Research

Our Voice of The Food Industry blog offers commentary from FMI subject matter experts on timely and important topics to the food industry.
  • Connecting Strategies for Boundary-Less Commerce

    Jan 24, 2017
    FMI’s U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2016 suggests that shoppers are using digital tools prior to and during shopping trips. No surprise, Millennials are most likely to engage with retailers using social media or other digital tools, such as apps. The ...
  • What Bob Dylan and FMI’s 20 Research Reports Have in Common

    Dec 21, 2016
    Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan proclaimed more than fifty years ago that “the times they are a changin’.” Today that phrase resonates in the food retail industry as we witness increasingly different ways consumers shop for food, and the many ways ...
  • FMI Grocery Industry Research You Might Have Missed

    Sep 19, 2016
    Speaks and Trends. These are the nicknames of the best known, long-standing research reports produced by FMI. The Food Retailing Industry Speaks report is an annual survey sent to FMI members and other food retailers in the food industry that ...
  • Are You A Digitally Enabled and Engaged Retailer?

    Aug 24, 2016
    We want answers to those questions to better enable our members, which is why FMI is embarking on a multidimensional, multi-year digital shopper and digitally enabled retailing journey with Nielsen. We’ll explore the business imperatives that are ...
  • Telling a Local, Fresh Story

    Aug 10, 2016
    Local is big business for food retailers, especially as it relates to the produce aisle. According to the Power of Produce report, more than three-quarters of shoppers cite their support for the local economy and farmers as a reason for buying ...
  • What is the Power of Produce for Grocery Stores?

    Aug 8, 2016
    We recently launched the second annual Power of Produce research at FMI Connect. This year’s report was prepared by 210 Analytics and made possible by Yerecic Label. The report looks at shopper habits regarding fruits and vegetables pre-trip, in-...
  • How Did That Get In The Shopping Cart?

    Jul 19, 2016
    The chances are really good that the shopping responsibility for these backyard grill-fests didn’t fall squarely with just one person, but were a cooperative effort among the household’s multiple shoppers. According to FMI’s U.S. Grocery Shopper ...
  • What Do Supermarket Department Managers Think About Their Jobs?

    Jun 30, 2016
    Nine in ten department mangers love their job, according to findings reported in the inaugural Supermarket Department Manger Survey, conducted for FMI by The Retail Feedback Group and Harold Lloyd Presents and recently released at FMI Connect in ...
  • No Two U.S. Households Grocery Shop the Same

    Jun 22, 2016
    If you get five couples together in the same room and ask each person who is the primary grocery shopper for their household, chances are you will get 10 different responses. According to the 2016 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report released today at ...
  • What Does Innovation Mean to You?

    Jun 22, 2016
    For some, innovation is the latest technology or gadget that promises to transform the way we all live our lives and do business. For others, innovation is that big idea that solves both a business problem and a consumer need. And then there are ...
  • How to Grow GM & HBC Sales in the Grocery Store

    Jun 21, 2016
    FMI recently commissioned a study conducted by Acosta Strategic Advisors on identify winning growth strategies for GM & HBC in the grocery channel. Initial findings from the research were released during FMI Connect this week and include easy-to-...
  • How Grocery Stores Can Help Prevent Food Fights at Home

    Jun 7, 2016
    We surveyed over 2,000 shoppers and conducted 10 ethnographic interviews. For three hours each, we asked – I could say grilled, but that would be a bad pun – two household members about their shopping, cooking and eating customs. During these ...
  • Three Trends Worth A Wager

    May 19, 2016
    I hope your plans will include joining your industry colleagues and me at FMI Connect where we will reveal and explore the new findings in FMI’s 2016 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends. Among a host of other topics, we will discuss three findings worth ...
  • Today is the Tomorrow We Worried about Yesterday

    May 17, 2016
    Now in its 66th year, FMI’s The Food Retailing Speaks survey is currently in the field and for the last 12 years, FMI Speaks has asked senior leaders in the food industry about the issues that affect their ability to succeed in the marketplace. ...
  • Is Your Company Prepared for a Cyber Crisis?

    Apr 26, 2016
    I spoke with Raj Bector, partner in Oliver Wyman’s Strategic IT and Operations Practice, on the importance of retailers being prepared for cyber crises and understanding how to implement effective cyber risk management. I also caught up with Hannah ...