FMI - OMEGA - West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association

FMI members are in a highly competitive, low margin business. Success is predicated on constant evaluation of changing market conditions, continual cost reduction and process improvement, along with investments in a variety of growth strategies, to drive the retail profit engine. Our partners at Oliver Wyman have identified two archetypes of successful retailers: “Bears” and “Sharks”. The former are disrupters, often stealing share from existing competitors; the latter simply outswim (read: outperform) the rest also, winning against the third archetype, “Salmon” (food for both bears and sharks!).

Obtaining SQF Certification isn’t just about protecting consumers, food service providers and retailers. It’s also about protecting the producers themselves. SQF Certification not only gives growers assurances that the food they’re selling has been produced to the highest possible standards, it also puts their contact information in an instantly accessible database that retail and foodservice buyers around the world can look to for suppliers they can trust.

Grocery stores are under increasing competitive pressures to add restaurant-style and take-out options, creating a new hybrid, the “grocerant” with its focus on day parts – breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the same time, store managers are searching for the right mix of fresh foods, hot bars and sit-down restaurants as they expand their perimeters.

In the second part of our series, I spoke with Chris Baker, Oliver Wyman Partner and North America Retail Practice Co-leader, and Jacqui Martinez, Oliver Wyman Retail Practice Partner, on the emergence of “click-and-collect” and omnichannel retail affecting the food industry.

This year, FMI Connect will help in a way it never has before as it introduces multiple new pavilions to the FMI Expo, providing you with contacts to not just international suppliers that will be at FMI Connect for the first time, but also state-specific pavilions where you’ll be able to find the exhibitors you want to meet in the most convenient, efficient way possible. As you work your way through the FMI Connect Expo, you will find pavilions with suppliers from around the world.