Business Skills

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.

Learning new skills on the job is common no matter our work experience level, and throughout this past year, retail dietitians have built a multitude of new skills. High on the list is the ability to develop and lead engaging consumer videos and live stream.

We’ve all experienced tough times in our career such as, being looked over for a promotion, having a program declined, or having a major problem with a co-worker or boss.  These are times when we may feel alone and vulnerable and in dire need of some sound advice. As these situations are bound to happen many times in our work life, consider putting together a small group of individuals that you can turn to for help when needed – your own personal “Board of Directors”. 

When it comes to engaging retail team members around health and well-being initiatives, it’s important to communicate frequently with key messages to keep them informed, excited and connected to programming.

Retail dietitians see streams of customers seeking allergen-free food choices in the supermarket, but may not realize the full extent of demand for these products, or the impact their professional counsel could have on the store’s business and health destination image.

Hopefully you’ve been asking yourself some tough questions when it comes to showing the value of the work you do. Proving and communicating your worth can be challenging, but it is necessary in today’s retail environment. We sought out some exceptional retail RDNs who have made it a mission to create compelling business cases for their work and wanted to share some of their best practice insights:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here – much ideation, inspiration and business savvy can be gained when retail RDs spend time reading outside the nutrition space. A news reel hit me this weekend and it had my mind spinning with opportunities for retail health and wellbeing programs. I’m sharing the inspiration here with you today.

Showing the value a dietitian brings to the retail environment continues to be a vital area of focus for those RDNs practicing in this space. The ability to calculate a positive return on investment (ROI) and to share those findings with leadership is essential to job security, obtaining approval for new programs and to support additional staffing.

Over the past year amidst the pandemic, consumers have been more willing to switch brands and/or try new brands, and private label has benefited. Survey data from McKinsey and Company found that nearly 20% of consumers indicate they have purchased more owned brand products during the pandemic than they did pre-COVID-19. Forty-five percent of these shoppers indicate price was the primary reason. Private label brands are having a moment, and retailers are strategizing to hold these sales.