Kroger’s app scores health of purchases

Kroger’s most recent step into digital commerce aims to help customers create healthier buying habits.

The company’s newest app, OptUP, scores groceries based on nationally-recognized dietary guidelines. Each individual product gets a score, and so does each customer’s household based on all purchases. They can then compare their personal scores to the score recommended by Kroger dietitians.

It will also offer healthier alternatives to the products customers buy.

“Kroger’s new OptUP app is transformational for the food retail industry,” said Collen Lindholz, Kroger’s president of pharmacy and The Little Clinic. “The app puts nutritional information at your fingertips and makes finding and buying better-for-you products easier and simpler.”

Individual products score between 1 and 100 and households can score up to 1,000. The higher the score, the healthier the product. The highest scoring products are low in saturated fat, sodium, sugar, and calories, and higher in fiber, protein, fruit, vegetable, and nut content.

Customers can keep track of their scores through a color-coded system. The app labels what percentage of customers’ carts should be within each color and how much is actually within each label.

Kroger has 44 supermarkets, 12 locations with ClickList services and another 10 locations with Starbucks services in the region. The popular grocer employs more than 8,100 associates in the Dayton region.