Most Americans know that the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a full count of the U.S. population every 10 years, but few know about the business data they publish. On July 24, FMI will host a webinar that will provide an overview of both the demographic and business data available to food retailers that they can use to get that leg up on the competition. The webinar will provide a live demo of Census Business Builder, an easy to use data tool specifically designed for businesses like yours.

On paper, I’m the definition of an online grocery shopper: I’m a millennial mom with a four-month-old daughter; I live in an urban area; and juggle the responsibilities that go with being a working mom. According to FMI’s U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2018 report, 58 percent of millennials with kids occasionally or fairly often shop for groceries online. So, why don’t I fit this trend?

There are few things in life that span different generations. My kids have never heard of an 8-track tape and my grandkids someday won’t know what a VCR is. That’s the world we live in these days, but it turns out private brands are an exception and have become quite public by raising their profiles with consumers across age segments. More than a third of consumers surveyed in a new report say they have noticed a growing variety of private brand products. These brands influence some 46 percent of consumers in their choice of where they shop.

With the support of FMI and many of our members, Congress passed Public Law 114-216 on July 29, 2016, which establishes a national standard that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) can use to put in place a bioengineering (BE) disclosure standard, rather than a confusing and expensive state-by-state approach