Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Grocery Shrink Ray Strikes Aldi Bread, Gillette Anti-Perspirant

By Laura Northrup September 29, 2015

The Grocery Shrink Ray quietly removes almost imperceptible bits of our packaged goods, graduallyshrinking some products over time so manufacturers can avoid raising prices. Once you’re aware of it, you begin to notice it every time you buy a slightly smaller replacement for a product that you use regularly. Two readers who bought bread and deodorant noticed exactly that.

Eric bought a new loaf of sourdough bread at discount grocer Aldi, and noticed that the new loaf was a tiny bit smaller than the previous one. 3/10 of an ounce doesn’t seem like a lot, but it would make a loaf of bread smaller. Even a less-fluffy bread like sourdough.

The interesting thing is that Aldi, based in Germany, apparently doesn’t think that Americans are too swift with our metric conversions: both versions of the loaf give the weight as 690 grams, while neither is true. 24 ounces is 680 grams.

Jason, meanwhile, may find himself a little sweatier in the future.

The deodorant on the right is a nice, even 4 ounces, while the item on the left has been shrunk to 3.8. The packages look to be the same size, so this is likely an example of nonfunctional slack fill: there’s just more empty space in the package.

Shipt CEO: Service differentiator in e-grocery space

Sep 29, 2015Jon Springer

What is in this article?:

Shipt CEO: Service differentiator in e-grocery space
Big box roots

“There’s been a lot of colossal failures in the grocery delivery business over the years and we don’t intend to be one of them, which is why we’re focused on a model with sustainability.”
— BILL SMITH, Shipt

As Bill Smith sees it, the e-commerce space for groceries still has plenty of room to grow. And the CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based Shipt intends to stake out ground for a service-oriented, membership-based, on-demand grocery concierge.

Shipt, founded a year ago, this week is launching service in Charlotte, N.C. — the company’s eighth market and sixth state since making its first grocery deliveries in Birmingham this January. The company also operates in Nashville, Dallas, Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Atlanta, and appears to be prepping for a launch in Arizona, where the company is now soliciting personal shoppers on its website.

Unlike some counterparts in the concierge service — Instacart, for one — Shipt works independently of the stores in its delivery area, but tends to focus on a single store brand in each of its markets. Shipt offers customers delivery from Publix in all of its current market areas except for Dallas, where it shops Kroger.

In an interview with SN, Smith said Shipt’s long-term intention is to focus on one or two grocers per market. “You’ll see us support one organic grocer and one non-organic grocer.”

Shipt customers can receive their grocery orders in as little as one hour.

Photos courtesy of Shipt

Neither Publix nor Kroger have publicly endorsed an association with Shipt, although Smith said the company has “kept an open line of communication” with retailers. Moreover, he said, grocers have begun to inquire about partnering with Shipt, noting the service “is driving a tremendous amount of sales” to those stores. Smith declined to quantify that statement.

Officials of Publix and Kroger were not immediately available to comment on Shipt. While Publix several years ago tested, then shut down its own Internet shopping service, Kroger is testing a "click-and-collect" Internet shopping model in several markets.

“What we know is that surveys find that a lot of customers who shop with Shipt were not shopping the stores that we support on a regular basis,” Smith said. “So its not just dollars walking into the store, but its new market share.”

Smith likened the approach to customer service at Shipt to that of Publix, saying that its commitment to satisfied customers has helped not to reflect poorly on stores when issues arise. “Our shoppers go through special training in customer service,” Smith said. “And if people see our social media and see how we do customer service, you’ll see. We believe in making things right for the customer.”

Customers who order through the Shipt app can receive their orders in as fast as one hour, Smith said, but the service comes at a price: membership at $99 a year, or $14 a month, is required, providing for unlimited free deliveries on orders of more than $35 (orders of less than $35 are subject to a $7 delivery fee). Shipt pays for the service by adding a charge onto the items it sells — usually around 10% to 15% of the item price at stores.

“We think those two [membership and upcharge] revenue streams are sustainable,” Smith said. “There’s been a lot of colossal failures in the grocery delivery business over the years and we don’t intend to be one of them, which is why we’re focused on a model with sustainability.”

Big box roots

Smith founded Shipt a year ago, after a pre-paid Visa card business he also founded, Insight Card Services, was sold to larger counterpart Green Dot. Shipt began life as a concierge for big-box stores Target, Best Buy and Home Depot, Smith said, but the focus shifted to groceries because that’s what customers wanted. “People told us, ‘It’s great to get things delivered from Best Buy, but what I want is someone to bring me my groceries.’”

