Dept. Center Store

  1. Shopper & Customer

Grocers’ Biggest Strategic Misfire: Chasing Shelf Rent While Consumers Chase Dinner Tonight

  The data is not ambiguous—it is directional and disruptive. According to FMI – The Food Industry Association, the percentage of consumers replacing restaurant meals with deli-prepared foods jumped from 12% in 2017 to 28% in 2025. At the same time, 53% of consumers are assembling hybrid meals, blending prepared foods with items already at […]
5 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

Grocers Step Up: Solving Parents’ Time Crunch with Better-for-You Meal Solutions

  Back-to-school is no longer just a retail event—it’s a high-stakes meal solutions moment, where grocers have a unique opportunity to solve one of the most persistent pain points for families: time-starved parents seeking nutritious, convenient, and kid-approved food options according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. In 2026, the […]
5 min read
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  1. Merchandising

4 Critical Mistakes Emerging CPG Brands Must Avoid When Pitching a Retail Buyer

For emerging CPG brands, the journey from a home kitchen or a small-batch facility to the shelves of a national retailer is fraught with challenges. While many founders focus entirely on the quality of their product, the reality of the retail industry is that a great product is only half the battle. Success depends on […]
5 min read
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  1. Department & Category

Amazon’s Grocery Gambit: Tech, Fresh Food, and the Cost of Ignoring the Consumer

Amazon’s two-decade quest to dominate grocery has become one of the most expensive and publicly scrutinized case studies in modern food retail. The pattern is unmistakable: every time Amazon tries to drag grocery into its comfort zone—automation, algorithmic efficiency, and frictionless checkout—it stumbles. Every time it leans into what consumers actually want—fresh food, prepared meals, […]
5 min read
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  1. Technology & Innovation

Your Views:  Do You Hear The People Sing?

MNB reported on how the UFCW is campaigning for a national ban on electronic shelf labels, calling them a vehicle for “surveillance pricing” that will cost jobs and raise consumer prices. I commented: The UFCW is wrong on this issue, as are the lawmakers siding with the union. Not in their opposition to price gouging.  […]
7 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

Metabolic Health Moves to Center Store: Why the Next Grocery Power Shift Is Already Underway

  At FMI Midwinter in Chula Vista, California, one message cut through the noise: metabolic health is no longer a fringe wellness concept—it is rapidly becoming a core grocery growth platform. According to Kevin Ryan, CEO of Malachite Strategy and Research, metabolic health—accelerated by GLP-1 usage, AI agents, and personalized nutrition—is poised to rival protein, […]
5 min read
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  1. Department: Food

Welcoming Empire Marketing Strategies, A New MNB Charter Sponsor

A Note From The Content Guy… As 2026 kicks in, I want to welcome a new Charter Sponsor to the MNB community – Empire Marketing Strategies, which offers its clients in center store, produce, meat/seafood and deli/bakery a unique value proposition:  it is the only retail broker with an office inside Kroger headquarters, positioning itself […]
2 min read
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  1. Shopper & Customer

Millennials Don’t Hate Foodservice—They Hate Friction: Pricing, Authenticity, and Digital Discovery Are the New Table Stakes

  The foodservice industry is dynamic, not static—and Millennials have proven to be the clearest signal of where the market is headed, not an anomaly to be managed. For legacy brands struggling to “win back” Millennials, the issue is rarely food quality alone. It is friction: unclear pricing, limited digital access, and food that feels […]
4 min read
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  1. Merchandising

How Casey’s ‘Test & Learn’ Approach Builds Innovative Product Assortments

Having completed its Innovation Summit this past August, Casey’s category managers are now deep in the process of onboarding some of its new finds at select stores. This was the second Summit the 2,900+ store Midwest convenience chain held in partnership with RangeMe, during which selected brands met in-person with Casey’s category leaders for the […]
5 min read
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  1. Data & Insights

From Grocery Shopping to Meal Component Shopping: How Technology Is Rewriting a Century of Food Retail

  For more than 110 years, American grocery shopping has evolved in step with consumer lifestyles—and today, technology is accelerating that evolution faster than any era before it. From the first self-service grocery store in 1916 (Piggly Wiggly) to the rise of UPC barcodes in 1974 and the online grocery boom that began in the […]
4 min read
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  1. Department & Category

SunStop Launches Meal Deals Tapping the Fast-Growing Grocerant Trend

  SunStop, the convenience store subsidiary of Southwest Georgia Oil Co. (SWGA Oil), is stepping confidently into the family dinner market with its new “Feed the Fam — $5 After 5” campaign — a deal that proves the modern C-store is no longer just a pit stop; it’s a mealtime destination. The promotion, available Monday […]
5 min read
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  1. Channel: Convenience

How 7-Eleven’s Brands with Heart Brings Purpose-Driven Products to the Shelf

Since 2019, RangeMe has proudly partnered with 7-Eleven on its Brands with Heart program, an annual initiative dedicated to discovering and showcasing emerging, purpose-driven brands across 7-Eleven, Speedway, and Stripes convenience stores. This year’s submissions process is currently underway and runs through October 13, 2025. McCarty Selected brands gain a path into a new retail […]
3 min read
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  1. Operations & Supply Chain

