To pinpoint policy opportunities to enhance the retail food environment, promoting affordable healthy food and reducing unhealthy options in each country

• Using a policy space analysis approach, researchers analyzed relevant policy documents and conducted key informant interviews.
• Policy documents were identified via Internet search and direct outreach to government representatives.
• The interview guide, shaped by previous phases, explored how policy could incentivize positive changes in the retail food environment.
• Key informant interviews continued until theoretical data saturation, typically involving 20 initial interviews with stakeholders and people involved in the policy process per country and ongoing recruitment until no new information emerged.
• Written informed consent was obtained from all key informants prior to the interview.
• Stakeholders involved in policy implementation were identified through purposive and snowball sampling.
• The interview guide covered nutrition-related NCDs, retail food's role, political context, stakeholder influence, and gender considerations.
• Policies across sectors were analyzed, focusing on incentives and disincentives for the healthy retail food, using deductive thematic analysis guided by the study framework.
• Incentives were identified if they mentioned facilitating policymakers or agencies in improving nutrition and promoting healthy food retailing.
• Disincentives were identified if they used terms like 'barrier' or hindered improvements to the food retailing system. Interview data informed the analysis of policy context and stakeholders, guiding policy recommendations. Stakeholder meetings disseminated preliminary results and gathered feedback.
• Cross-country analysis identified regional patterns and distilled lessons.