Shipt's business is rooted in the South, opening this week in Charlotte and already serving customers in Nashville, Dallas, Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Atlanta.

The same responsiveness to customer needs also drives Shipt’s emphasis on service, Smith said. “One of the things that been interesting to watch is the caliber of people we have shopping for us,” he said. “We have a lot of stay-at-home moms and people who have a full-time job but who want to make some extra income, and we’ve been able to attract a great group of shoppers who resemble our customers. So a lot of our shoppers are moms, and our customers are moms.”

Asked about challenges of running the business, Smith mentioned managing logistics — being sure its contracted shoppers are available at peak times, and that the selections at the Shipt app are up to date with what’s available in stores — is one concern, while maintaining a rapid expansion pace is another. “From a customer perspective, solving a problem like ‘What’s for dinner tonight?’ Trying to solve that is something that interests us,” he added.

Regarding competition — Walmart this week also announced it was expanding Internet grocery in Charlotte, among other cities — Smith was philosophical. “The space is so new there isn’t a clear winner yet. And I don’t think there’s going to be a winner for some time,” he said.

“Being from the South, I think our culture is a little bit different. The way our company works and our approach to customers is just a little different, and I think that’s attractive to some companies.”

Walmart expands e-grocery in eight cities

Walmart on Tuesday announced that its “click-and-collect” Internet grocery shopping model was expanding to eight new cities, with additional markets to be announced in coming weeks.

Walmart said service was launching this month in Atlanta; Charlotte and Fayetteville, N.C.; Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah; Nashville; Tucson, Ariz.; and Colorado Springs. Additional markets will be added in the coming weeks.

Walmart said tests of online shopping in several cities currently underway — including in its home base of Bentonville, Ark.; San Jose, Calif.; Denver; and Huntsville, Ala. — indicated customers are increasingly demanding the convenience of online shopping, and Walmart’s huge store base provides the infrastructure to accommodate them.

"We’ve tested online grocery options — both pickup and delivery — in a handful of markets across the U.S., and each time we’ve added a new city, our customers begin using the service faster than they did in the previous one,” the company said in a blog post published Tuesday.

Walmart said shoppers using online shopping option in these cities can shop online, select a pickup time, and then pull into designated parking areas at their local stores where associates will load orders into their cars. Orders placed by 10 a.m. are available for same-day pickup. Walmart said it charges the same price for items purchased online as in stores and there is no extra fees for online service.

“With 70% of the U.S. population living within 5 miles of an existing Walmart store, this is an idea that simply makes sense for us,” the company said. “We have the locations already in place, and with our website and mobile app expertise, we’re able to combine those things in a way that helps our customers save time and still take advantage of our everyday low prices.”

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

How Foodservice Can Digest New Technology

FSTEC panel discusses pitfalls, challenges of "eating IT"

Published in CSP Daily News

Angel Abcede, Senior Editor/Content Development Coordinator, CSP

Rob Grimes (left), moderator and founder of FSTEC; Burton Heiss, CEO, Nando’s USA; Marc Hinson, vice president of human resources, Tavistock Restaurant Collection, Josh Kern, chief marketing officer, Smashburger; Bonnie Lippincott, vice president and COO, The Rose Group; Jeff Owens, CFO, Clyde’s Restaurant Group; and Tripp Sessions, senior vice president and chief digital and technology officer, TGI Friday’s.

WASHINGTON -- With technology poised to reinvent everything from food ordering to customer-staff interaction, an executive-level panel at the opening general session of Winsight’s FSTEC conference discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the foodservice industry.

Assembled with multiple departments in mind, executives representing roles such as CEO, marketing, operations, information technology (IT) and human resources squared off on topics ranging from integration to customer relationship management (CRM) at the annual FSTEC foodservice technology conference.

“We’re drowning in data and starving for meaning,” said Burton Heiss, CEO, Nando’s USA, Johannesburg, South Africa, noting how information doesn’t necessarily provide foodservice operators direction. “The challenge is the accelerating rate of change [in technology] both on a consumer standpoint and internally. It’s about establishing priorities to achieve a greater vision.”

