<p>By: Steve Markenson, Vice President, Research & Insights, FMI</p><p>As attendees at this year’s <a href="https://www.fmi.org/midwinter-conference">Midwinter Executive Conference</a> navigated their way through the various levels of the beautiful JW Marriott at Marco Island, Fla., they could not miss a big wall of facts about the food industry. As I also navigate my way through the venue to and from various meetings and presentations, I witnessed the attendees (when they were not sneaking peaks at their cell phones) absorbing with interest all these important data points about the industry. Where did they come from? The answer is from the more than <a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/research-reports">40 research projects and reports</a> that FMI produced in 2023. </p><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/wall-of-facts-cp.jpg?sfvrsn=b2aa4dce_1" style="margin:10px 15px 5px;" alt="mg-caption:The Big Wall of Facts at Midwinter 2024" sf-size="100" /><p>This is just a sample of all the facts and insights we gather about and share with the industry. And this year, we are not slowing down! Below is a brief overview of what we have in store for 2024. Check in with the <a href="https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/CommercePlusFormPublic/search?action=Feature">FMI store</a> for all the reports. Follow our <a href="https://www.fmi.org/blog">blog</a> and follow us on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmithefoodindustryassociation/">social media</a> for news and perspective on the latest releases. As always, we <a href="mailto:research@fmi.org">welcome input and ideas</a> that will make our research more valuable to the industry. </p><h5>Signature Research</h5><p><strong>May 2024:</strong> <a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/research-reports/u-s-grocery-shopper-trends"><em>U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends</em></a> <strong></strong>tracks trends among U.S. grocery shoppers, and for the last four decades has traced where they shop, how they shop and what issues are most important to them as consumers. This year’s edition examines how consumers determine value in their grocery shopping store decision making.</p><ul><li>May: Shopping Trends and Value</li><li>August: Back to School</li><li>October: Holiday</li></ul><p><strong>July 2024:</strong> The 75th edition of <a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/research-reports/food-retailing-industry-speaks"><em>The Food Retailing Industry Speaks</em></a> is a survey of food retailers, wholesalers and suppliers that provides important operational and financial benchmarks, assesses perceptions of the competitive environment, determines what differentiation tactics are effective and identifies what issues are having the biggest impact on sales/profits.</p><p><strong>August 2024:</strong> <em>The State of Fresh Foods</em> spotlights fresh foods to showcase key trends and data points. These include statistics ranging from share of store sales to space and labor allocation. The momentum for fresh foods is underscored by retailers who identify perishables departments as key priority development areas for 2024. <em>The State of Fresh Foods</em> is drawn from <em>The Food Retailing Industry Speaks</em>.</p><h5>Power of Series </h5><p><strong><em>The Power of report </em></strong>series identifies the biggest trends in consumer purchasing and consumption habits pre-trip, in-store, online and at home. Each report is a department-specific set of NN gathered from the eyes of the consumer, and for some is overlayed with sales data provided by Circana and Nielsen. Combined these reports provide key insights to help drive recovery and further growth.</p><ul><li><strong>March 2024: </strong><em>The Power of Produce</em></li><li><em></em><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">March 2024: </strong><em>The Power of Meat</em></li><li><em></em><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">March 2024: </strong><em>The Power of Seafood</em></li><li><em></em><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">June 2024: </strong><em>The Power of Private Brands: From the Consumer</em></li><li><em></em><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">September 2024: </strong><em>The Power of Nonfoods</em></li><li><em></em><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">September 2024:<em> </em></strong><em>The Power of Private Brands: From the Industry</em></li><li><em></em><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">Fall 2024: </strong><em>The Power of Foodservice at Retail</em></li><li><em></em><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">Fall 2024: </strong><em>The Power of In-store Bakery</em></li></ul><h5>Other Research</h5><p><strong>January 2024:<em> Food Industry Contributions to Health & Well-being </em></strong>tracks the evolution of how food retailers meet the needs of shoppers seeking healthier lifestyles. This report also surveys food suppliers about their contributions to the health of their customers.</p><p><strong>February 2024: <em>Store and Department Manager Satisfaction Report </em></strong>provides a view from the food industry’s store and department managers. This report details their job satisfaction, key challenges, opportunities and more.</p><p><strong>May 2024: <em>Asset Protection in Food Retail </em></strong>is the third-annual report spotlighting how asset protection professionals adapt their strategies to address a wide range of traditional and emerging threats—from natural disasters to active shooters.</p><p><strong>May 2024:<em> Food Retailing and Wholesaling Audit Study </em></strong>updates the 2016 Food Retailing and Wholesaling Audit Study by documenting changes in key benchmarking information and capturing new data points specific to the internal auditing function at FMI member and non-member companies.</p><blockquote class="small"><p>We conduct research so we can provide our members and the industry with insights. </p><p><a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/research-reports" class="button-secondary button–big">Research Reports</a></p></blockquote>
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