Retail Industry Insights

In July and August of 2019, the Retail Dietitians Business Alliance conducted a survey of retail dietitians to capture insights on retail dietitians’ roles, job satisfaction and shopper engagement.  In total, 116 retail RDs completed the survey.  Today, we're sharing the survey results.

The recently released Food Marketing Industry Speaks 2019 report discussed some interesting but perhaps not surprising issues surrounding the current pulse of the supermarket industry. The report summarizes feedback from 107 retailers and wholesalers representing 36,000 in the U.S. and Canada. Here are six key take-aways regarding how retailers are adapting business for success and what this may mean to your position as a retail dietitian.

The Financial Post in Canada writes that food visionary and restaurateur David Chang “wants the ethnic food aisle to die.” Chang “urged supermarkets to mix it all up instead, putting sauces and spices with spices, regardless of where they came from.” He argues that the current ethnic food aisle is “out of date and doomed … because it puts all the places in the world that are not White America in one aisle.”

Eight in 10 Americans (82%) agree breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but just 57% eat breakfast daily.

Google has been steadily adding features to its apps throughout the first half of this year focused on food, according to The Spoon.

For many retail shoppers, planning dinner on a daily basis is still a struggle. Retailers have offered many options to solve this consumer problem. Meal kits, bunkers of meal solutions, classes where shoppers create multiple freezer meals – all these options are designed to help the consumer get dinner on the ta

Just when retail dietitians get a handle on the buyer role, they realize that not all buyer roles are the same. In fact, there are distinct difference between the roles based on the category of the store. “It’s essential for dietitians to establish in-roads to the buying teams,” says Stephanie Schultz, MSM, RDN, CD and Sr. Director of Marketing and Communications at Skogen’s Festival Foods. “Identify a colleague who can point you in the right direction and help you navigate the differences.”

Today’s consumers are more environmentally conscious in their day-to day activities and their weekly trip to the supermarket is no exception. In some states and at specific retailers, bans or fees are being imposed to discourage the use of plastic bags all together. Although there are some great benefits, consumers need to be aware of the food safety concerns when making reusable bags part of their grocery shopping habits.

When the cold and flu season hits most consumers head to their pharmacy for relief, not to their physician’s office. In fact, research shows that individuals visit their doctor three times per year on average, but visit retail stores and pharmacies over 25 times a year to spend more than $330. Retail dietitians can use this seasonal opportunity to connect with customers and provide value-added nutrition and wellness services to help drive sales and shopper loyalty. Consider these ideas for taking special care of those shoppers who may not be feeling well:

In last week’s article, The 5 Types of Data the Retail RD Needs to Understand, you learned about various data sets that retailers typically use to make decisions on assortment planning, merchandising sets, and targeted marketing efforts to key customers. Today’s article discusses how retail RDs can use these data to support health and wellbeing programs.