With a discussion landing on Seattle-based Starbucks and its new food-ordering and pickup app feature, Heiss, whose restaurant chain focuses on South African “peri-peri” chicken, said operators have yet to determine what customers will really respond to regarding technology, with a dangerous pitfall being investing in something they won’t use.

To that end, Trip Sessions, senior vice president and chief digital and technology officer for TGI Friday’s, Exton, Pa., said a challenge foodservice operators face is being able to integrate third-party data with what an operator is able to collect at the point-of-sale (POS). Oftentimes, legacy systems and processes are barriers to “matching up” with other data resources to discover richer insight.

The panel also talked about what technology challenges concerned them the most. These topics included:

Engaging staff internally using the latest in hiring, “onboarding,” scheduling and e-learning applications.
How customers engage the brand, from learning about menu offers to reviewing the food.
Executing new technologies, with issues ranging from developing the proper consumer interfaces to integration with current IT platforms.
Working with payments, everything from data security to new types of cards.
Developing and experience that leads to customer “stickiness.”

In a discussion about strategy, Bonnie Lippincott, vice president and COO, The Rose Group, Newtown, Pa., said one of the biggest challenges operators face is engaging their IT teams in the development process. “It seems IT is always brought into the process too late,” she told the audience of about 350 attendees. “It’s one of the biggest challenges, because IT has to make it work.”

Is data eliminating the need for chief merchants at retail?

By Tom Ryan

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

With software increasingly driving allocation decisions, some recent industry coverage explores how the chief merchant role is evolving.

Some articles discuss how areas such as marketing and supply chain are being incorporated into chief merchant responsibilities in today's complex omnichannel world. The traditional role of spotting trends has become less important with algorithms taking over, according to the stories.

The stories reflect trends seen in a number of unconventional moves around the role of chief merchant carried out by major retailers:

Kohl's, after a long search, recently decided to hand over merchandising responsibilities to its chief marketing officer;
Target earlier this year split its chief merchandising and supply-chain officer roles;
Last November, Walmart decided not to replace its chief merchant and instead has its VPs over key categories reporting directly to the retailer's U.S. chief.

Last week, J.C. Penney promoted John Tighe, who had been overseeing buys for men's, children's, footwear, handbags and intimate apparel, to chief merchant. But on its second-quarter conference call, Marvin Ellison, JCP's president and CEO designee, said the chain has to get better at the "science of retailing" across allocation, replenishment and presentation.

Photo: RetailWire

"The toughest thing to do is get the right product, right style, right quality, and to get the customer to be committed to it," he said.

Are your store managers spotting money-making opportunities?

According to The Wall Street Journal, the shift in emphasis to analytics in merchandising is due to sophisticated software that enables merchants to gain ever-faster reads on sell-throughs inside their own stores as well as at competitors. Younger generations are also seen as much more apt to tap Big Data in guiding buys. The article also points to how consolidation has created chains "so big that buying by instinct isn't an option any more."

Omnichannel retailing is also complicating inventory management and other standard retail processes.

Still, the creative side of merchandising earned some praise. Waiting for hard data may slow a merchant down in reacting to a trend and overly relying on data can lead to a sea of sameness across stores. At the same time, extrapolating data adeptly can be considered an art.

"Everybody has data," Brett Wickard, founder of "lean retail" software company FieldStack, told Retail Dive. "Using it is the hard part."

Amazon's one-hour UK delivery service to include pizzas and ice-cream

Prime Now will offer up to 60 frozen and chilled food products to customers in Birmingham and parts of London

Amazon is vying for a slice of the UK grocery market. Photograph: Design Pics Inc/Rex Features

Sarah Butler

Amazon has taken the first step towards offering a full grocery delivery service in the UK, turning up the pressure on the big supermarket chains.

The American online retailer is testing the market by offering between 50 and 60 frozen and chilled food products as part of its Prime Now one-hour delivery service. It started in Birmingham on Tuesday and will expand into some London postcodes next month.

Items on offer will include Chicago Town pizzas, Birds Eye fish fingers and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream – the sort of items shoppers might want to order quickly for a night in front of the TV.

Amazon said: “Prime Now customers already benefit from ultra-fast delivery on everything from essentials like bottled water, coffee and nappies to must-have products like the latest video games and devices. We are excited to be adding a range of chilled and frozen items to this selection.”

Amazon’s full grocery service, Amazon Fresh, is available in Seattle, California and New York, and the company is thought to be close to launching in the UK.

