Michael Rathburn

I spend part of almost every week walking grocery stores. While most shoppers are focused on finding the items on their shopping list, I’m usually looking at something completely different. I’m studying new product introductions, category resets, shelf expansions, merchandising strategies, pricing trends and even the products wearing orange clearance tags. After visiting multiple retailers week after week, I’ve realized the grocery store has become one of the best places to understand where our industry is heading.

Few grocery categories have changed as dramatically over the past decade as eggs. Once viewed primarily as a commodity purchase driven by price, today’s refrigerated egg case has become a showcase for premiumization, innovation, convenience, and retailer differentiation. As consumers increasingly shop based on health, sustainability, animal welfare, and value, retailers are redesigning one of grocery’s most important categories.

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For decades, grocery merchandising centered on one objective: winning the battle for shelf space. Manufacturers competed for eye-level placement, endcaps, checkout displays and secondary merchandising opportunities that could influence purchasing decisions. Retailers carefully designed store layouts to guide shoppers through produce, dairy, frozen foods and center store aisles. While those fundamentals remain essential, another aisle has quietly become just as valuable: the digital grocery shelf.

MLB Betting Expert Michael Rathburn checks out the first full day of the second half, offering up a trio of picks and plays for Friday's action-packed schedule.

For decades, grocery retailers built their business around one shopping mission: the weekly stock-up trip or pantry load. Promotions, newspaper circulars and endcap displays were all designed to encourage shoppers to fill a cart with enough groceries to last at least 1 to 2 weeks.

Every year, back-to-school is treated like a seasonal event. Retailers build displays of backpacks, lunch boxes and school supplies while grocery stores feature lunchbox snacks, breakfast staples and quick dinner solutions. Those promotions certainly drive trips, but after years of studying grocery baskets, I’ve come to believe we’ve been looking at back-to-school through the wrong lens. The school supplies may bring shoppers into the store, but they don’t explain how families actually prepare for the weeks ahead.

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MLB Betting Expert Michael Rathburn digs into a trio of games, including the red-hot Red Sox hosting the White Sox at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite television game shows was Name That Tune. Contestants challenged each other by claiming they could identify a song after hearing only a few notes. The game rewarded people who recognized patterns faster than everyone else. I never imagined I’d end up playing a version of that game decades later in the grocery industry.