Merchandising Insights

AI, Your Website, and The Great Dietary Awakening

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:04:33 -0400

With so much digital noise competing for shopper attention, a simple, uncluttered website with clear messaging and a strong SEO, AEO, & GEO strategy is essential.

Retail Insights® 2026 Retail Universe for U.S. Premium Natural, Organic Foods, Supplements & Personal Care

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 08:52:44 -0500

Natural market share of total food-store sales remained nearly the same as last year. Take a look at performance details.

Looking Back, and Forward: 2025 - 2026

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:54:05 -0500

Independent retailers reflect on 2025 to predict what the new year has in store for the industry.

Succession

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 01:00:00 -0500

Explore the experiences of three independent natural retailers who have made a successful transfer of ownership.

Staffing: Strategies For Success

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 01:00:00 -0400

Is there a way for you to improve retail store staffing levels and worker productivity? Some thoughts.

Success, Succession, and Holding Steady

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 13:02:04 -0400

Our cross-country survey of independent natural products retailers reveals widespread resilience. Find out what they told us.

Retail Insights® 2025 Retail Universe for U.S. Premium Natural, Organic Foods, Supplements & Personal Care

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 13:08:00 -0500

With 2024 recording a big sales year for natural organic products, retailers are breaking down the numbers and influencers for last year's figures.

Independent Retailers Look Back on 2024 & Ahead to 2025

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 09:36:00 -0500

What are independent natural retailers thinking and feeling about the year that just past, and the year ahead? Find out!

DSHEA at 30: Trade Group View

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:25:26 -0400

In this third installment of WholeFoods Magazine's DSHEA at 30 series, we continue our discussion of the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) with industry groups, who tell us how they are advocating to preserve access to healthful natural products.

DSHEA at 30: Supply-Side View

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 09:54:02 -0400

Thirty years after DSHEA, industry leaders grapple with how to maintain access to natural products in a changing landscape.

DSHEA at 30—Where’s our grassroots army?

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:00:00 -0400

Does the natural products industry still have the cohesiveness to fight the constant legislative battles to preserve access to our products? A new survey of U.S. independent retailers highlights the challenges.

2024: Independent Retailers Peer Into Their Crystal Balls

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 11:00:00 -0500

Our year-end interviews with independent natural products retailers reveal goals, challenges, surprising innovation, and resilience.

Next Steps: Grooming Young Employees

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 11:08:33 -0400

Listen to your fellow independent natural organic retailers from around the country relate their employee recruiting and retention experiences.

What Can Independents Learn From Other Retailers?

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 12:00:00 -0400

Independent natural retailers looking to stay in business can benefit from knowing what retailers in the other seven U.S. retail food channels are doing with natural products. Read on for 10 key insights.

Retail Theft: Symptom of Social Decay

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 12:40:40 -0400

Listen to your natural colleagues as they describe retailing in 2023.

!?! Staffing. You’re not alone.

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 12:32:00 -0400

A late September survey of independent natural products retailers across the country about their workforces reveals common problems, continuing pressures, and some silver linings. Midwest Retailer: “Staffing keeps us up at night.” “Staffing is the number one thing that keeps us up at night. In the old days, you could...

Post-Pandemic, What Do Shoppers Think About Food?

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 07:07:51 -0400

Here’s a number that shows current U.S. thinking: North American air-passenger traffic in May 2022 surged 203% compared to May 2021. Most of us, it appears, have decided to live with a mutating virus and return to normal life. So how does this shift in thinking impact food shopping? Most...

What is “Mandatory Product Listing”?

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 07:19:31 -0400

Those of you who entered the natural products industry in the 2000s may not know the story of the late U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT). He served six terms, and passed away on April 23, 2022. Sen. Hatch, whose home state of Utah was and is headquarters to many...

What happened Last Year….and 4 Predictions for 2022

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 16:52:24 -0500

The consumer drives all—including panic buying We must view 2021 through the eyes of the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. Many retailers—of food, clothing, electronics, and more—saw decreases in 2021 without the panic-driven hoarding that boosted 2020 sales. Because of this sales anomaly, many retailers preferred to compare their 2021 results to...

Trade Shows, Yes or No?

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:24:23 -0400

We'll probably never fully replace trade shows, nor should we. But the days when you send a contingent of employees on multiple overnights to hunt for new products are likely over. We won’t spend a lot of time rehearsing why, but briefly: pandemic uncertainty, increasing cost, and reduced access to...

Whither Independents?

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 12:00:38 -0400

Why do some independents succeed while others struggle? There’s no single success formula, but clues emerge as we scan the retail landscape. An Outmoded Business Model When thinking about business models, it’s useful to take a generational view. GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe, the two largest U.S. pure-play vitamin chain...

Mask II–The Sequel: Whiplash!

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:59:51 -0400

On May 16, 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control updated its COVID-19 guidance for wearing masks: “If you’ve been fully vaccinated: You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic. You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by...

Post-COVID Store Operations: Changes to Prepared, Bulk Foods, and Customer Policies

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 10:22:08 -0400

Any regular reader of this magazine knows our annual retailer survey, published each March, consistently reveals that the more fresh, perishables foods a store carries, the greater its sales. Prepared foods departments literally drive sales momentum in these full-service natural organic grocery stores. So, as the pandemic hit last year,...

2020 Year in Review Part 2: Retailers Weigh In

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 11:59:44 -0500

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Part 1 of this story, 2020 Year In Review Plus What's New and What's Next for 2021, is available here. This coming March, WholeFoods Magazine will publish the results of its 43rd Annual Retailer Survey of U.S. independent natural organic retailers. We are crunching those numbers now, but wanted to...

Coronavirus Diary Part II

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 11:57:25 -0400

In June, we published Part I of this series of retailer interviews about the response to the pandemic. Here, we follow up as of early October, and sincerely thank those independents who generously shared their thoughts and observations. Home Delivery Northern New England retailer: “Delivery logistics are challenging. We...

The Coronavirus Open Mind

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 11:59:49 -0400

How hard is it to get your marketing message out—and into someone’s head? Very hard, and very expensive, as you know. Because normally, minds are closed—guarded, that is—as people focus single-mindedly on pursuing personal, private purposes, blocking out all interruptions and distractions. Under normal circumstances, for you to have any...

COVID-19 Diary: Retailers, in their own words about what happened.

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 12:00:52 -0400

At their May 19, 2020, meeting, the Brattleboro, Vermont Selectboard passed a resolution requiring face coverings to be worn by customers and employees in all retail establishments. It was part of an expanded discussion of COVID-19 and business issues. In hindsight, some independent natural products retailers believe they could have...

Earth Fare: R.I.P

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:21:34 -0500

Earth Fare, begun as a single natural foods store in Asheville, NC, in 1975, was one of the first in the U.S. independent natural organic retail sector to invite financial investors in the 1990s. Under equity control, stores grew to 40,000 square feet, and expanded initially across the southeast, and...

2020 Retailer Playbook

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 12:00:39 -0500

At WholeFoods Magazine, we address our monthly commentary toward U.S. independent natural products retailers. We do this out of our belief that it is independent retailers operating in the natural organic space that best represent the mission, values, and yes, the soul of the natural products movement. It was independent...

Transaction or Human Connection?

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 11:59:36 -0400

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hearts Ever play hearts? It is an odd card game because there are two ways to win: ending with the fewest, or no points; or winning all the points. Each heart is worth one point. No other card is worth a point, except the queen of spades, which is worth...