It sells about 200,000 groceries from air freshener to coffee and biscuits through its usual website in the UK. Amazon Fresh in the US also offers fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy products and meat with free same-day delivery for orders of more than $35.

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The big four supermarkets are facing growing competition from budget retailers. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

The arrival of such a service in the UK would provide another challenge to British supermarkets, which are struggling to cope with rising competition from the discounters Aldi and Lidl. Aldi has increased the pressure on its rivals by announcing plans to sell wine and non-food items online from next year.

The internet is providing one of the few avenues of growth for the major supermarkets, many of which have been forced to close stores and lay off staff as shoppers change their habits. Last year, nearly 6% of groceries were sold via the internet in the UK, according to the industry analysts Conlumino. IGD, the industry association, predicted online grocery sales would more than double between 2014 and 2019 to £16.9bn, more than 8% of total UK grocery sales.

Neil Saunders from Conlumino said: “Any new entrant is an unwelcome additional pressure. Such is the zero-sum nature of today’s grocery market that any sales Amazon Fresh manages to generate will come from some other player.”

However, Amazon had not been able to take a major share of the grocery market in the US, he said. Even its home town of Seattle, where the retailer controls 40% of online groceries, its total share of grocery sales is 1.2%.

Saunders said the high cost of delivering food and drink had led Amazon to restrict deliveries to its top customers who pay a fee to sign up to the company’s Prime service, thereby restricting its appeal.

In the UK, Amazon faces far stronger competition on groceries than in the US as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have their own online grocery services.

How can we manage mycotoxins in the supply chain?

Published on 28 September 2015

Author: Rebecca Carter

Mycotoxins, produced by fungi, are a health risk within the food supply chain. Levels are related to fungal development during crop growth and storage, which is influenced by environmental conditions such as temperature and moisture. Mycotoxins are not completely removed by processing and, if ingested, can cause harm to human and animal health and in extreme cases, even death. Common sources of mycotoxins include cereals, nuts, coffee and fruit. There are legal limits set in human and livestock diets but exceedances can and do occur, both in raw materials and in processed food and feedstuffs. This article explains the key issues and explores how we can address the problem.

How can we manage mycotoxins in the supply chain?

What are mycotoxins & how are they regulated?

Mycotoxins are a group of naturally occurring chemicals produced by certain fungi. The mycotoxins of most concern from a food safety perspective include the aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2 and M1), ochratoxin A, patulin and toxins produced by Fusarium, including fumonisins (B1, B2 and B3), trichothecenes (principally nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, T-2 and HT-2 toxin) and zearalenone.

The presence of mycotoxins in food for human consumption is regulated under EC Union Regulation 1881/2006 which sets out legal permitted maximum levels (μg/kg) of certain mycotoxins in foodstuffs. For deoxynivalenol (DON), one of the more commonly detected mycotoxins in cereals, the limit is set at a maximum of 1250 µg/kg in unprocessed cereals (apart from Durum wheat), 750 µg/kg in pasta and 500 µg/kg in bread and breakfast cereals. In addition to cereals, mycotoxins are present in a number of other raw materials that enter the food supply chain such as groundnuts (peanuts), tree nuts, oilseeds, dried fruits, spices, coffee, wine, apple juice and milk.

Fresh produce can also contain mycotoxins, with the mycotoxin patulin found in certain types of fresh produce such as apples, sweet peppers, soft red fruit and tomatoes, particularly when the fruit is not stored correctly post harvesting. In the EU, the legal limit for patulin is 50 ug/kg for fruit juices and 10ug/kg for infant juices. Patulin is very stable in fruit juices because the presence of sucrose within the juice protects patulin from degradation during heat treatments. Recent research has found that 50% of apple juice samples tested from eight different trademarks and different batches for the same trademarks exceeded the maximum legal levels of patulin, with some samples having patulin levels above 100 ug/kg.

Mycotoxins are also regulated in animal feed. In livestock, the presence of undesirable substances (chemical contaminants) in feed is controlled by EC Directive 2002/32, which sets maximum permitted levels (MPLs) for aflatoxin B1 at 0.02mg/kg (ppm) for all feedstuffs with a moisture content of 12%. Guidance values have also been set for five mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, ochratoxin A and fumonisins B1 and B2) under Commission Recommendation 2006/576/EC, with lower guidance levels for pigs and young animals who are thought to be more susceptible to the effects of mycotoxins.

