Retail Operations

Essentially Essential: A First-Hand Account of Value Delivered

In late February, (only two weeks into the job) I was assigned to the Crisis Management Team, a cross-departmental group focused on the looming coronavirus outbreak. It was just a month after I joined the FMI team in the headquarters office that I ...

COVID-19: Charting New Pathways of Best Practices

To support our front-line heroes across the industry, we created brief, concise, business practices guides to help our members respond to the issues that are occurring in their stores. The purpose of these documents is to provide best practices and ...

Home is Where the Heart… Wait, Home is Where Everything Is

Helping families of all shapes and sizes share meals together both in home and virtually is a foundational purpose the various parts of the food industry open their respective doors for business each day – even in these coronavirus stressful days. ...

Feeding Families in the Time of COVID-19

Americans coping with new realities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic are experiencing increased uncertainty and anxiety about their food procurement. These worries are driven by a combination of a growing concern about the spread of the virus and ...

Photo Friday: Thank Yous To Grocery Heroes

As grocery workers engages in the essential work of feeding families during this crisis, we’ve been honored to be among the many celebrating the work that they do each day. Here are just a few of the many social media posts thanking grocery ...

Partnering Through A Crisis

As the food industry focuses on our critical task of supplying grocery products to shoppers during the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s important to have strong partners to back our efforts. This crisis has created many fast and unexpected changes in how we ...

Partnering Through A Crisis

As the food industry focuses on our critical task of supplying grocery products to shoppers during the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s important to have strong partners to back our efforts. This crisis has created many fast and unexpected changes in how we ...

Re-Writing the Industry’s Crisis Response Playbook

​The food industry is no stranger to responding to crisis. However, when it comes to responding to the national emergency brought on by COVID-19, the industry is rewriting the playbook on crisis response in real-time. This emergency is nationwide ...

Grocery Stores Remain Constant in Times of Need

Even amidst numerous state emergency declarations relative to mass gatherings impacting restaurants and bars, the White House re-emphasized that grocery stores will remain open during this national emergency....

How Is the Grocery Supply Chain Responding to Coronavirus?

We live in a global economy, which is evident every day in the aisles of a grocery store. In times of crisis, most notably the current situation with increasing cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., shoppers are taking control of their environment – and ...

The 2020 Strategic Playbook For The Food Industry

FMI and Oliver Wyman’s annual journal publication Boardroom provides a starting point. In fact, volume 5 of the journal is a strategic playbook for the emerging issues a food retailer or supplier should be discussing in their boardrooms—that’s how ...

It’s Messy, but Worth it: Trial and Error in Food Waste Mitigation

In business, trial and error often lead to valuable observations and even successful programs. Trial and error can also be expensive, especially when attempting to shift a cultural norm or make the business case for a new process or philosophy. With ...

What Shoppers Say About Produce Packaging

Shoppers are pushing back on plastic waste, but many consumers do recognize packaging can be important when it comes to product shelf life, food safety, in-store conditions, product information, portability and more. This is particularly true for ...

Coronavirus Dual-Preparedness Mode

I have a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol sitting on my desk at work. It’s half-full, and I’ve used it more in the last two weeks than the last two years. I am also washing my hands with soap and water for 20 seconds. ...

Omnishopper Size of the Prize

For the past few years, FMI has partnered with Nielsen on important research that does just that—pauses and looks at the state of the omnichannel marketplace for grocery shoppers and reflects on what is happening. In the beginning we focused on ...