Category: Marketing

September 8, 2019

Walmart Wants Shelves Stocked with Small Brands

With 90% of U.S. households having visited at least once in the past year, Walmart is an ideal location for consumers to discover new and innovative food products — and not just ones from established CPG giants.

Despite being one of the world’s largest retail chains, Walmart has made helping emerging brands a key piece of its growth strategy. This includes offering early stage companies the ability to launch in as few as 10 stores, or access to buyers who can guide young brands as they prepare to enter the market.

July 17, 2019

Emerging Brands Aren’t Just Disruptors to Established Companies — Incredibly Important Partners, Too.

Of course, emerging brands aren’t just disruptors to established companies — they can also be incredibly important partners, too. Groceryshop’s Working with Startups to Transform the Business session will showcase three leaders who evaluate opportunities to incubate, accelerate or invest in startup brands. Gulrez ‘Gary’ Arora, the Global Launchpad Lead and Head of the Seeds of Change Accelerator at Mars Incorporated, Lauren Jupiter, the Managing Partner at AccelFoods and Andreas Wuerfel, the Director US Strategic Partnerships at METRO Group will each bring a unique point of view to this topic.

May 17, 2019

Shared values nurture meaningful brand-supplier partnerships

We could not agree more with this story from Natural Products Insider  on the importance of relationships that contribute to meeting consumers demands for product information and transparency.

Please enjoy the NPI story by Chris Holland vice president of sales at Barrington Nutritionals.   See also the free FMI report,  The Transparency Imperative: Product Labeling from the Consumer Perspective

Consumers demand full transparency of the products they purchase, and this demand goes beyond a “clean label.” Consumers want to look back across the entire supply chain to understand how each ingredient was handled, where it was grown and how it was manufactured. They want to connect directly with the source of their food and supplements. The relationship between the ingredient manufacturer and the consumer product brand is a vital part of differentiation as brands seek to get ahead of the competition.

May 15, 2019

How do I get the right data for retailers?

CPG brands: Here’s how you get the right data for retailers Thank you to New Hope Network for this short video featuring Bill Keith of Perfect Snacks on the importance […]

May 14, 2019

Gelson’s invites entrepreneurs to pitch grocery products

As announced today in Winsight Grocery Business

Gelson’s Markets is hosting an event called Local Discoveries in California on June 6.

Local entrepreneurs will be invited to pitch products to the grocer’s buyers in an effort to expand the company’s local offerings.

May 12, 2019

FMI offer: Voice of Food Retail Blog

For Emerging brands building relationships with retailers, it’s important to know the issues, trends and operational insights that you would gain from a weekly Friday digest from the FMI Blog.

Subscribe to the Voice of Food Retail Blog and see the value!  Here is a sampling from the 5/17/19 digest edition.

May 10, 2019

The Rise of Plant-Based and the Opportunity for Produce

Plant based products are on the rise, but is there a place for the produce industry in the trend? Produce Retailer breaks down who is buying plant-protein products and how […]

May 6, 2019

Headline: FMI Emerge Community is in the News!

It’s always an exciting day when we see members of the FMI Emerge community being celebrated in the news! SmartyPits (FMI Emerge Subscriber) and The Honey Pot Company (FMI Emerge […]

April 4, 2019

National Family Meals Month – September

Help Tell the Grocery Industry’s Story
Families have the desire to prepare and share more meals at home, but they find it challenging to make it happen more often. They need to hear the facts about the benefits of family meals and the impact this behavior can have on their family and our nation as a whole. They need to know that today’s brands and grocers are evolving to bring them new ways to make meals at home easier and more affordable. You can help grocers turn data points into compelling shopper messaging and position your company and products as supporting families as they strive to enjoy more meals together. 

March 21, 2019

Key Trends and Products from Natural Products Expo West

The energy was palpable at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim earlier this month. There was truly a community feel throughout the event. See all the Expo West photos I took here!

The FMI Emerge team was there to speak with emerging brands wanting to grow their distribution and scale sustainably. In the same way that Expo West brings the entire food and grocery retail industry together, this too is one of the key tenets of the FMI Emerge program and community. It is a nurturing environment with regional and nationwide retailers, the industry’s leading experts, mentors, education, supportive outreach and access to investors. Our team helps emerging brands fully integrate into the larger industry, by getting the education they need, and access the resources they’re seeking, fast.

A highlight of Expo was catching up with FMI Emerge subscribers: MyFitMode and StepOneFoods, were unveiling new products at Expo as they continue to grow distribution. World of Chia, the first chia fruit spread, also continues to expand their distribution and grow across e-commerce. FMI Emerge resources enabled these companies to tackle challenges such as finding the right co-packer partners, updating their packaging and revising their product formulations and growing their e-commerce and Amazon sales.