What are the impacts of mycotoxins?

Health impacts- Mycotoxins are a significant risk to food supply chains as they cannot be fully removed from raw food materials and so can be carried through into processed foods, where they pose a health risk, even at low concentrations. In humans, mycotoxins have been linked to certain types of cancer, kidney damage, gastrointestinal disturbances and reproductive disorders. There arewell documented cases of ingestion of mycotoxins causing a risk to human health; for example in 1998, consumption of aflatoxin–contaminated ground nut cake called 'kulikuli' in south western Nigeria was linked to child death and in 2004 maize contaminated with aflatoxins was implicated in 125 deaths in Kenya, with aflatoxin B1 levels as high as 4,400 parts per billion (ppb), 220 times higher than the Kenyan regulatory limit for food.

In the UK, however, risk of mycotoxins contamination is generally low. For example, results from anEFSA study found that DON levels exceeded legal limits in 2% of 26,613 samples tested between 2007-2009 and the mycotoxin Sterigmatocystin, which is structurally related to aflatoxin B1 and can occur in grains and grain based products, was found to be present at levels below legal limits in almost all of 1,259 samples tested, except from one sample of oats. Mycotoxin levels can vary massively depending on season specific factors, storage conditions and source. The risk of mycotoxin levels exceeding legal limits in unprocessed cereals are increased in wet harvest years. In 2008, zearalenone (ZON) levels of a significant number of unprocessed grain samples exceeded legal limits (1000ppb) in the UK due to wet conditions during harvest.

Animal performance- Mycotoxins can also effect animal performance; in dairy cows, ingestion of mycotoxins has been shown to decrease daily milk yields by 2-3 litres/cow, lower milk quality and reduce fertility. In pigs, ingestion of aflatoxin at a concentration of 20- 200 ppb has been found to decrease feed intake and growth performance, and at higher levels (1,000 to 5,000 ppb) has been known to lead to acute effects, including death.

Business Impacts

Costs of testing - To reduce the risk of mycotoxins causing human or livestock health issues and to meet compliance requirements, food and feed business operators carry out regular mycotoxin tests. In the UK, this can be done at an external United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS) accredited laboratory or for certain mycotoxins using rapid on-site tests. Mycotoxin testing can cost around £30-40 per test by ELISA and as such it can be very costly for businesses, particularly in seasons where mycotoxins are predicted to be at high risk. Other food system controls include the Combinable Crop Passport, which has to be submitted with each load of grain. This details key information about that load including variety, post-harvest treatment, results of any mycotoxin tests and for wheat, results of the AHDB mycotoxin risk assessment.

Managing raw material rejections - Presence of mycotoxins at levels above legal limits can cause products to be rejected at intake. In the UK food business operators have a legal responsibility under Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 to report any food imported, produced, processed, manufactured or distributed that they suspect may not comply with food safety requirements to the Food Standards Agency (FSA). If mycotoxin levels are found to exceed legal limits there are options available for the affected foodstuff such as further processing, diversion to animal feed or re-export but these are dependent on the degree to which the levels exceed the legal maximums set and, in some cases, the affected lot of food may have to be destroyed.

Product withdrawal and reputational damage - Due to the controls in place within the food supply chain, the presence of mycotoxins within food at levels which could affect human health is extremely rare, however, there are some suspected cases where mycotoxins have been suggested to be linked to human health risk, even at levels below legal maximums. For example, between 1997 to 1998, approximately 1,700 US children became ill with vomiting, nausea, headache and abdominal cramps linked to eating burritos containing wheat flour. Although levels of DON in the burritos were less than 1 ppm, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory level, DON could not be eliminated as the causal agent because this advisory level is set for adults and may not be applicable to children. This outbreak affected the reputation of the companies involved and led to approximately £2 million of costs in associated product recalls.

Whole Foods co-CEO: Food industry experiencing 'tectonic shift'

by
Beth Kowitt

@bethkowitt

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015, 8:54 PM EDT
Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb said the food industry is undergoing a “tectonic shift” during the Fortune Brainstorm E conference.

Whole Foods Market co-CEO Walter Robb said Monday that the food industry is going through a “tectonic shift,” as the millennial generation drives a push toward greater transparency and sustainability when it comes to what they eat.

“This thing is continuing to move, and you better get on board with it or you’re going to get left behind,” Robb said at Fortune Brainstorm E, an energy and environment conference in Austin.

