how well one’s groceries are in line with the official recommendations was regarded important in the customer’s value creation.

Customers were interested in getting information about the ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’

of their groceries. They were willing to know whether they were in or out of balance according to the recommendations, as described by Juhani:

Well I guess I’ve been kind of vaguely concerned about whether there’s something missing in my diet. Of course I have a broad idea about my old diet. About what the food pyramid looks like and how you should eat. But still especially with the trace elements, I don’t know where I could get which of them. So it has increased that kind of consciousness… ” - Juhani, 37

There was a subjectively experienced concern over food healthfulness; a need for information about food healthfulness that could be used in the customers’ daily activities, in their value creation. The customers were vaguely worried about the healthfulness of their groceries. They wanted to identify the flaws in their diets; to find out what is bad and what is good, as illustrated in the following anonymous customer feedbacks:

The service reveals ‘errors’ on your shopping list in enough detail.

[anonymous customer feedback]

This service is very useful; you can see whether you’ve had a healthful or unhealthful diet for example...

[anonymous customer feedback]

You get to know the nutritional facts of the food you buy, what you should eat more of and what you should eat less of.

[anonymous customer feedback]

In the research context, i.e. food retailing, there was clearly an established need to recognize the ‘errors’ in one’s diet. In other words, in customers’ value-creating processes it was important to know the extent to which the groceries were healthful or unhealthful, or whether there was a lack or an excess of some specific nutritive substance. Thus, there was a need to know how ‘legitimate’ the customer’s diet eventually was. From the value creation point of view, for some customers this was an important piece of information, i.e. an additional resource, to be used in customers’ value creation. As an additional resource, the information provided by

the Nutrition Code supported the customer’s value creation through providing a secured feeling that everything is in line with the recommendations, and that there is no need to be to worried about one’s food healthfulness:

For example the section where you can see what you’ve bought from the store it’s kind of, it has confirmed to me that it, I mean when they always talk about these health or that you should eat a bit of everything, so that I’ve been on the right track so it confirmed that…

-Maria, 55

[… ] I have to say that I like it and I keep track of it, but of course I decide for myself what I buy, but it's good to take a look at it and I always do, since we only go to the store once a week, so it's quite easy when you get your result, to check how you're doing.

- Katariina, 64

As described by Maria and Katariina, the information was used to provide confirmation about being on the right track and getting insight into where one stands in terms of food healthfulness. The information can thus be used to receive feedback about the overall healthfulness of the groceries. It can also be used to monitor some specific nutritive substance in particular. In that respect, the customer’s own ‘food religion³²’ plays a central role. There are lots of customers who do not follow the official guidelines regarding nutrition and food consumption in general. For those customers, the information’s (as being based on the official recommendations by the authorities) ability to be used as input to the customer’s value creation is naturally decreased. Nevertheless, customers that follow other than the ‘official’ diet can still use some pieces of the information provided by the Nutrition Code in their value creation. For example, being provided with information about some specific nutritive substances, such as the level of protein, can support their value-creating processes. Vegetarians, for example, might be interested in knowing whether they are getting enough calcium, as reported by Sofia:

Well take this here for an example that well I’ve been a vegetarian for a long time now. But then I left out fish from my diet just six months ago. So now I sort of want to keep track that I get all the nutrients like I need. Because my doctor said to me too that I should be more careful about these things now. So in that way the service can be like helpful in this. And

32 The concept of ‘food religion’ is used here to refer to customers’ varying dietary practices and to their often contradictory beliefs about what constitutes a well-balanced diet.

then for example well calcium is quite important for your bones and of course you just think that you don’t want to be middle aged and realise that because you haven’t had the right diet younger then you end up with osteoporosis or something. And then you can’t do anything about it anymore.

- Sofia, 21

After leaving out fish from her diet Sofia needed to know whether she was getting enough calcium, which was considered as important in order to avoid illnesses, such as osteoporosis, in the future. Thus, despite the fact that the Nutrition Code was based on the official recommendations by the authorities and ignored the fact that Sofia was a vegetarian, the information provided could nevertheless to some extent serve Sofia’s purposes and was considered helpful and supporting Sofia’s value-creating processes as a vegetarian.

Altogether, central to ‘Check-pointing’ is the customer’s need to know whether his or her diet is in line with the recommendations provided by the authorities or in line with the guidelines of alternative food diets. As a result of this ‘check-pointing’, new information emerges that is then used in customer’s value creation accordingly;

to provide a secured feeling or confirmation about one’s choices regarding food.

Naturally, the ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’ of a customer’s diet is to a large extent evident in all types of the typology, as the Nutrition Code as a service is fundamentally based on providing customers with information about the healthfulness of their groceries. However, here the type is characterized by customers’ willingness to know how they standin relation tothe recommendations, which can then result in getting a secured feeling that everything is in balance:

I noticed that I get enough nutrients and vitamins from my diet. That I don’t need any supplements or additional vitamins. I use too much sugar but otherwise it’s quite okay.

[anonymous customer feedback]

And then, maybe it adds up this kind of feeling of security when the trace nutrient lists don’t show red a lot or anything. So you know it’s okay and all. If I sometimes wondered whether I get enough of vitamin D from food now I know I do and that I don’t need to worry about that. So it has brought with it this feeling of security and it’s also nice to know that you have a tool you can use and how you can improve your diet if you suddenly need to do that.

- Juhani, 37

Being aware of such a tool to measure groceries’ healthfulness also creates a feeling of security, as described by Juhani. Hence, although not using the service constantly, simply knowing that one is able to do so can support the customer’s value creation.