Revolutionizing food retail: innovation for a resilient future

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Revolutionizing food retail: innovation for a resilient future

January 15, 2026

Julie Vargas

Vice President and General Manager, Identification Solutions

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Originally featured on LinkedIn

The grocery aisle has become a pressure cooker for today's families and the businesses that serve them. With food prices climbing and household budgets tightening, every item in the shopping cart is scrutinized. Shoppers are more conscious than ever about value, freshness and waste. For retailers, this pressure is magnified, turning the daily task of stocking shelves into a complex balancing act between profitability and responsibility.

The challenge is clear: How can we deliver the fresh, high-quality food consumers expect while navigating razor-thin margins and the urgent need to reduce waste? The answer doesn't lie in working harder, but in working smarter. It requires a fundamental shift in how we see our supply chains. Instead of relying on opaque, reactive systems, we need to move to transparent and predictive ones.

The high cost of unseen problems

Avery Dennison’s recent research, conducted with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), brought this issue into sharp focus. We surveyed 3,500 retail supply chain leaders and found a startling disconnect. The vast majority — 73% of businesses — see tackling food waste as a key opportunity for growth. Yet, more than half admit they lack the visibility to know where that waste is even happening.

Think about that. We are trying to solve a multi-billion-dollar problem with a blindfold on. This lack of insight is especially prevalent once products leave the distribution center and head to the store. It’s in this last mile that so much value is lost, including spoilage, inefficient stock rotation and mismanaged markdowns. This isn't just an operational headache; it's a direct hit to the bottom line and a missed opportunity to better serve our communities.

By embracing innovation and committing to enhanced visibility, we can turn one of our biggest global challenges of food waste into a powerful engine for growth and resilience.

From inefficiency to opportunity with digital insight

At Avery Dennison, we believe that what’s invisible can be brought to light. By assigning a unique digital identity to every item, we can enable transparency across the supply chain. This is the power of digital identification solutions employing sensor technology such as RFID. It’s not just about scanning a barcode at checkout; it’s about having real-time data on every item, from farm to store.

Consider the fresh food department, one of the most complex areas for any grocer. Products like meat, produce and fresh baked goods have short shelf lives and managing them effectively is critical. When a store associate can see at a glance which items need to be sold first, they can rotate stock more effectively and make smarter decisions about when to apply markdowns.

This is exactly what our collaboration with leading retailers has achieved. By working together, we’ve developed innovative RFID solutions that overcome challenges in even the most demanding environments, such as the cold, high-moisture conditions of fresh food departments. The results are transformative: reduced waste, fresher food for customers and more efficient, resilient operations. These advancements are already reshaping fresh management and demonstrating the immense potential of technology-driven solutions that empower frontline teams to improve store operations.

Building the smart, sustainable store of the future

This level of visibility transforms how a retail store operates. It empowers employees to move from reactive problem-solving to proactive value creation.

Imagine a future where:

Automated alerts notify staff when an item is nearing its expiration date, prompting a timely markdown and ensuring it gets sold instead of thrown away.
Inventory accuracy is near 100%, eliminating out-of-stocks, reducing over-ordering and optimizing production schedules for fresh goods prepared in-house.
Freshness and availability are optimized, ensuring customers can purchase the freshest products when and where they need them.

This isn't a distant vision; it's what's possible today. By harnessing the unique combination of materials science and digital identification technology, we can create systems that are not only more efficient but also inherently more sustainable. We can build a food retail ecosystem that delivers better value for businesses and consumers alike.

The pressure on the food industry is immense, but so is the opportunity. By embracing innovation and committing to enhanced visibility, we can turn one of our biggest global challenges of food waste into a powerful engine for growth and resilience.

At Avery Dennison, we call this Making Possible™.

Dive deeper into our findings and discover the opportunities for your business. Explore our report on the value of reducing food waste: https://avydn.co/4pZgxU6

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