Research

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

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 benchmarks supermarket operations data and includes the FMI Worry Index. The U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report, prepared for FMI by the Hartman Group, provides data on the U.S shopper and changes to shopping habits over time. 

But wait, there’s LOTS more!

FMI produces myriad reports every year, and now that we are in the fourth quarter of 2016, it seems like a good time to highlight what is available.

 The Power of the Shopper

The Power of Meat , sponsored by The Cryovac Brand, a part of Sealed Air’s Food Care Division, is produced in conjunction with the FMI and NAMI Annual Meat Conference, and it provides a unique perspective on how consumer preferences and buying patterns have shifted in the past decade, while addressing hot new trends affecting the meat department. 

The Power of Produce , sponsored by Yericic Label, & Hillphoenix, identifies the biggest trends in consumer purchasing and consumption of fruit and vegetables from planning the purchase, channel choice and preparation all the way through recommendations to improve shopping the produce department. 

Shopping for Health 2016, conducted by Rodale, Inc., presents a practical understanding of how health and nutritional concerns influence grocery purchases.

Top Trends in Fresh is a series of webinars that explore research done for FMI by IRI.  Topics include food transparency, fresh prepared,  new supply chains, convenience and the connected consumer.

What Every Grocer Needs to Know

The Sophistication of Supermarket Fresh Prepared Foods  report done with Technomic, evaluates supermarket prepared foods’ practices and metrics. 

Financial and Strategic Initiatives in Food Retailing, sponsored by BMO Harris Bank, highlights financial and strategic topics for benchmarking and planning purposes and focuses on strategic decisions in key areas affecting supermarket retailing and wholesaling.

Food Retailing and Wholesaling Audit Study, sponsored by RGIS,  documents changes in key benchmarking information and captures new data points specific to the internal auditing function at FMI member and non-member companies.

Supermarket Department Manager Survey conducted by The Retail Feedback Group and Harold Lloyd Presents, provides a view from the eyes of food retail department managers and covers what they like about their job, the challenges they face, and how well they communicate with store and field supervisors.

Best Practices Solutions to Address On Shelf Availability, work done by the FMI, GMA Trading Partner Alliance, addresses root causes - and potential solutions - of challenges across five retail functional domains: Store Execution, Ordering and Execution, Forecasting, Manufacturing, and Category Management and Merchandising.  Use this best practices document with the On Shelf Availability Root Causes Ishikawa Diagram, which highlights the leading causes of failures across these areas, and is tailored for use across the supply chain.

Coming Soon

FMI and Nielsen have announced a strategic analytic alliance to uncover comprehensive insights on the “Digitally Engaged Food Shopper.” Results from this multi-year initiative will focus on current and future digital shopping behaviors, incorporating perspectives from top retailers, CPG manufacturers and technology providers, along with extensive consumer research by FMI and Nielsen. Initial survey findings of the FMI and Nielsen “Digitally Engaged Food Shopper” program will be available to all FMI members in 2017. A preview of topline insights will be revealed at the FMI Midwinter Executive Conference in January 2017.

The Power of Private Brands presents an overview of the current and future state of private brands by examining consumer, industry and global perspectives of private brands by working closely with the Private Brands Council and knowledge partners Daymon Worldwide and IRI.

The Power of Deli Fresh Prepared/Deli aims to document the fresh prepared category through the eyes of the shopper and to better understand the role of supermarket fresh-prepared meal solutions in the American meal lineup with insights detailing the entire path to purchase. Sponsors include Nielsen, Hussmann and Shelby Publishing.

FMI research is free to members. Take advantage of this membership benefit and download your copy of these reports today.  Visit www.fmi.org/store for more research.