IGD provides leadership to the food and consumer goods industry, helping it prepare for, and face into, the strategic challenges ahead. A research and education charity, IGD is the leading source of information and best practice on the consumer goods industry worldwide.

We hold a trusted position at the heart of the industry. We use our research and expertise to develop people and companies around the world - helping them grow and do a better job for consumers.

Whether it's efficiency improvements providing readily available, affordable food, clear labelling to help shoppers make healthy choices, or changes to distribution methods that help take HGVs off Britain's roads, IGD brings people together to address the big issues.

Our networks, intelligence and understanding across the whole supply chain put us in a unique position to deliver change for the benefit of the public. Our in-depth understanding of consumer goods retailing and supply chains, coupled with our daily dialogue with shoppers, means we can provide you with unparalleled insight. We help you to identify opportunities to improve performance.

All the money we make from selling our expertise goes back into the industry through our charitable activities.

Charitable activities

Training and development

Training and developing people throughout their careers in the food and consumer goods industry is our charitable purpose and has been at the heart of everything we do for over a hundred years.

Our IGD Academy now trains and develops more than 4,000 people every year. Much of this personal development is delivered free through our Leading Edge network which is 10,000 strong.

We cover everything from the basics of category management and shopper marketing to improve the customer experience in stores, to advanced collaborative programmes that bring together people working in different parts of the chain. They learn from each other to improve the public’s experience of our industry.

Some of our development programmes are ‘off-the-shelf’ and available to everyone, but we can also put together special packages just for you.

Other charitable activities

Every day the food and consumer goods industry touches the lives of millions of people. Everyone has to eat, drink, wash and clean - and they do so with products manufactured by the food and grocery industry and sold through its retail, wholesale and foodservice outlets.

At IGD we bring the industry together to address things that ordinary people care about. Whether it's efficiency improvements that make food more affordable or readily available, clear labelling to help shoppers make healthy choices, or changes to distribution methods that help take HGVs off Britain's roads, we bring people and companies together to address the big issues.

Our charitable work programme is delivered by working groups including our own team here at IGD. The working groups focus on a number of areas – all of which make a difference for the general public – for example, skills, sustainability, science and nutrition.

We also run Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) in the UK and contribute to its operations across Europe. Under ECR we convene workgroups that look at sustainable supply chain challenges such as the availability of products on the shelf, preventing waste, and increasing efficiency.

You can find out more about our charitable achievements in our Impact Report or our Report and Accounts. 

The expertise that we sell

Online subscription services

Our team of researchers travel the world gathering market intelligence, discovering great ideas and innovation, and talking to shoppers to find out what they are thinking and feeling. All this research is made available to our customers through our premium online subscription services.

You can use these to help shape your business strategies, plan for the future, or simply to make sure you have the latest knowledge before an important customer meeting.

Customised services

As well as delivering our research online and through our regular training and development, we can also provide it to you in person, at a meeting or event, or in a special report prepared just for you. You can find out more about our customised services here.

Events

Throughout the year we run events for customers to discover the latest best practice, insights and news from all parts of the food and consumer goods chain.

Our trade briefings provide you with an opportunity to hear straight from the directors of the top retailers about their plans for the coming years.

We run a supply chain summit, a category management conference, events that focus on wholesale, symbol groups and different channels, like online and convenience. The highlight of the year is our annual IGD Convention in October, followed by the Food Industry Awards.

And finally in December we hold our main fundraising event – the Glitter Ball.

That’s just a few of the huge range of events – many of which are free to attend through Leading Edge – that are available to you. Here’s our event calendar which contains all the details.