Online grocery spending continues to grow at a rapid pace, now making up 5.5% of total grocery spending in the U.S., according to a new study from advisory firm Brick Meets Click. Nearly 30% of U.S. households buy groceries online, and most of the near-term growth in online grocery spending will continue to come from this group of active online grocery shoppers.
Category Archives: FOOD & BEVERAGE
Discover how robotics, automation, artificial intelligence and mobile apps continue to reshape the future of the cold food and beverage industry.
United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), Providence, R.I., announced plans to acquire SUPERVALU INC., Minneapolis, for approximately $2.9 billion. The transaction will greatly expand UNFI’s customer base and exposure across channels, including those where demand for “better for you” products is increasing.
The number of Americans over 50 who are online grocery-shopping is relatively low, with only 17% ever having ordered groceries to be picked up from a store, 17% from a prepared meal delivery service, 16% ever having ordered groceries to be delivered, and 10% having ordered from a meal-kit delivery service. Those are among the findings from a new survey conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation in collaboration with AARP Foundation.
The line between physical and digital in the grocery space continues to blur. And grocers are mistaken if they believe choosing one over the other is the key to winning.
Personalized nutrition is “the next big opportunity” for packaged food companies, said Stephanie Naegeli, global director of marketing and innovation food at Nestle S.A. “It’s also a huge challenge because what C.P.G. is traditionally really good at is producing the same product at scale,” Ms. Naegeli said during a panel discussion at the Future Food-Tech conference, held March 22-23 in San Francisco. “Personalized nutrition is kind of the opposite of that, and so how are we going to do that?”
Chinese e-commerce and technology company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and U.S. grocer Kroger Co have had early discussions on working together, including a meeting in which U.S. executives traveled to China, a source familiar with the matter said.
Retailers and brands convened in New York City last week to experience the National Retail Federation’s Big Show, and once of the biggest topics on attendees’ minds was technology. From automation to personalization to social marketing, the growing importance of technology in the shopping experience was definitely top-of-mind for retailers and brands, including those in the food and beverage space.
People will take a more active role in what they eat, have more opportunities to interact and know more about how food impacts their bodies, a pair of futurists said
ReFED, in partnership with the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, has released a new Retail Food Waste Action Guide aimed at expanding voluntary food donation and organics recycling. “Food waste is an $18.2 billion opportunity for grocery retailers,” ReFED Executive Director Chris Cochran told Waste Dive. “There’s a business case here.”