Whole Foods serves up dietary assistance online

Whole Foods Market has launched a digital product catalog that helps customers shop according to their dietary needs.

The Austin, Texas-based specialty grocer said Thursday that the catalog, located at products.wholefoodsmarket.com, enables shoppers to find items by dietary preference and provides quick access to product ingredient lists and nutritional information.

At the site, customers can do a general search for an item or use filters to drill down by product category, dietary preference, what’s on sale and Prime member deals. Upon selecting an item, they will see a photo of the product, its nutrition fact panel and its ingredients list.

Nutrition and ingredients — including any potential allergens — can be seen by either clicking on plus-sign links to informational dropdowns or on image thumbnails for close-up views of the product label. Tags beneath the nutrition and ingredients links also highlight allergens and type of diet.

The list of searchable diets includes vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, paleo-friendly, keto-friendly, sugar-conscious, dairy-free, kosher, organic, Whole Foods Diet-approved, Engine 2, low-sodium and low-fat.

Whole Foods noted that the digital product catalog improves the online and in-store shopping experience by enabling customers to use a mobile device or computer to search for and filter through tens of thousands of products “through the lens” of various dietary preferences. To find out about a product’s availability and price, shoppers can use the page’s store selector tool to locate a nearby Whole Foods.

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A recent Whole Foods study found that nearly a third of frequent customers shop based on a specific dietary preference. The retailer said the optimized site provides a fast, convenient way to research food options and verify availability at a local store.

“Whole Foods Market has always been a go-to for those who follow special diets or want greater transparency into what they are eating,” Jason Buechel, executive vice president of technology and chief information officer for Whole Foods, said in a statement. “This new experience makes it easier than ever for those customers to find products that fit their needs from dietary preferences to lifestyle changes and ultimately helps them achieve their wellness goals.”