Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

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.

10 Things to Consider in 2011

December 17, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

What will independents do to sustain success? In 1977, at age 24, I had the good fortune to become sales manager of a fledgling natural foods distributor in the Northeast. Over the next 20 years, we grew the business from $900,000 to $225 million, when we merged Stow Mills with...

Rent or Own?

November 18, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

Should you take advantage of favorable real estate prices? Retailers usually lease their retail spaces because the cost of owning, developing and maintaining real estate is beyond the budget of most. With limited capital, most retailers rightly focus on “Job No. 1”: retailing. It also takes time to be a...

Giving Thanks

October 24, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

We in the natural products industry have much to be thankful for.Before the baby boom generation (1946–64), when most work was physical and lifespan shorter, society didn’t consider the concept of optimal health. Securing food, shelter and safety took up most of our waking energy. The mass-agriculture and industrialization triggered...

Is Your Store Exclusive or Inclusive?

September 18, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

Employee attitudes and store culture can drive customers away. Can you see your store from the road? How easy is it for customers to drive to you? If you are like most independent natural products retailers, your store is not as visible or conveniently located as the local supermarket, so...

Seeing the Invisible

August 20, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

Sometimes the things you can't see matter most. Have you ever let shoppers preorder a Thanksgiving turkey? If so, you probably know the agony and embarrassment of out-of-stocking your customer ’s main course the Wednesday before the holiday. This may be the most vivid example of a retail food store...

The Smaller the Store…the Bigger the Idea

July 21, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

Our industry began with the idea that good food shouldn’t have bad ingredients. While our stores were small, that did not prevent our idea from remaking the world of food retailing within a generation. As our industry continues to grow, “neo-natural” supermarkets are popping up all over the country.

Salespeople Say the Funniest Things (Not!)

June 21, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

GAO “secret shopper” recordings embarrass industry. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, held a hearing May 26, 2010, on the marketing and manufacturing of dietary supplements. The original intent of the hearing was to find and expose dangerous levels of contaminants in supplements. Senator...

Less Is More, Part II

May 20, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

More choice is not always better. Recently, we wrote about the cash-flow and profitability benefits of lowering your inventory levels (March, 2010, Merchandising Insights; "Inventory: The Blob that Ate Your Checkbook", page 82). Now, new research reveals that shoppers with fewer choices buy more stuff. Columbia Business School professor Sheena...

13th Annual Natural Products Day, Washington, D.C.

April 5, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

Industry makes powerful positive impression on lawmakers Washington, D.C.—Each spring, industry members visit lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to help ensure our laws continue to guarantee access to natural products. The Natural Products Association (NPA, npainfo.org), based in D.C., coordinates these visits by making appointments for association members with their Congressmen...

Customer Service

March 30, 2010

Jay Jacobowitz, President & Founder, Retail Insights

If you are like most natural products retailers, you believe you give good customer service. If so, you should be seeing a steady flow of new customers into your store. Why? Because good customer service creates good word-of-mouth. If a steady stream of new customers isn’t flowing into your...