Business Skills

Although retail foodservice made it through the pandemic better than the rest of the foodservice industry, to remain relevant and successful, this is one area of the store that needs to continually adjust to meet consumer tastes and trends. Technomic Principal Wade Hanson, who specialized in retail foodservice indicates we should see at least a 10.8% increase in retail foodservice growth in 2021, but that percentage could jump even higher by creating the right solutions. Here are some ways that retail RDNs can help their retailer achieve maximum foodservice success:   

Getting feedback from your customers is important if you want to understand how your current wellness programming is being utilized and to help determine future needs. In our last article, we discussed the different types of surveys to choose from but conducting a successful survey is more complex than simply asking shoppers how they feel about your initiatives. You need strong survey questions to effectively obtain meaningful customer insights. In addition, you must properly sift through the data to obtain key behaviors, needs and trends that can enhance your future strategy and actions.

As consumer needs and expectations around health and well-being are continuously evolving, it is vital that retail dietitians understand their target consumer to help direct programming. Conducting consumer surveys can help you with marketing and advertising strategies, social media tactics, website content, community outreach, store training needs, service offerings and promotional concepts. Asking the right questions and evaluating the feedback properly, will assist you with focusing your efforts in a meaningful way. The first step for conducting a consumer survey, however, is to decide which type of survey method to utilize. Here is a summary of 5 different options:

Consumers are living in a reality where they don’t have to wait to download an audio book, stream the latest movie, or get their groceries delivered in a matter of hours. In fact, large retailers are working hard to satisfy the need for immediate gratification by providing same day delivery, even as fast as within two hours. This desire for convenience and immediacy will be a key factor in shaping the future of retail.

Food packaging and promotional signage include a myriad of nutrition information sometimes contributing to confusion among shoppers. With nearly half of consumers focusing on health and nutrition as top priorities for meal inspiration1 now, more than ever, retail dietitians can serve as a key resource for navigating nutrition messaging in the grocery aisles. 

With almost 740 million members and over 55 million registered companies, LinkedIn’s professional social networking possibilities give retail dietitians plenty of opportunity to foster business relationships. In fact, engaging with this platform for only a few minutes a week can have a positive impact on your work. Follow these tips for making connections on LinkedIn so you can benefit from this strong B2B network.

Intrapreneurship is a relatively recent concept that focuses on employees of a company that have many of the attributes of entrepreneurs. An intrapreneur (sometimes called a corporate entrepreneur) is an employee within a company that takes risks in an effort to solve a given problem, a key resource for companies that adapt and reinvent themselves to remain relevant in turbulent and dynamic business environments.

This session will offer new ideas and actionable steps for supermarket RDs to develop their career and expand their reach in stores and in the community. RDs will learn media and spokesperson skills that are crucial to effectively communicating health messages to consumers and local audiences, along with practical tips for pitching story ideas to media, looking and sounding professional on camera, and working with healthy food brands. RDs will take home tangible tools to further hone their skills, education opportunities on timely topics like plant protein, and access to Wonderful’s team of RDs for more information and support.

Lights, camera, action! Award winning television professional and registered dietitian nutritionist Carolyn O’Neil, MS, RDN shares tips and tricks for improving on camera skills for virtual presentations. Learn expert techniques to help you and your food look even better on virtual video platforms.

Shopping behavior, availability of pantry staples, cooking from home – these are just a few of the changes that happened during the pandemic and which are shaping customer loyalty as retail moves into a new normal. Consider these effects of the pandemic on customer loyalty and the impact for retail dietitians.