Technology

2020: The Year of the Food Industry

From the cashiers and stockers to the store managers and executives, the drivers and food processors and pharmacist and nutritionists, to the data analysts, delivery experts and farmers, our industry is filled with true Food Industry Heroes who have ...

New Twists on Retail Differentiation Strategies

Food retailers have been adapting their product and service differentiation strategies. In 2019, they pushed the boundaries to enhance strategies in specific areas. Then, in the pandemic period, they have pivoted on some strategies to accommodate ...

Implementing a Strong Omnichannel Strategy to Avoid Supply Chain Waste

Today’s retailers need a strong omnichannel strategy in place to meet rapidly changing consumer needs resulting from the pandemic. As more people choose to take advantage of ecommerce for delivery of their essential food items, retailers must ensure ...

Food Retailers Put Technology Front and Center

Consider how technology experimentation has played out in the food retail industry. In recent years, retailers have made progress in fits and starts, going after use cases ranging from better customer experience to improved efficiency. ...

Witnessing the Food Industry

Recently, I was able to share insights gleaned from my experience by speaking at the Retailing Summit hosted by FMI’s newest university member, Texas A&M and the Mays School of Business Center for Retailing Studies. My talk at the virtual event was ...

How Food Retail Ecommerce Got Ready for Prime Time

In hindsight, it’s interesting how food retailers described their ecommerce sophistication a year ago in the FMI Food Retailing Industry Speaks report. Only 4% of responding companies with online sales considered themselves to be very sophisticated ...

Are You Ready for Some Food Ball? The Road to Supper Bowl I

Baseball has its World Series, hockey has the Stanley Cup, tennis has its Wimbledon and football has its Super Bowl. Now the food industry has its Supper Bowl! All of these landmark competitions offer teams the chance to prove they are the best of ...

Four Common Misconceptions About Food Prices

A number of misconceptions regarding grocery prices regularly permeate both the news and our water cooler conversations. These are due to a combination of outdated ideas that should have been put to rest long ago and high profile “examples” that are ...

A Tale of Two Years: A Look at The Food Retail Industry in 2019 and Early 2020

The most recent The Food Retailing Industry Speaks report identifies a striking similarity between ”A Tale of Two Cities” and a tale of two years, 2019 and 2020, for the food industry. Both relay the story of how stark change and challenging times ...

A Fly on The Wall: A Look at The Food Industry’s Performance

FMI is about to release our 71st annual The Food Retailing Industry Speaks report, which tracks operations and strategic initiatives of the food retail industry. This year’s Speaks report reviews performance for 2019, but it also incorporates ...

FMI & CART Launch TechTalk Series

We believe with the ongoing and accelerating growth of digital/ecommerce including both omnichannel and pure play, as well as increasing labor costs will radically alter retail profit and loss statements. FMI sees the above technologies as both ...

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 ...