UNFI Unveils Top Trends Ahead of Summer Selling Season
At United Natural Foods Inc.’s (UNFI) recent Spring and Summer Selling Show, in San Diego, the first of the company’s 2025 show season, the distributor’s experts discussed current trends and emerging growth opportunities across the grocery retail industry. These trends included the following:
Retail media is projected to grow more than 24% annually between 2024 and 2028.
Private label brands are estimated to grow approximately 40% over the next six years.
Fresh product growth is currently outpacing the rest of the store.
Natural/organic and functional food/beverages are expected to grow around 4% annually over the next four years.
Creating a differentiated experience is key to success for grocery retailers, regardless of size.
Held Jan. 21-23, the show brought together 4,300-plus attendees, connecting 1,800 retailers with 800 supplier brands. Exhibitors displayed thousands of unique brands encompassing natural, organic, fresh, specialty and conventional grocery products.
“While many retailers are engaging their shoppers digitally, there are still untapped opportunities to create a more comprehensive and customized digital experience,” noted Louis Martin, president of conventional grocery products and chief commercial officer at Providence, R.I.-based UNFI. “By partnering with UNFI, both retailers and suppliers can access our broad range of digital and professional services, like the UNFI Media Network, to drive profitable growth.”
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During the show, UNFI co-founder and board member Michael Funk spoke about the evolution of the grocery industry and UNFI’s focus on helping its customers compete. “Innovation is key to keeping this industry vibrant,” said Funk. “We need to constantly reset and adapt to best meet the needs of our customers.”
The event also featured a Pitch Slam competition, in which emerging suppliers in UNFI’s UpNext program could pitch their latest products to a live audience. “We’re thrilled to be a UNFI UpNext supplier,” said Eric Ji Sun Wu, co-founder of San Mateo, Calif.-based dumpling maker Sobo Foods and winner of the San Diego Pitch Slam. "We don’t know how we would have done this without the endlessly patient support the UNFI team has given us and the unreal visibility for Sobo Foods at this event.”
Further, to support communities affected by the Los Angeles County fires, the UNFI Foundation donated to Food Forward, a North Hollywood, Calif.-based nonprofit organization working to deliver fresh produce to the devastated areas.
UNFI delivers a wide variety of products to more than 30,000 customer locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice customers. The largest publicly traded grocery distributor in America, the company is No. 22 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