Robb added that the warning applied to Whole Foods, too. Robb and Whole Foods Chief Information Officer Jason Buechel, also a member of the company’s executive team, spoke in their hometown market amid news earlier in the day that the company iscutting 1,500 jobs.

Robb said the cuts would free up money to invest in lower prices, marketing, and technology. But he added that the company is still growing by adding about 40 stores annually with plans to debut the first of its new lower-priced 365 chain in April. He also pointed to the food industry’s double-digit increase in sales of organic products. “All the growth is on this side of the ledger,” he said. “There’s plenty of business to get.”

One of the major ways Whole Foods plans to compete is through investments in technology, which Robb said must be fully integrated into retail. “There’s no separation anymore,” he said. A key example here is the company’s relationship with grocery-delivery service Instacart, which Robb said has been experiencing tremendous month-over-month growth. “It’s not a replacement for going to the store,” Robb said. “It’s a partner to going to the store.”

Buechel outlined how the company is investing in three major technology platforms. The first will be for team members (Whole Foods speak for employees) to help with tasks like better labor scheduling. The second, for customers, includes the company’s new loyalty program as well as more transparency for consumers into what’s on the shelves; the third is related to products, which Buechel said would “change our entire look at the supply chain.”

Whole Foods WFM -1.13% operates under a model in which the company tries to create value for all stakeholders, rather than put the shareholder first. The environment is considered a stakeholder by Whole Foods, which Robb said is one of the many reasons the company supports organic agriculture.

Making the environment a top priority is also why the company introduced its responsibly grown program earlier this year, Robb said. The rating system takes into accounting holistic and “progressive practices” on the farm like recycling and water. It also lets the customer have greater transparency into where product is coming from.

Concern for the environment is not just reserved for agricultural practices. The company has cut energy use by 40% in its stores in the last five years by taking steps like adding doors to its freezers.

Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association Releases 2016 Trends Report

The Internet of Things, distribution centers, recycling, labor supply and supplier diversity are all listed as key issues in the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association's (PRSM) 2016 Trends Report.

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From using mobile devices to manage systems, to hiring, recycling and skilled labor shortages, today’s FM professional has to elevate their game every day.. Patricia Dameron, Exec. Director PRSM Association

DALLAS, TX (PRWEB) SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

The Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM), the authority on retail, multi-site facilities management (FM), has released its annual review of the state of retail facilities management and key trends impacting the industry’s leading retailers.

The Internet of Things (IoT) tops the five retail industry issues impacting store maintenance professionals and suppliers managing multi-site facilities. While FM cannot control market conditions they can shape the retail environment they operate within by using advanced technology, data management, and developing the diverse set of skills needed for the future.

“The retail industry continues to rapidly evolve and as facilities maintenance professionals and suppliers, we have to be aware of, and rapidly adapt to, changes in retail trends, technology and newer, more efficient ways to operate.” said Patricia Dameron, PRSM’s Executive Director.

“From using mobile devices to manage systems, to hiring, recycling and skilled labor shortages, today’s FM professional has to elevate their game every day, just to stay in the game. This report highlights the key trends impacting retail FM,” Dameron emphasizes.

Included in this year’s report are Amazon, Walgreens, Walmart, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Niemen Marcus, and Staples, with support from Waste Management, Manpower North America, Prestige Maintenance and Daikin Applied. Trending are:

The Internet of Things (IoT): The IoT has launched a new wave of innovation that promises to unify the disparate systems facility managers use daily to operate and plan for the future. See how FMs are using the IoT to elevate their strategic game and prove value to industry leaders.
Distribution Centers – New Challenges for FM’s: Experts predict an ongoing buildout of distribution centers across North America as brick-and-mortar retailers go head-to-head with online competitors. These new massive facilities present unique FM challenges.
Waste Management – Retail’s Responsibility to Reduce and Recycle: For decades, retailers have led the way in recycling paper products. However, with the fluctuation of paper prices which strategy will best drive sustainable materials management?
Skilled Workers – Increased Demands Drive Shortages: As the demand for skilled, technical tradesmen accelerates, facility managers have to develop strategies to ensure the skilled labor market keeps up with industry demands.
Minority And Women-Owned Suppliers Serving Retail: The retail industry has a long history of embracing diversity and today special notice is being given to the expansion of women-owned businesses serving the industry’s growing needs. The report explores the value proposition of working with all types of suppliers.