Retail Industry Insights

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.

Retailers generate and/or use various data sets that can be of value to retail dietitians in understanding shoppers, tracking sales of healthier products, and creating targeted programs and promotions. Five types of data for retail dietitians to understand are:

Understanding the health connection and issues that are important to pet owners can assist your store with creatively engaging these households.

National Family Meals Month™ was created by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Foundation to effect change in the number of meals that families enjoy together at home each week.  It began with a platform designed for food retailers and suppliers to support consumers in making family meals a reality and, in turn, help them reap the physical, social, and psychological benefits of doing so.  

From New York Times’ Kim Severson naming mushrooms the “It” vegetable for 2019 to Martha Stewart claiming that mushrooms are the “food of 2019,” mushrooms are certainly having a moment. Grocery buyers are opening their carts up for more mushrooms with sales increasing every year over the past five years. With National Mushroom Month just around the corner, here are some ideas to ignite excitement in your produce department this September. 

Summer is officially in full swing, bringing warmer weather and longer days. With the change of season, your shoppers may be looking for refreshing options to stay cool. Nothing beats the heat like smoothies that also provide a way to enjoy nutrition at home or on-the-go. 

Like many registered dietitians, I never expected there would be a time in my career when I would be called upon to answer wellness-related questions about shampoo, lotion, or soap. But given the recent surge in consumer concern over topical product chemicals, we’re the most readily accessible resource for our retailers and shoppers, so it’s no surprise that these inquiries are now falling on our desks.

For almost half of all shoppers who are following or shopping for someone adhering to a specific dietary plan, transparency is particularly important. From low carb, to high protein and gluten-free, it is imperative to help these individuals overcome the challenge of searching for products that meet the needs and goals for their diet or health-related program. The study also identified those platforms considered the most valuable by consumers for communicating transparency:

Retail dietitians can be better equipped to lead shoppers on the journey to healthier eating patterns if they have insight into how consumers eat and plan for today’s mealtime.