AI rapidly expands in food retail, industry survey shows adoption rate surging
The FMI 2026 Food Retailing Report shows that 68% of food retailers are using artificial intelligence, up significantly from 47% in 2025. Technology spending as a share of sales nearly doubled from about 1% in 2024 to nearly 2% in 2025, with 71% of retailers planning to increase technology investment in 2026. Generative AI adoption rose from 43% to 59%, and deployment of organization-wide AI tools doubled to 40%. Despite ongoing economic challenges, the industry remains optimistic about technological transformation.
Key Takeaways
- FMI—The Food Industry Association's February 2026 survey shows that 68% of food retailers have applied artificial intelligence in their operations, a significant increase from 47% in 2025.
- Food retailers' technology spending averaged nearly 2% of sales in 2025, doubling from 2024, the trade organization said in its 2026 Food Retailing Report released Tuesday.
- Most retailers (71%) expect technology investments in 2026 to exceed last year's, with nearly one in ten indicating technology spending will grow "significantly."
Deep Dive
Food retailers are investing an increasing share of revenue into technology, and the vast majority believe these investments are worthwhile, the FMI survey found. More than half of retailers in the study said they feel "optimistic" about the impact of their technology spending on sales and profits, and 44% of respondents believe technology "will transform and enhance our in-store operations," the association reported.
The share of respondents expecting AI and other emerging technologies to "change how businesses operate" rose to 46% in 2025, an increase of 9 percentage points from the previous year.
Among food retailers participating in FMI's research, 59% said they use generative AI, up from 43% a year earlier. Additionally, the share of retailers that have implemented organization-wide generative AI tools more than doubled year over year, reaching 40%.
FMI's research also found that retailers are increasingly focused on how emerging technologies like AI will affect the customer experience. The share of retailers believing these tools will "change the way consumers buy groceries" rose to 32%, slightly above last year's level. Nearly one in five respondents said conversational or agentic AI will change how people shop for groceries.
Food traceability is an area where retailers have been particularly quick to adopt technology: only 17% of retailers used technology solutions for this last year, while 31% plan to add these capabilities in 2026.
Despite food retailers showing a growing willingness to invest in technology, only about 10% of respondents believe the systems they are adopting will help reassign employees. Meanwhile, more than half of respondents expect to increase staffing for data analytics or digital technology specialists.
Retailers are investing in technology amid ongoing financial challenges. Three-quarters of retailers surveyed by FMI believe economic concerns will affect consumer shopping behavior this year, and 70% expect operating costs to rise.
The report is based on feedback from 70 food retailers and wholesalers collected by FMI and David Orgel Consulting in February 2026, as well as information from regulatory filings submitted by eight public companies. According to FMI, these data collectively represent more than 42,000 stores.