Family Dollar Helps Shoppers Make OTC Self-Care Decisions
Dollar Tree’s Family Dollar has launched an in-store signage program with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) Educational Foundation to help shoppers determine which over-the-counter (OTC) products and dietary supplements are right for them.
CHPA says this program, dubbed "Health in Hand," is the foundation’s first collaboration of this scale and is designed to help shoppers during the “self-selection process,” according to a news release. The program particularly aims to assist people living in underserved or rural communities and community members who may have “low health literacy.”
At all of Family Dollar’s 8,000 stores, dedicated QR codes are depicted on wayfinding strips in the OTC department, directing shoppers to custom landing pages within HealthInHand.org (CHPA's online educational resource). The website aims to educate consumers on self-care categories, active ingredients and specific products to help them make more informed decisions at-shelf, per the release.
The QR codes are initially being used to elevate digestive health and pain management products at the discount retailer, which rolled out the codes the first week of August. Additional categories, including cough, cold and flu items, will feature the codes later in the year, per the release.
[Also Read: QR Codes at Retail Activation Gallery]
"The Foundation has a unique opportunity to serve as an educational resource for Family Dollar's customers to promote the safe use of self-care products and support better health outcomes,” Mary Leonard, executive director of CHPA's educational foundation, said in the release. “Knowing that QR code technology is a preferred way for consumers to access information, we are solving a need to provide access to Health in Hand's expert advice and dynamic content directly from Family Dollar's OTC aisles. We are excited about this first execution and building future self-care educational initiatives."
"We are pleased to be the first retailer to participate in the CHPA's Health in Hand initiative," added Kyle Price, vice president of merchandising for Family Dollar. "This program enables us to deepen our connection with our shoppers as they make important and informed purchase decisions to take care of themselves and their loved ones. These new resources, combined with our refreshed product assortment and our everyday low prices, create an absolute win-win for our customers."
Background
In 2021, the CHPA Educational Foundation commissioned research on educational interventions to support low health literacy populations.
The research found that participants responded well to accessible and easily interpretable health information presented in both English and Spanish.
Colorful graphics and iconography also ranked high among participants, as well as the use of QR codes to access information quickly and efficiently, per the release.
Related Efforts
CHPA previously launched a P-O-P pilot program with Dollar General in 2022 to help shoppers choose OTC pain relievers from three CHPA CPG member companies: Haleon, Johnson & Johnson and Perrigo, maker of private label DG Health. The program includes educational signage at 19,000 Dollar General stores that drives shoppers to the CHPA foundation’s bilingual online OTC pain relief assessment using Vestcom’s data-integrated shelfAdz tags and QR code deep-link technology.
