Arlington, VA,/ New York, NY, January 29, 2018 – Today, Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Nielsen(NYSE: NLSN) released its second-year findings of its “Digitally Engaged Food Shopper” study at the FMI Midwinter Conference in Miami, Fla. Building on the joint research findings issued in 2017, this second set of insights examines what food and beverage manufacturers and brick-and-mortar retailers need to do to ready themselves for the rising digital grocery landscape, identifying six digital imperatives for omnichannel success. The research indicates that in as few as five-seven years, 70% of consumers will be grocery shopping online. Now, the estimated $100 billion spend, which is equivalent to every U.S. household spending $850 online for food and beverage annually, will occur by 2022 or 2024

Key findings from this year’s study show that omnichannel shopping has passed the tipping point with online grocery shopping on an accelerated path to industry saturation. The first year of research predicted that consumer online food and beverage spend could reach $100 billion by 2025. Today, FMI and Nielsen report that the pace of change and adoption has far outrun initial predictions, where the pervasiveness of online engagement could cut the timeline by as much as half. 

“The grocery industry is currently in the age of digital experimentation, where the roadmap on how to navigate and achieve real and profitable growth continues to evolve,” said Chris Morley, U.S. President FMCG and Retail, Nielsen. “While analytics will continue to be critical for retailers and manufacturers to understand the digitally engaged food shopper on a deeper level, a collaborative approach to balancing physical and digital sales strategies is the key to unlocking omnichannel success.”

Six digital transformation Imperative for Omnichannel success

Two crucial parts of the research were the FMI-Nielsen Digital Readiness Assessment Survey and in-depth interviews across many operational functions of grocery retailers and manufacturers. That work revealed six organizational imperatives that can help retailers and manufacturers accelerate their omnichannel success.

1. Merge Digital and In-Store Shelf Capabilities: Manage the physical shelf and its digital counterpart to create a seamless shopping experience, where consumers see the same information both on or offline.
2. Align Organizational Structures for Omnichannel Success: Integrate digital offerings  in parallel with brick-and-mortar operations.
3. Address Discrepant Datasets:  Scrub master data files for discrepancies; strength in data and accuracy is a critical component to successfully support online sale efforts.
4. Integrate Forecasts to Increase Operational Efficiencies: Integrate online and offline forecasting so the right amount of inventory is available to meet orders through either channel.
5. Optimize Shopper Insights: Bring retailer and manufacturer shopper information together into a single, comprehensive view of customer insights.
6. Improve Marketing and Promotions: Optimize the management of omnichannel marketing and promotions.

“People, process, and technology are the trifecta for a true omnichannel collaboration model,” said FMI Chief Collaboration Officer Mark Baum. “No matter the maturity stage, food retailers and their CPG business partners will find value in leveraging these six organizational imperatives as they respond for a more digitally engaged consumer.”

Year two of “The Digitally Engaged Food Shopper: Developing Your Omnichannel Collaboration Model” study is part of a strategic alliance and multi-year initiative with FMI and Nielsen to uncover comprehensive insights on current and future digital shopping behaviors within the food retail marketplace. A copy of the full report and online readiness assessment is available at www.FMI.Org/DigitalShopper.

*Estimation of online grocery spend is inclusive of food + beverage and CPG products, only.

About FMI

Food Marketing Institute proudly advocates on behalf of the food retail industry, which employs nearly 5 million workers and represents a combined annual sales volume of almost $800 billion. FMI member companies operate nearly 33,000 retail food stores and 12,000 pharmacies. FMI membership includes the entire spectrum of food retail venues; single owner grocery stores, large multi-store supermarket chains, pharmacies, online, and mixed retail stores. Through programs in public affairs, food safety, research, education, health and wellness, and industry relations, FMI offers resources and provides valuable benefits to almost 1,000 food retail and wholesale member companies and serves 85 international retail member companies. In addition, FMI has almost 500 associate member companies that provide products and services to the food retail industry.  For more information, visit www.fmi.org and for information regarding the FMI Foundation, visit www.fmifoundation.org.

About Nielsen

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data sources to help clients around the world understand what’s happening now, what’s happening next, and how to best act on this knowledge. For more than 90 years Nielsen has provided data and analytics based on scientific rigor and innovation, continually developing new ways to answer the most important questions facing the media, advertising, retail, and fast-moving consumer goods industries. An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.