Some of you may recall several years ago when I introduced four points to help us focus our efforts on being successful.

Those four points are still very important today: know your business, know your customer, know your product, and train and develop people. For me, one of those stands out with today’s customer — that’s knowing your product.

Our customers depend on us to be food experts — answer questions about products and how to prepare them.

Associates throughout the store have the opportunity to share their knowledge every day. For instance, associates in the meat department can help our customers understand which cut of beef would be best for their meals or our produce associates teaching our customers how to select the best fruits and vegetables based on the growing seasons.

But even if you don’t work in the store, we have many chances to know more about the products we sell right at the shelf. Last year, we saw a change in our shelf tag program. One of those changes made it easier to find products that are part of our Better Choice program. The tags help us better understand nutritional information. The program is a great tool to help our customers make a better choice while shopping.

Know your product — it’s about being able to help our customers and understanding what we sell and the services we offer. And this knowledge will not only benefit our customers, but also our own shopping experiences too.

Ed Crenshaw