![]()
Steve Markenson
Vice President of Research and Insights, FMI — the Food Industry Association · Marketing / startup
Topics Steve shaped
Researcher craft & identity, Consumer behavior & culture, AI & technology, Insights function & business, Methods, methodology & rigor
Episodes
- How Shoppers Really Decide: Value, Sensory Shopping, and AI's Limits with Steve Markenson — Ep. 35 · Nov 18, 2025
What Steve said — indexed claims
- The one non-negotiable attribute for researchers navigating a constantly changing field is lifelong learning — staying curious, consuming new research, attending webinars at 1.5x speed, and remaining hungry to understand what consumers are thinking. — Ep. 35 · 27:02 ·
cl-steve-markenson-022 - The most important unanswered research question in food retail is the path-to-purchase — how TikTok, retail media networks, food rating apps, loyalty apps, and in-store displays all interact to drive a purchase decision, rather than simply tracking where the final purchase occurs. — Ep. 35 · 42:10 ·
cl-steve-markenson-020 - The average food shopper visits five different stores in a 30-day period, each for a different value reason — price, quality, bulk, freshness — meaning no single retailer can win on every dimension and each must identify where they fit in the shopper's portfolio. — Ep. 35 · 20:48 ·
cl-steve-markenson-009 - Generational cohort labels (Gen Z, Millennial, Boomer) are a poor segmentation lens for food behavior; life stage — whether someone has kids, lives alone, is newly independent — explains far more variance in food consumption and shopping habits. — Ep. 35 · 15:00 ·
cl-steve-markenson-005
Connected across the corpus
- Christopher Khoury (American Medical Association) — 2 cross-references
- Hassan Aleem (Amazon) — 2 cross-references
- Steve Olenski (CMO Whisperer Advisory) — 2 cross-references
- Bill Salokar (Gazelle Global) — 1 cross-reference
- David Glaza (DIGITS Agency) — 1 cross-reference
- Ernest Baskin (Saint Joseph's University) — 1 cross-reference
- J. Walker Smith (Kantar) — 1 cross-reference
- Marcus Cunha Jr. (University of Georgia) — 1 cross-reference
- Martin Eichholz (Basis Research) — 1 cross-reference
- Sarah Kling (Amazon (Devices)) — 1 cross-reference
Produced by aytm
Curiosity Current is made by aytm, the consumer-insights company. About aytm