Dec 17, 2014

 By Sue Wilkinson, Senior Director, Information Service & Research, Food Marketing Institute 

Ask the FMI Librarian

What research did FMI produce in 2014 to help food retailers? 

As 2014 comes to an end, now is a good time to review research produced by FMI. This year we produced four major reports focused on the consumer.  They include:

  • U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends, produced in partnership with the Hartman Group
  • Shopping for Health, produced in partnership with Prevention Magazine
  • The Power of Meat 2014, produced with American Meat Institute and Cryovac
  • Digital Grocery Commerce: Insights for Enhancing Consumer Connection With Grocery Shopping Apps: The Peck Fellowship Year Two Research Report, produced in partnership with Saint Joseph’s University

As a group, this research provides insight into shifts in the consumer universe and yields some important implications for food retailers. Top findings reveal that there is diversification of the primary store, and a fragmentation of the primary shopper; that shoppers buy locally grown food because it’s in season and they buy organic food because it’s grown without chemical pesticides; salt and sugar/artificial sweeteners are the most looked at ingredients on labels; and changing habits and cost are the top two reasons why consumers don’t eat healthier diets.  Also, shoppers place high importance on value, quality and variety when making purchasing decisions in the meat aisle.  And the more active a shopper is with social media, the less likely it is that shopper will use a grocery retailer’s app in a store.

FMI also released research from the Food Retailing Industry Speaks report.  Included are operational and financial benchmarks ranging from sales and profits to shrink, turns and differentiation tactics. For the last 10 years, Speaks has asked senior leaders in the food industry to rate the issues that impact their business on a scale 1 to 10, where 10 is the highest impact. The top issues of concern for 2013 were health care costs (7.5), local and national economy (7.1), and competition from traditional and non-traditional retailers and food safety all ranking 6.5.

You can learn more about the research findings by viewing videos, infographics and downloading the reports. See links below.