FMI is focused on ensuring our members can reach and serve all their customers, regardless of how they pay or shop for their grocery items. FMI's Omnishopper Imperatives for Food Retailers study estimates online and in-store spending for food and beverage will reach $143 billion by 2025.

<div> <p paraid="836683194" paraeid="{6bfb9315-d42f-4f59-afb3-0ef148fc45f0}{157}">By: Hannah Walker, Vice President, Political Affairs, FMI&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="738692707" paraeid="{6bfb9315-d42f-4f59-afb3-0ef148fc45f0}{163}"><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/online-snap-redemption.tmb-large-350-.png?sfvrsn=af534733_1" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="Online SNAP Redemption" title="Online SNAP Redemption" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;" />The food retail industry is crossing new boundaries at an unprecedented rate. Now, Boomers and Gen X are vying with Millennials and Gen Z for the title of online shopper superstars.&nbsp;As the new decade gets underway, the dynamics of ecommerce and omnichannel are growing in complexity. FMI is focused on ensuring our members can reach and serve all their customers, regardless of how they&nbsp;pay&nbsp;or shop&nbsp;for their&nbsp;grocery items.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="1711425572" paraeid="{6bfb9315-d42f-4f59-afb3-0ef148fc45f0}{196}">FMI's&nbsp;<em><a href="https://www.fmi.org/blog/view/fmi-blog/2020/02/18/omnishopper-size-of-the-prize">Omnishopper&nbsp;Imperatives for Food Retailers</a></em>&nbsp;study&nbsp;estimates&nbsp;online and in-store spending for food and&nbsp;beverage&nbsp;will&nbsp;reach&nbsp;$143 billion&nbsp;by 2025.&nbsp;There are several factors weighing into&nbsp;the&nbsp;latest projection&nbsp;including, retail foodservice, enhanced click and collect models, proliferation of two-hour delivery to homes, and more customers switching from purchases in-store to online.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <h5 paraid="987396296" paraeid="{6bfb9315-d42f-4f59-afb3-0ef148fc45f0}{244}">Online SNAP Redemption Pilot Program</h5> <p paraid="987396296" paraeid="{6bfb9315-d42f-4f59-afb3-0ef148fc45f0}{244}">That&rsquo;s why our advocacy efforts&nbsp;ensure&nbsp;individuals of all ages, demographics, and accessibility using&nbsp;the&nbsp;Supplemental&nbsp;Nutrition&nbsp;Assistance&nbsp;Program (SNAP)&nbsp;have the same access as other shoppers using ecommerce programs daily.&nbsp;We&rsquo;ve worked closely with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)&nbsp;to identify the challenges and opportunities of online SNAP redemption, which launched a pilot program in the states of New York and Washington.&nbsp;This&nbsp;pilot&nbsp;program&nbsp;is an important step to&nbsp;address&nbsp;the evolving&nbsp;needs of&nbsp;U.S. grocery digital shoppers&nbsp;and&nbsp;works to&nbsp;improve access and options&nbsp;to all&nbsp;customers.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="2093594019" paraeid="{8074e24c-ac05-4402-bfdf-24bae62a83be}{77}">We expect additional states to launch their online pilots&nbsp;in&nbsp;2020, and FMI&nbsp;will advocate&nbsp;for a nationwide rollout if the pilot&nbsp;proves&nbsp;successful.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <h5 paraid="1513408592" paraeid="{8074e24c-ac05-4402-bfdf-24bae62a83be}{95}">What&rsquo;s Next&nbsp;for&nbsp;Mobile Payments?&nbsp;&nbsp;</h5> </div> <div> <p paraid="825613723" paraeid="{8074e24c-ac05-4402-bfdf-24bae62a83be}{111}">We know shoppers&nbsp;seek&nbsp;more than just online order/delivery or pick up&nbsp;models. As&nbsp;the&nbsp;omnishopper&nbsp;evolves so should&nbsp;innovation and speed of payments.&nbsp;SNAP retailers can currently launch their own click and collect, pay in store omnichannel programs. So,&nbsp;the question remains, what is next?&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="1692361995" paraeid="{8074e24c-ac05-4402-bfdf-24bae62a83be}{155}">The 2018 Farm Bill directed USDA to&nbsp;authorize up to five state SNAP mobile payment demonstration pilots.&nbsp;The idea of moving away from plastic cards and into a digitally enabled SNAP card sounds like a logical next step,&nbsp;but&nbsp;it also comes with unique challenges.&nbsp;To date, there is no real &ldquo;winner&rdquo; with regards to the technology solutions for mobile payments.&nbsp;The global card brands&nbsp;push for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fmi.org/blog/view/fmi-blog/2019/04/03/we-have-an-emv-now-what" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">near field communication (NFC) technology&nbsp;solutions for mobile</a>,&nbsp;however, NFC comes with its&nbsp;own&nbsp;challenges&nbsp;and tradeoffs for both the&nbsp;consumer and&nbsp;retailer. In&nbsp;response, some retailers have opted to use an alternative QR code mobile payment&nbsp;solution&nbsp;to avoid&nbsp;some of the pitfalls&nbsp;surrounding&nbsp;NFC. These are only two solutions in an ever-evolving market. As&nbsp;USDA begins this process of&nbsp;considering possible mobile payment pilots, it is essential the retailer voice and unique perspective is heard.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="771611998" paraeid="{8074e24c-ac05-4402-bfdf-24bae62a83be}{233}">FMI&nbsp;is actively sharing our initial thoughts&nbsp;with USDA&nbsp;on how a mobile payments pilot could work, and the need&nbsp;to&nbsp;ensure our members are not unfairly harmed or subjected to unintended consequences on the commercial side as we work to bring new solutions&nbsp;to SNAP.&nbsp;While&nbsp;there will be challenges&nbsp;on many fronts,&nbsp;it&rsquo;s&nbsp;crucial&nbsp;we ensure SNAP customers are not left behind&nbsp;in the ever-growing omnichannel shopping world.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <a href="https://www.fmi.org/industry-topics/food-assistance-programs" class="button">More Information on SNAP</a> <br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/the-omnishopper-imperative-for-food-retailers" class="button-secondary">Download the Omnishopper Imperatives for Retailers Report</a>

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