Harry & David, Things Remembered will be Popping Up for Holiday 2025

Gourmet food brand Harry & David and personalization retailer Things Remembered — both part of the 1-800-Flowers.com portfolio of brands — plan to expand their retail presence this holiday season with pop-up shops across the country. Harry & David Plans Standalone Pop-Ups, Macy’s Shop-in-Shops Harry & David will launch five premium pop-ups in shopping centers […]
2 min read
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  1. Channel: Grocery

Price Checks:  Pricing Realities At Amazon, Walmart, & Market Basket

The Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal have revealing stories this morning about grocery pricing. In the context of the management contretemps taking place at regional grocer Market Basket, which claims to give customers “more for your dollar,” the Globe decided to bring “the same 10-item shopping list to Market Basket, as well as Wegmans, […]
4 min read
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  1. Department: Food

Health and Wellness with Walmart’s Kevin Host

Send us a text The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Kevin Host, SVP of Pharmacy at Walmart. He is the current chair of NACDS (National association of chain drug stores) and we’ve had the pleasure of hearing him speak LIVE from Palm Beach at the NACDS annual this year. As a career […]
2 min read
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Center Store Grocery Merchandising with Wakefern’s Jeff Mondelli

The CPGGUYS are joined in this episode by Vice President of grocery merchandising at Wakefern Food Corp. Jeff is a remarkable example of a pharmacist expert and leader now transformed into an everyday grocery merchant. We were so impressed by his leadership, he is the winner of the DSN (Drug store news) + CPGGGUYS retail […]
2 min read
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  1. Media & Marketing

The Age of Immersive Commerce with 5 New Digital’s Michael Zakkour – Part 1

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Michael Zakkour, Founder & Chief Strategist of 5 New Digital, a consulting firm that focuses on short-term engagements that empower our clients to quickly break down the walls between online and offline commerce to reimagine how retail, D2C, technology, supply chain, content, and consumption must work […]
2 min read
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  1. Technology & Innovation

Fresh Market Aims to Improve Inventory Management with New Tech, Including Electronic Shelf Labels

The Fresh Market will deploy solutions from VusionGroup across all 166 grocery stores in its fleet next year, adding electronic shelf labels (ESLs), improved inventory management technology and analytics designed to better support in-store merchandising decisions, timing of out-of-stocks and prioritizing waste reduction. The retailer’s partnership with VusionGroup will include a suite of Vusion 360 […]
2 min read
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  1. Department: Food

There’s still growth in the freezer section

    [[“value”:” Consumers flocked to the frozen-food aisles during the peak of the pandemic, and some of that heightened demand appears to have staying power. Dollar sales of many frozen items have continued to show growth over the last three years, including frozen meals, desserts, and frozen fruits and vegetables. Although price inflation is […]
4 min read
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  1. Department: Food

The Giant Co. names new CFO, SVP of operations

    [[“value”:” The Giant Company announced today that it has named Rebecca Lupfer chief financial officer and Dave Lessard senior vice president of operations, customer experience, and perishable distribution. Both will report directly to The Giant Company’s president, John Ruane. Both appointments are effective Monday, Oct. 16.  In her new role, Lupfer will lead the finance, […]
2 min read
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  1. Shopper & Customer

Retailers still see positive effect from baking at home

    [[“value”:” Baking quickly emerged as one of Americans’ favorite pastimes during the pandemic, and some supermarket operators are looking to keep the trend alive with online and in-store classes. Although home baking has clearly subsided from its 2020 peak, observers see a lingering interest in the activity, which they say is helping buoy […]
4 min read
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  1. Technology & Innovation

Whole Foods asks for lower prices, CEO apologies for layoff email and more

Plus: MrBeast’s blindness video raises ethics questions. Whole Foods has asked some food producers to lower prices as pressures from inflation begin to ease across the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. “We know our customers are weighing the impacts of inflationary pressure on their buying choices,” Alyssa Vescio, Whole Foods’ senior vice president of […]
4 min read
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  1. CPG & FMCG

IRI launches Integrated Fresh solution

CHICAGO — IRI has launched a new Integrated Fresh solution that tracks sales of random-weight as well as traditional UPC items that can be shared across the industry with retailers and manufacturers to give a more holistic view of the store. Integrated Fresh is described as the first fact-based data definition of departments, such as […]
3 min read
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  1. Trends & External Forces
  2. Shopper & Customer
  3. Technology & Innovation
  4. Trends & External Forces
  5. Associates & Employees
  6. Merchandising
  7. Stores & Formats

Walmart to Expand Digital Shelf Labels Chainwide

Walmart will deploy digital shelf labels (DSLs) chainwide this year, doubling the approximately 2,300 U.S. locations currently using the technology (Walmart U.S. operates more than 4,600 stores). With more than 120,000 items in a typical Walmart store, managing price changes manually requires significant associate hours. Additionally, these DSLs are equipped with LED lights that make […]
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