Some of our recap posts from the 2010 FMI (Food Marketing Institute) event talked about shopper expectations, creating a sensory-rich experience, and how Dorothy Lane Markets was going about doing so. There was much discussion at the event on the in-store experience and what today’s shoppers have come to expect, from many different perspectives including [...]

Standing in the aisles of a price oriented supermarket in California, I thought I heard the best definition of value.
Now this was no average store. This was Grocery Outlet, a company whose stores will never get compared to Wegmans or Whole Foods. The stores are extremely simple, with small selections [...]

Okay soccer/football fans: prepare to get angry. Like the vast majority of Americans I would describe the World Cup in South Africa with one word: Dull!
I’m one of those people who prefer American football, despite it capturing the two worst elements of life in the US—sporadic violence and frequent meetings. [...]

Remember the day you launched your first loyalty card program? It was likely based around a rectangular, credit-card sized laminated plastic card that identified shoppers at the checkout. You could track and reward purchases, and if you were fortunate enough to convince customers to give their real contact information, you could send special offers their [...]

For one second, think of the most inconceivable headline you could read this morning here on MorningNewsBeat.com. It could involve, say, Walmart going out of business, Coke and Pepsi merging or high fat diets getting the blessing of the surgeon general as the best step toward good health.
What about this: [...]

Bringing FMI’s discussions around health and wellness, and the role of the grocer, to an end was Sam Cass, Assistant White House Chef and Food Initiative Coordinator for Mrs. Obama’s Childhood Obesity Task Force.
He opened with a recap of the disturbing facts that urged Mrs. Obama to take on this incredibly important challenge with her [...]

Dorothy Lane Market is widely recognized as a leader in the independent grocery retail industry and has earned that position (rightfully) by their peers, their staff and their customers many times. When asked what makes Dorothy Lane so special, a long list of things come to mind from their clean stores to friendly, helpful staff [...]

Also at FMI last week, Kevin Kelley of Shook Kelley, shared an interesting research finding: consumers ranked grocery stores in the top 3 “places I hate to visit” along with the DMV and post office. This is not good news for grocers.
Not most, anyway. He went on to talk about something he calls a “sensory [...]

This is first in a series recapping thoughts, ideas and questions that I walked away with from the FMI 2010 conference in Las Vegas last week. Overall I thought it was a great event and I’m looking forward to continuing conversations with the many great people I met who are also passionate about helping shoppers [...]

As a rule, I don’t tend to make a lot of friends on airplanes. People will tell you that ordinarily I’m very friendly on the ground, but in the air my goals are simple: sleep, work and read. It takes a lot for me to talk to my seat mates and [...]