UK’s biggest supermarket could urge shoppers to replace unhealthy purchases

Tesco risks privacy backlash with proposal to use Clubcard data to influence customers

Tesco could use Clubcard data to warn shoppers when they are buying too many unhealthy items, its chief executive has said.
The boss of Britain’s biggest supermarket said he expected to use artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor how customers were shopping to help “nudge” people into making healthier choices.
Tesco’s Ken Murphy said: “I can see it nudging you, saying: ‘look, I’ve noticed over time that in your shopping basket your sodium salt content is 250pc of your daily recommended allowance. I would recommend you substitute this, this and this for lower sodium products to improve your heart health’.”
He said this was “very simple stuff” which could “really improve people’s daily lives”. 
The suggestion is likely to delight health campaigners who have warned that unhealthy eating is driving a costly obesity crisis that is impacting the NHS. The Institute for Public Policy Research this week called for extra taxes on unhealthy foods such as biscuits and chocolates to discourage people from buying them. 
However, the suggestion that Tesco would seek to influence people’s personal choices has sparked concerns among privacy campaigners.
Jake Hurfurt, Big Brother Watch’s head of research and investigations, said: “It is astounding that Tesco’s CEO wants to use this data to tell us how to live our lives. 
He said: “Mr Murphy’s comments should alarm everyone and serve as evidence that loyalty card schemes are based on mass-scale surveillance of customers. Tesco has no right to make judgements about what’s in our baskets or nudge us on what we should and should not be buying.”
NatWest last year sparked backlash after it started telling customers to stop eating meat and to drive electric cars, having combed through their accounts to calculate their carbon footprint. The bank at the time argued this was an opt-in feature. 
Tesco stressed it was not currently looking at rolling out a nudge policy. However, the potential for the company to intervene – either through messages at the tills or emails after checkout – is significant.
Tesco is by far Britain’s largest supermarket, holding almost a third of the UK grocery market. More than 20m people are currently signed up for the supermarket’s Clubcard scheme, which launched in 1995 and gives customers access to better deals. 
The suggestion that Tesco could use Clubcard data to nudge customers into making healthier choices in the future follows pressure from regulators for supermarkets to do more to help with obesity in the UK.
In 2022, the government introduced rules forcing grocers to move junk food away from prominent parts of their stores such as entrances and near checkouts. 
Sir Keir Starmer is plotting a series of further interventions on public health in a bid to help save the NHS from collapse. These include a ban on energy drinks for children under 16, which is expected to be introduced to Parliament next month, and supervised tooth-brushing rolled out for pre-school children later this year.
Critics have been warning that Britain is moving towards becoming a “nanny state”.
Speaking at the FT Future of Retail Conference on Tuesday, Mr Murphy suggested AI could also be used to help Clubcard customers get better value when they shop. 
This could mean telling customers they should wait a week to stock up on products if Tesco had an offer coming up that could make their shop cheaper.
Mr Murphy said the aim was for customers to feel that “Clubcard is literally doing their job for them and making their lives easier”.
The comments come amid growing scrutiny over the extent of data collected by supermarkets through their loyalty schemes and how they use it.
As well as using loyalty card data to tailor offers, supermarkets are increasingly selling the information to third parties. Estimates have suggested that Tesco and Sainsbury’s alone make £300m a year from selling this in-house data on their customers. 
So-called “insights” on shoppers are anonymised, but are used to build archetypal customers that can give other businesses an idea of what a typical person might be interested in.
Tesco has said it does not “sell or share any individual customer data and we take our responsibilities regarding the use of customer data extremely seriously”. 
A spokesman for Sainsbury’s has previously said it doesn’t sell customer data but lets companies “use our platform to display ads to relevant customers, based on anonymised customer audiences”.
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