48th Annual Retailer Survey–Advance Look

Thank you for participating in WholeFoods Magazine's 2026 Retailer Survey. To show our gratitude, here is your advance look at key findings from the survey.

Thank you for participating in WholeFoods Magazine's 2026 48th Annual Retailer Survey. To show our gratitude, here is your advance look at key findings from the survey.

How to Use This Survey

If you are an independent natural products retailer, you can compare your results to stores in this survey that are most like yours by calculating your perishables as a percentage of total sales. That number will place you in one of the survey's five groups, ranging from about 1% perishables in Group 5 to at least 45% perishables in Group 1. By comparing your results to peers with similar perishables sales, you will reveal the results most relevant to you and your store.

Which group are you? Find out in 3 steps:

Tally up your sales from the four main perishable fresh-foods departments: refrigerated, frozen, produce, and prepared foods.
Calculate what percentage of your total sales these four categories represent.
See figure 2 for the perishable foods percent range for each group. Compare your results to stores in your corresponding Group: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

Average Customers & Sales Per Day

Investing in Employees

For more, watch for the full survey, published in the March 2026 issue of WholeFoods Magazine, with expanded content exclusively on WholeFoodsMagazine.com.

Jay Jacobowitz is President and Founder of Retail Insights®, a professional consulting service to the natural organic products industry, with a focus on retail. With nearly 50 years of industry experience, Jay publishes annually the Retail Insights® Retail Universe for U.S. Premium Natural, Organic Food, Supplement, and Personal Care Sales, the definitive source for natural products sales through all U.S. retail channels, and provides retailers strategic guidance for expansions, relocations, valuations, mergers, and acquisitions.

Maggie Jaqua is the Content Director of WholeFoods Magazine, dedicated to informing and educating the Natural Products Industry. Jaqua is also the Editorial Director for Naturally Informed educational conferences, and Co-Host of The Natural View podcast, available on YouTube, iTunes, and Spotify. Jaqua has been reporting on health and nutrition topics for more than 25 years, in both mainstream consumer media at First for Women and Woman's World magazines, and in business-to-business media serving the natural products industry.