Retail Industry Insights

There has been a lot written and discussed about how COVID-19 exposed the supply chain, how transportation flaws forced the surge in oat milk sales and how being stuck at home fueled the sales of baker’s yeast, flour and bread making machines. There is a lot more to the story that will, perhaps, change the way supermarket shelves look in the future.

We’re all aware that consumers’ food purchase, preparation and consumption habits have changed dramatically during the past nine months. One of the unintended consequences of these changes is trash. Residential trash volume spiked as much as 25% this spring, according to the trade group Solid Waste Association of North America. Everything from a reduced use of recyclable bags to a return to using single use plastics to an increase in deliveries has added to the problem. Empty pizza boxes, Amazon cartons, Styrofoam containers, and layers and layers of bags are causing household trash cans to overflow in this new stay-at-home era.

IFIC research shows that improving and maintaining health are the top incentives for choosing nutrient-dense foods and beverages. But choosing the right foods isn’t as easy as people think. That’s where supermarket RDs come in. 

In August and September of 2020, the Retail Dietitians Business Alliance conducted a survey of retail dietitians to capture insights on retail dietitians’ roles, job satisfaction, shopper engagement and how your roles have shifted this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.  In total, 119 retail RDs completed the survey.  Today, we're sharing the survey results.

With tens of thousands of food products available in today’s supply chain, the challenge for most retailers is offering the right assortment of products that continue to meet their shoppers’ needs and draw new customers to their stores. This requires retailers to be highly effective at assortment optimization. Here are five things you need to know about assortment optimization.

Food allergy shoppers may be experiencing additional stress during this time. As a retail dietitian, there are many ways you can stay connected with shoppers to provide support, alleviate concerns and stress.

Every major decision I have made in my life got hammered out around the family dinner table.  The cast of characters evolved as I moved from my family of origin to a family of friends, then to my own family, and certainly the issues I was deliberating at these different stages changed, but the constant has been the family dinner table.  It has provided me the safe context in which I could probe all the implications of my choices from every angle; emotional, financial, psychological and in some cases geographical.   I am convinced that the family meal is the place where love and support find their most fertile ground to take root and grow.

Weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, health professionals are scratching their heads about the continued empty toilet paper shelves. Skyrocketing sales of disposal gloves and disinfectants make sense, of course, but paper products are another story.

Consumer interest in the relationship between food and health has continued to increase, so much so that consumers' definition of food value extends beyond taste, price and convenience and now includes health and wellbeing. These trends present an opportunity for retail dietitians to help address the health and wellness needs of their customers. By capitalizing on health and wellness programming, promotions, and value-added services, food retailers can increase their value as both a destination and a partner in their customers’ shopping journeys.

Recent trends have revealed what dietitians in food retail have known all along – health and wellness are defined by the consumer and will continue to be a key purchase driver as consumers lead the charge of food and health trends.