CONNECTION, TRUST, AND VALUE ACROSS THE FRESH JOURNEY
Fresh sits at the center of the most personal and immediate shopper decisions. At FMI Fresh Forward 2026, Inmar Intelligence’s SVP of Strategic Partnerships Kathy Hayden sat down with The Giant Company CMO, John MacDonald, St. Joseph University’s Ernest Baskin, PhD, and FMI’s SVP of Insights, Education and Communication, Heather Garlich to discuss this in a panel session aptly named “Communicating and Connecting with the Consumer.”
A recurring theme across the conversation was the idea that shoppers do not experience fresh as a series of separate retailer, supplier, and media interactions, but rather, they see one fresh experience. Delivering that experience requires the industry to align value, quality, trust, communication, and measurement around the shopper.
Here are a few takeaways from the session:
FRESH SETS THE SCENE FOR THE ENTIRE STORE
Fresh is often the shopper’s first signal of what a retailer stands for because it creates an immediate visual of the shopping experience.
“When the consumer first enters your store, there is that split second where they're trying to decide, what am I here for? And what kind of a story is this?...And often the things that they make that decision based on are the things that they see first,” says John MacDonald.
That focus on making a strong first impression also came through in FMI President & CEO, Leslie Sarasin’s keynote address where she reminded fresh food leaders that “success is very seldom ONE big thing, but is usually the cumulative effect of many, many small gestures.”
Those gestures add up across the fresh experience - from quality and presentation to service inspiration and the inherent health and value of fresh foods. When shoppers see quality and care in fresh, they are more likely to extend that perception to the rest of the store.
As shopper expectations continue to rise, retailers can use fresh as an opportunity to build confidence from the moment shoppers enter the store. Thoughtful investment in fresh demonstrates quality, care, and attention that shoppers can feel throughout their visit and gives them yet another reason to return.
VALUE MUST BE WITHIN REACH
Affordability often starts the value conversation, but true loyalty is built when retailers treat value as a multidimensional and deeply personal experience. As Kathy Hayden notes, “Fresh exemplifies value, but value goes well beyond just affordability.” To remain indispensable, retailers must align their operating models with the three dimensions of consumer value:
- Accessible Value: Ensuring products are not just financially affordable, but physically and digitally available, and simple to obtain.
- Personal Value: Delivering convenience, health & wellness, and trust in a way that is personally relevant to the individual shopper’s lifestyle and household needs.
- Sustainable Value: Building a business model that is economically and environmentally resilient, fostering innovation and long-term community trust.
Rather than treating value as a universal price message, retailers have an opportunity for more precise segmentation by understanding how individual shoppers weight these dimensions. By connecting competitive, accessible pricing with the quality and personally relevant benefits that define their unique value equation, retailers can successfully transform a "fill-in" trip into a primary weekly destination.
JOINT VALUE CREATION STARTS WITH THE SHOPPER
Traditional Joint Business Planning (JBP) focuses on aligning sales forecasts, commercial commitments, and investment targets. Echoing discussions from FMI’s inaugural industry forum, Grocerylab, the opportunity to evolve is with Joint Value Creation (JVC), where brands and retailers continuously create value together with the shopper at the center. By focusing on the shopper outcome, retailers, brands, technology partners, merchandising teams, and marketers can answer: Where is the consumer heading, what matters to that shopper, and how can the partners serve that need together?
Sales, profitability, and category growth remain essential business outcomes, but they should follow the loyalty created by a better shopper experience rather than serving as an initial organizing principle.
“We still absolutely are in the business of selling more units, making more money, and increasing share, but instead of starting there, it's the outcome as a result of the loyalty that's established through joint value creation,” says Kathy Hayden. When every partner organizes around the same shopper outcome, the experience becomes more coherent and the commercial results become more sustainable over time.
TRUST REQUIRES PROOF
Claims about freshness, quality, or sustainability only build trust when shoppers can see what those words mean. Brands should look to define the standards behind ‘quality’ instead of just relying on the term alone through explaining the tangible impact behind messaging. This also avoids overwhelming shoppers with undifferentiated claims that simply feel like a marketing tactic.
This can be achieved through the use of a core brand story, told by trusted experts, creators, and influencers only when their expertise, audience and message are credible. The trusted message should ultimately help the shopper take a meaningful next step, online or in-store. Authenticity and trust come from making a focused promise, providing evidence, and delivering consistently, rather than just saying more.
MEASURING WHAT MATTERS
Reach and impressions describe exposure but on their own they don’t show whether the communication strengthened the shopper relationship. The panel discussed moving from media-first reporting to shopper-centered measurement. “The transitional shift in how we’re measuring is really about the behavioral outcomes…it’s a transition from focusing first on financial and actually focusing first on the shopper,” says Kathy.
Initial KPIs should reveal whether the communication inspired meaningful action: Did the shopper click, seek more information, or add an item to a cart? Did that engagement convert into a purchase, with the product moving into the physical or digital basket and through the register? Did the communication encourage complementary purchases?
From there, retailers and brands can evaluate whether those actions strengthened the broader shopper relationship. Did trip frequency, retention or repeat behavior increase? Is the shopper becoming less likely to switch solely because a competitor offers a lower price?
Attitudinal signals including reviews, social conversations, and post-shop feedback can provide another layer of insight into what shoppers think, say, and share. The strongest measurement model connects media exposure to shopper action, relationship growth, and business performance.
FROM FRESH CONNECTION TO LASTING LOYALTY
Fresh has the ability to deliver what shoppers are looking for across affordability, quality, health, inspiration, and community. However, that potential is only realized when the experience is connected, the value is personally relevant, the communication is credible, and the measurement shows what changed for the shopper.
Did you miss the session at FMI FreshForward? Connect with Inmar to explore how connected media, incentives, and shopper intelligence can turn fresh engagement into measurable growth.