Technology

Technology Demands Arising from COVID-19

According to the 2020 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report, COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way consumers shop for groceries and their expectations from food retailers and suppliers. We particularly see this in the demand for technology ...

Next Steps In Couponing

As we have seen in past recessions, most recently in 2008, coupon usage increases dramatically when consumers feel economic pressure. From 2008-2009, all coupon redemption increased 15.2%. What will that number look like this time around? Inmar ...

Making the Connection: New Digital Platform Links Buyers and Sellers

To address acute supply chain disruptions and mitigate food loss and shortages, FMI has launched a new subscription-based digital platform that matches retailer and wholesaler members around the country with suppliers, including those who are new to ...

A Dreamy Strategic Plan for Midsummer

FMI’s Midsummer Strategic Executive Exchange provides a unique strategic opportunity for trading partner collaboration to hit the reset button and together identify, prioritize and address the industry’s most pressing business issues. Through ...

Understanding Online Order Fulfillment Options

Unprecedented online grocery shopping growth because of COVID-19 has dramatically increased the need for efficiency and better understanding of online retail fulfillment operations. Last week, in a virtual program hosted by FMItech & The Center for ...

We’re All In This Together

Since the early days of the pandemic, FMI staff have been tracking news stories recording the food industry’s responses to their communities. Our tracking is a growing spreadsheet updated daily with nearly 200 rows documenting stories of food, ...

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 ...

A Conversation with Oscar Gonzalez, Northgate Gonzalez Market

Oscar Gonzalez, co-president and COO of Northgate Gonzalez Market, is chairman of FMI's 2020 Midwinter Executive Conference and a true leader when it comes to creating genuine experiences that hold true to his company’s personality. Under Oscar’s ...

What’s In A Brand?

Life is full of circumstances and situations that prompt us to evaluate our personal brand and make necessary changes, adapting to a new position or setting by shifting our brand. Sometimes these involve small adjustments and sometimes we must ...

Technologies Building Smart Supermarkets

January is technology season with a series of back-to-back events focused on the latest gadgets and gizmos. While reading about new technologies, it’s easy to begin to wonder how they will apply to your shoppers and your business model. Here are ...

FMI’s 2019 Year in Review

There is something particularly noble about accomplishments that have so many ups and downs and surprise developments that they require a special brand of perseverance. Finishing the fight requires overcoming the nagging drag of self-doubt when the ...

Exploring AI-Voice Assistants and Application in Grocery

Many in the industry can’t hear it yet, but artificial intelligence voice assistances (AI-voice) – on a home-based smart speaker, smartphone or a car dashboard – are on their way to the grocery industry. As they arrive, it will not only accelerate ...

New Jobs in The Grocery Industry

The Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2019 report asked food retailers to share their plans for labor investments over the next two years. Here are some of the new jobs you can expect to see in the grocery ...

How Grocers Are Investing in Technology

The rapid evolution and implementation of technology in food retail can boost performance on the operational side and enhance engagement on the customer-facing front, not to mention the growing role of ecommerce. Let’s look at some of the ways that ...

Photo Friday: Grocers Visit MIT

Our Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, for its fall ...