Introducing Ask the FMI Librarian

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

I get a lot of questions about supermarkets and the food retail industry. For example:

• How many people work in supermarkets?
• What is the average store square footage?
• What percentage of grocery shopping sales are online?

As FMI’s chief librarian, it’s my job to seek out answers for these questions. In my 30 years working in this field, I’ve had some interesting questions from FMI members, even more fascinating answers and been stumped on occasion. That’s why we’re starting a regular segment called Ask the FMI Librarian. It’s your chance to see the answers to some of our most timely and interesting questions received.

Before we begin, we can knock out some answers to questions we receive most often right away. For example, 3.4 million people are employed by supermarkets according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Answers to the questions we receive regularly can be found on our Supermarket Facts page. We keep this information up-to-date with the latest facts and figures and it is a great resource for a number of questions about the food retail industry.

Now that the easy questions are taken care of, here’s your chance to ask the question about the food retail industry you’ve always wanted to know. Submissions for Ask the FMI Librarian can be sent to information@fmi.org.