As we advised earlier this year in our report, The Power of Private Brands, one of food retail’s most effective strategic competitive tools and primary differentiator is under threat. Understanding disruptive consumer behavior as the competitive battle between food retail channels intensifies is critical to the success of your brand. Private brands effectively build customer loyalty when FMI members find the right balance, combining basic needs for which shoppers will return in combination with innovation and excitement. Finding the right balance requires creativity, experimentation and trial and error. RevenueShield® will protect FMI members as they find the right balance and achieve success for their private brands.

I have found I can usually trust my instincts and intuitions when it comes to knowing what most people think, and when I question my judgment in this regard I tend to rely on my Kentucky roots and the connections I still have there to gauge what conventional thinking outside the Washington Beltway might be. Occasionally, though, I encounter a data point in a study that catches me a bit off-guard. I recently ran face-front into one of those reality-check moments when reviewing this year’s FMI research U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends.

MasterCard has announced it is officially retiring signature authentication for credit and debit card transactions. This is a huge step in the right direction of once and for all putting signature out to pasture to never be seen again.

According to recent analysis released by FMI, our industry pays over $167 billion in wages to its almost five million workers in the U.S. Our significant economic impact includes the $367 million in wages in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s district in Wisconsin as well as the over 11,000 jobs in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s congressional district in California. The industry has both a powerful and bipartisan effect on federal, state and local economies across the country.