How Grocery Stores Can Help Prevent Food Fights At Home

Last year, FMI’s U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends research highlighted the growing shared shopper paradigm. This year, with our research partners, the Hartman Group, we dug a bit deeper into that phenomenon, seeking to gain a bit more understanding into how households are splitting the grocery shopping responsibilities. Just as the key to effective communication comes in knowing your audience, we believe the key to effective marketing requires food retailers to know their customer. We’ll be sharing our findings in detail during FMI Connect with a keynote presentation by Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of FMI in the session The Ins and Outs of Shopper Thinking: An Exploration of 2016 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends.

For this year’s report, we surveyed over 2,000 shoppers and conducted 10 ethnographic interviews. For three hours each, we asked – I could say grilled, but that would be a bad pun – two household members about their shopping, cooking and eating customs. During these interviews, it became clear to me that in many households there is something of a food fight going on. American families need help in candidly communicating with each other about their family’s food philosophy. At the interview’s conclusion, many of the couples thanked us for being curious about their thoughts and shopping patterns, but I think most were more appreciative of having the opportunity for an honest exchange about their food views in a non-threatening atmosphere.

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