We know from our U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2018 report that fresh foods are part of what brings shoppers to the store. The most important attributes shoppers say when selecting their primary stores include high quality fruits and vegetables (80 percent), high quality meat (77 percent) and fresh food deli (53 percent). In addition The 2018 Food Retailing Industry Speaks finds that many grocers emphasize fresh prepared foods/foodservice in their competitive strategies to differentiate from the competition. According to a recent Nielsen study, when a store performs well in fresh, the overall store also performs well and conversely when a store does not perform well in fresh nor does the rest of the store.
Fresh Item Management is not an easy task for any sized retailer. It requires a lot of cooperation from department heads, quality data, constant due diligence, and an end goal for efficiency/profitability. During the recent NRF 2019 Show, I had the pleasure of leading a panel discussion on this topic.
Our panel of experts included Executive Vice President and Chief Strategic Officer at Brookshire Grocery, John D’Anna; Senior Principal Food Drug and Convenience, Industry Advisor at SAP, Randy Evins; and CEO of Applied Data Corporation, Shamus Hines. This group represents a wide range of expertise in managing fresh operations, from managing food waste to regulatory compliance.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Food Marketing Institute
