Embedding into policy a benchmarking approach to strengthen healthy retail practices in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community stores

Background Globally, public policy is increasingly being developed with the goal of modifying food retail environments to support improved population health. This work examines the translation of a retail health promotion intervention into national policy. A co-designed benchmarking model implemented in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community stores to strengthen health-enabling food retail policy and practice was considered feasible and valuable by stakeholders. This study informs the scale-up and -out of the model across remote Australia, determining pathways and considerations for its embedding into public policy. Methods This prospective qualitative policy analysis was informed by the PRACTical planning for Implementation and Scale-up guide and reported against the COREQ Protocol for Qualitative Research. It included desktop mapping of relevant national and jurisdictional policy through 2025-26, interviews with 15 national and jurisdictional policymakers and 38 implementers of the benchmarking model in the Northern Territory, and guided roundtable discussion with 47 delegates at the 2025 Benchmarking project workshop. Results A clear pathway for embedding the benchmarking model Australia-wide through its positioning as an implementation strategy for voluntary national policies was identified. Key considerations for whether the model can be effective in this pathway were ensuring equitable uptake of the voluntary policies within which the model is embedded, and the workforce capacity to implement it. Key actions suggested to support successful implementation included strengthening community store governance and industry practice, evolution in the remote food system workforce, and coordinated action and communication between and from national and jurisdictional entities. Conclusions Uptake of the Benchmarking model alongside a voluntary policy approach is underpinned by industry expectations around implementing best practice for community health, adequate resourcing, and community involvement in store governance. Where these elements are not strong, voluntary policy approaches must be supported by multiple, coordinated actions to achieve uptake and impact. These insights are useful to policy makers designing policy around healthy food retailing.