Benchmarking for healthy stores in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

The intervention comprises two full benchmarking cycles (one per year) each with four segments: 1. Benchmarking assessment of i) best-practice store policy action, ii) implementation of best-practice, iii) healthiness of customer purchasing; iv) level of influence of enabling/impeding factors; 2. Benchmarking assessment visual report with recommendations provided to storeowners; 3. Report and recommendations discussed with storeowners and 4. codesign of action plan. The duration of a full benchmarking cycle is 52 weeks. Benchmarking assessment will occur for each store within the months of July/August of each year. Provision of benchmarking assessment reports and co-design of action plan will occur for each store within the months of Nov/Dec of each year. Storeowners/managers will be responsible for implementation of the action plan until Nov/Dec of the following year when a second action plan will be codesigned and implemented. Benchmarking assessment of i) best-practice store policy action, ii) implementation of best-practice, iii) healthiness of customer purchasing; iv) level of influence of enabling/impeding factors will be assessed by a dietitian or member of the research team with input from the storeowner/manager. The benchmarking visual report with recommendations will be provided to storeowners via email by a dietitian or a member of the research team. A dietitian or member of the research team will discuss the recommendations and codesign an action plan with store representative/s. The Benchmarking assessment of best-practice store policy action is anticipated to take approximately 30mins to complete using a policy action audit tool. Benchmarking assessment of implementation of best-practice is anticipated to take 40-60mins to complete by a dietitian or member of the research team using an App, called Store Scout App. Benchmarking assessment of the healthiness of customer purchasing will be done by the research team using store sales reports. Assessment of level of influence of enabling/impeding factors will be done by a store representative using an e-survey and is anticipated to take approximately 30mins. Provision and discussion of benchmarking visual report with recommendations to store representatives and codesign of action plan is anticipated to take 60-90mins. The codesign process involves a single 60-90 min workshop either face-to-face in-store or via videoconference between a store representative and a dietitian and/or member of the research team. The strategies that may be employed as part of the action plan include 'No price promotions on discretionary food and drink products', 'Price discounts on fruit and vegetables', 'No discretionary food and drink products in highly visible/high traffic areas of the store including front-of-store, check-outs, end-of-aisle caps'. Adherence to the benchmarking intervention will be monitored via interview with the dietitian or member of the research team at the end of each benchmarking cycle.