The technological strides we’ve made as a society are incredible when you think about it. The plethora of communication and information tools we have at our fingertips is mind-boggling. The lion’s share of these advances has impacted our lives for the better. However, there is one group that is dealing...
The times they are a changing. Born between 1946 and 1964, many Baby Boomers fulfilled the American Dream by owning houses, raising families and living comfortably. Companies courted them, tailoring products to meet their specific needs for joint care, anti-aging, blood sugar support and more. However, a new group of...
Imagine this scenario: you’re standing in line at your favorite store with your purchases in one hand and your wallet in the other. As the line starts to move, you notice a product on display beside the register. The bold packaging and convenience draw you in. It’s not something you...
Health care is changing. Are you? The full implementation of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA ObamaCare or ACA) is set for 2014. Insurance companies, hospital systems, doctors’ groups and related health care stakeholders, including chain-store pharmacies and even conventional supermarkets, are scrambling for position in this...
Once upon a time, companies that wanted to sell their products hired authentic experts, authority figures or authors with advanced academic or medical degrees, who seemed incorruptible, ethical and thoroughly reliable. They possessed a high degree of credibility and their own notoriety rubbed off on the brands they endorsed, either...
Every calendar quarter, public companies provide guidance to Wall Street to explain recent performance and project future results. In these quarterly telephone conference calls, investment analysts responsible for recommending stocks to their clients get to ask management questions to shed light on company strategy. While the “scripted” portions of these...
The produce section can be a profitable department in any natural products business. While customers may come in to purchase supplements on a monthly basis, a well thought out produce department can keep them coming back multiple times throughout the week. In 2012, perishable goods averaged over $1.5 million of...
It’s good to be big or small, but don’t mess with Mr. In-Between!For the third year in a row, I’ve been honored to assist in analyzing the data from WholeFoods Magazine’s Retailer Survey, which starts on page 20, and this year is outstanding! We’ve had the largest response in 35...
Color is more than a visual element; it’s also an important psychological motivator. “We react on multiple levels of association with colors—there are social or culture levels, as well as personal relationships with particular colors. You also have an innate reaction to color,” Leslie Harrington, executive director of The Color...
The best performance review takes place daily.As a new manager in my 20s, I found myself responsible for a dozen inside-sales staff and a half-dozen field salespeople at the natural products distributor Stow Mills, a predecessor company to United Natural Foods. While I had worked various jobs since age 16,...
RSS
