Retail Industry Insights

During the pandemic, many types of consumers, including athletes, weekend warriors, and active individuals of all kinds have had to rethink how they retain their gains. With the shutdown and restrictions of many foodservice establishments, these consumers had to learn to prepare their meals from home. This session will explore how to empower your active consumers to build their performance plate on their own to help them elevate their game and fuel better. Dive into emerging evidence-based research to support your consumers' needs and educate your athletes about the importance of gaining culinary skills to benefit their performance and encourage lifelong healthy habits.

Successful vendor partnerships are essential to strengthen and advance the work of retail health and well-being programs. These partnerships, however, must be negotiated, nurtured and evaluated to ensure the collaboration provides ongoing value. In this session, participants will learn the keys to establishing meaningful connections with vendors, negotiating roles and responsibilities, tips for strengthening partner relationships and how to evaluate success. We will also hear from a long-time vendor partner of RDBA regarding the importance of working with retail dietitians and what constitutes a successful collaboration.

At grocery retail, a key goal is for all community members to find foods that fit their eating habits. This goal is, in part, accomplished by micro-marketing based on individual store or key markets. During this session, hear from retail buyers on how data is driving cross-cultural micro-marketing decisions to offer cultural foods important to local communities.

Join Phil Lempert, RDBA CEO and Annette Maggi, MS, RDN, LD, FAND, Executive Director for a robust panel discussion on long-term impacts of COVID-19 on grocery retail and how retail dietitians can be planning for these challenges and opportunities. Retail RD panelists are Caroline Cheong, Director of Nutritional Health Coach Regional Managers at Natural Grocers, Allison Delaney MS, RD, LDN, Stop & Shop Nutrition Partners Program Lead and 2021 RDBA Retail RD of the Year, and Ellie Wilson, MS, RDN, CDN, Manager of Lifestyle and Wellness Programs at Price Chopper/Market 32/Golub Corporation.

Last week, more than 250 retail dietitians and 50 sponsor representatives plus nearly 40 presenters came together to discuss how to pave the way for a new era of retail health and wellness programming. As the only event this year with education specifically designed for retail dietitians, the program offered more than 22 education sessions and up to 12 continuing education credits.

After a long winter of staying indoors and preparing endless meals, consumers are looking forward to not only a new season, but some fresh meal inspiration.

Private brand products continue to be a priority for retailers as they provide both differentiation and profit to the company. Through their health and wellbeing initiatives, retail dietitians can increase private brand awareness and credibility while educating shoppers on how to use products to reach personalized wellness goals. Here are some strategies for integrating private brands into educational selling programs to increase sales and basket size:

The COVID pandemic has impacted our world and that of our customers in so many ways. One significant change is the increase in food and nutrition insecurity. This article explores the actions that retail dietitians can take to support food insecure shoppers as shared in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation’s recent webinar - Improving Food and Nutrition Security in America: An Opportunity for Food Retail Dietitians.

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.