You don’t need to look much further than the headlines to see how food retailers are making waves by stepping outside of the box. Big-thinking ideas have helped brands continue to stay relevant and successful despite the first half of 2024 bringing continued change to the industry, with retailers navigating issues like inflation, innovations and labor shortages.

The second half of 2024 is upon us, and these issues don’t seem to be going anywhere. Despite these curveballs, business owners and decision-makers should still be looking ahead and planning how they can finish the year strong and set themselves up for success in 2025.

The team at NACS conducted a midyear assessment and identified three key trends that all business owners and decision-makers need to know for the second half of this year and beyond.

Stay True to Your Brand.

The key to success in the food retail industry is staying true to your brand. While it might be tempting to bolster your bottom line by trying to attract a wider audience, this often involves cutting prices, diversifying offerings and sacrificing quality, which in turn dilutes your brand. In these moments, it’s imperative to stay true to your brand and most importantly, to your loyal customers.

If you’re having trouble focusing your brand amid the continuous shifts in the industry, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help stay on track:

• What are you known for? Perhaps you are known for customer service or the widest variety of products. Pinpoint this detail and lean in to this niche.
• What are your strengths? You might be located among prime real estate, or your customers are loyal to your overall brand (think Trader Joe’s) – these are your strengths and areas you shouldn’t take for granted but rather continue to foster.
• What are your differentiators? Think about what makes you stand out among competitors – maybe it’s your prepared foods or your prices; these little details make a huge difference when customers are thinking about where they want to spend their money.

Offer Convenience in Unexpected Ways.

In the age of technology and at-home delivery, customers crave convenience. This is especially true with their shopping experiences, where they value convenience and saving time and money. However, when it comes to in-store shopping, convenience isn’t always associated with large food retailers. Instead, many consumers might only think of convenience stores.

According to Food Genius, 80% of Americans don’t know what they are having for dinner by 4 p.m. They also don’t particularly enjoy making dinner, which is an opportunity for food retailers to elevate their convenience offerings and highlight their prepared foods. In addition to prepared foods, many brands like Wegmans and Whole Foods are now also marketing their meal kits, which can be purchased in the store and quickly assembled and made at home. This is just one way that brands are utilizing convenience to attract customers and widen their offerings.

Prioritize Your Employees.

Like every industry, the food retail industry is facing labor issues. For this reason, business owners and decision-makers must prioritize retaining the employees they have, because if your employees are happy, it’s more likely that your customers’ in-store experience will be better.

While in theory the goal of hiring and retaining top talent might seem easy, we all know that in today’s market it can be one of the hardest tasks. A few ways to retain talent and optimize workforce performance include offering competitive pay, unique benefits, employee recognition programs and flexible scheduling, as well as prioritizing company culture and fostering team building.

Brands like CVS have even taken matters into their own hands with their workforce programs that focus on attracting and equipping diverse talent like youth, mature workers, veterans and individuals with disabilities and making sure they have a place within the CVS company.

Whether your business is facing some of these challenges or all of them, there are solutions you can implement and peers you can learn from at this year’s NACS Show. Every year, the NACS Show brings together industry professionals for four days of learning with more than 50 educational sessions, buying and selling at their expo of over 1,200 exhibitors and networking among 23,000+ industry stakeholders from around the world – all designed to help participants grow their bottom line.

To learn more about the conference and the education sessions mentioned in this article, visit: https://www.nacsshow.com/about.