Is a glut of products starving your store of cash? You know the feeling. You’ve just packed out your big order, or cut in space on your shelves for that hot new line, or built a promotional end cap for your monthly specials. Row upon row of neatly faced products...
The natural products industry is filled with stories of people who have tried to leave it, but who never quite succeed. When, in the 1980s, John Mackey and then-president Peter Roy decided that Whole Foods Markets would be a national chain, the duo approached the largest natural products retailers—at...
January seems a particularly good time to resolve to improve your business. On the heels of the Great Recession and at the start of a new decade, you may be more ready for change than ever. Here’s what I’ve learned from successful independent natural products retailers around the country.
Retailer survey reveals opportunities for success. In this month’s Annual Retailer Survey, natural products retailers give new insight into success. One of the key findings from this year’s survey is that stores that stay small—less than 1,000 square feet—and focus on vitamins, supplements, and health and beauty aids, are...
Chasing defectors with discounts won’t restart growth. Most independent natural products retailers today are losing customers faster than they can replace them. This is the opposite of our history. Throughout the 1970s, ‘80s and well into the ‘90s, natural products retailers held an exclusive—if only because conventional grocers didn’t want...
How a small complaint led to big sales. There are three areas in which businesses compete; people, product and place. Investing in one area takes pressure off the other two. If you pay your nutrition staff well, for example, you can spend less on your physical space. Here’s a story...
In its most recent quarterly conference call, Austin, TX-based Whole Foods Markets announced its new sweet-spot for store size is 35,000 to 45,000 square feet. This is down from 45,000 to 55,000 square feet it gave last year as its target range, which itself was down from the 55,000+...
Make Room for Betty Crocker and Your Local Supermarket! Many independent natural products retailers are breathing a sigh of relief because gluten-free foods are boosting sales as the economy cuts customer counts. Life is good again, at least for a while. General Mills, which makes Betty Crocker-brand baking products, says...
(They don't make core natural shoppers anymore)At Retail Insights, we’ve recently completed our 2008 retail food industry overview, and natural products are $34.19 billion, or about 6%, of the $542 billion total food store business. If you just continue the trend lines as they’ve been going, with natural products growing...
“Avast, me hearties! Beware the health pirates!” As some independent natural products retailers react to recession-driven declines in customer traffic counts by offering discounts, a new nationwide consumer survey from Bellevue, WA-based Hartman Group and National Research Network offers two cautions: One, shoppers tend to think the new, economic-downturn...
