We have a hard time trusting our institutions, and breaches seem to occur frequently and everywhere. We must have multiple layers of protective filters on our computers to keep malicious intruders from compromising our data. We buy “insurance” designed to monitor our online personas to ensure no one has stolen...
On its surface, shopping appears to be a perfunctory, repetitive routine that fills a need. Certain stores meet this expectation. If I am shopping at a mass merchandise store—inconvenient to get to, time-consuming to find the items I want, possible delays at the checkouts—I do not expect to enjoy myself.
WholeFoods Magazine’s annual retailer survey, published each December, reveals tremendous detail about the variety of independent U.S. natural products stores. At my recent survey seminar for the Southeast Natural Products Association SOHO tradeshow in Orlando, attendees asked me to “build” a model using examples from the survey so retailers could...
In my early days in natural foods wholesaling, when we were making sales calls on small but rapidly growing independent natural products stores, we would talk about the concept of first giving the retailer warm fuzzies. Warm fuzzies are comforting words and phrases designed to put the buyer at ease.
If you’ve had a chance to read last month’s 38th Annual Retailer Survey Overview, with the Retail Insights’ 2016 Universe for Premium Natural and Organic Food, Supplement and Personal Care Sales (WholeFoods Magazine, December, 2015, page 25), you know that the Cincinnati, OH-based Kroger conventional supermarket chain is generating billions...
Traction. 2015 was the year natural products gained significant traction outside their core channels of distribution. Overall, natural and organic product sales grew a stunning 14.9%, adding $9.367 billion to total $72.4 billion in sales, and reaching 11.75% of total U.S. food store sales. Perhaps more noteworthy is this fact:...
Beginning on page 18 of this issue, you’ll find the “2015 WholeFoods Magazine Retailer Survey Overview,” now in its 38th year. Fresh perishable food such as produce, juice bar, deli and refrigerated prepared food continue to define the character of a store, how many customers will shop per day,...
You’ve probably heard the term “frenemies,” a new word that combines “friends” and “enemies.” In the business world, frenemies are two competitors that cooperate with each other to increase business, but at the expense of sharing customer purchase data and other proprietary business information. The birth of the Internet spawned...
It’s getting harder to make your store stand out in the crowded natural organic marketplace. If you honestly assess your competition, you will likely see your customers can get most of the same products you offer elsewhere; perhaps even more selection in certain categories. It’s getting harder to make your...
If you were to close your store tomorrow, what would your customers miss most? I ask the question to help you pinpoint what makes your store different from your competitors. While many of the services and products you offer are nice to have, few are critical to your success. You...
