![Retailers share 33 tips for better business Retailers share 33 tips for better business](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/bltf382e3a1a8975fac/64f1de58018a7c0fae82310d/tips-cover.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Go local, big time. While Sharon encourages shoppers to make 10 percent of their purchases from local producers, his store exceeded that commitment long ago. During the growing season, roughly 60 percent of Lucky’s produce comes from local growers. In the winter, Sharon balances imported produce offerings with new local products in center aisles. Foster vendor growth. Getting local brands on the shelves is only part of Lucky’s mission. Just as important is helping young companies grow. In addition to looking at hard sales data, Sharon and his team use instincts honed from years of experience to help entrepreneurs determine how their products can best succeed in the marketplace. “It’s a very open conversation, and we’re a very open company,” Sharon says. “If you want to talk to the grocery buyer, he’s right here. If you want to talk to me, I’m right here. There’s not a whole lot of hoopla.” Hit the pavement. Today, Lucky’s is often the first stop for local vendors bringing new products to market, but it wasn’t always this way. To build a reputation as a store that appreciates craftsmanship, Sharon and his team visited farmers’ markets and spoke with shoppers and local chefs to zero in on the best local products to stock. “Farmers and artisans often don’t think of a grocery store as a typical venue for their products,” Sharon says. “A little encouragement can open up your store to high-quality foods that the competition has yet to discover.” Read the complete NFM interview.
Set standards and stick to ’em. Gooch was a pioneer in creating strict standards for the foods her store carried. As a result, the term Goochable—given to products that meet her criteria—is still used today by natural retailers nationwide. Decide which qualifications are important to you. Will you disallow products that use refined, white flour? Carry only sustainably sourced fish? “The more you define your diligence in regard to the food you offer, the more trust customers will have in your store,” Gooch says. Make your store exude life. “Sometimes I’ll walk into a natural store and it’ll be ho-hum, plain Jane and lacking in cohesiveness and excitement, and I wish I could spend a week there to turn that puppy around!” Gooch says. “It doesn’t take much money to liven things up.” Paint a few walls bright colors, create a unique, storewide motif, and get your employees pumped about product demos so that shoppers come to know you for more than just good food. Join the GMO labeling crusade. Gooch was against GMOs before most people knew what they were, and her influence has been immeasurable. As a retailer who your customers trust, you can play a vital role in spreading the word about GMOs and pushing the labeling issue forward. “It took a while for retailers to get involved in and passionate about California’s Proposition 37,” Gooch says. “But we can’t fight Monsanto with dollars—it has to be with passion, education and well-trained volunteers.” Read the complete NFM interview.
Create community. People often feel isolated once they learn they’re gluten intolerant or have celiac disease, Kemp says. Make your store a place where they never feel alone by connecting them with other gluten-free eaters. If you don’t have the resources to offer a gluten-free club, think about a once-a-month cooking class or regular store tours. Use ample signage. To keep gluten-free shoppers from feeling segregated, Dorothy Lane includes gluten-free offerings in every aisle and calls out these options using clear and direct signage. “Creating an entirely separate gluten-free section would mean duplicating half the store,” Kemp says. “We have so many gluten-free products that appeal to all eaters.” Offer a shopping list. What customer wouldn’t love a ready-made shopping list waiting when he or she enters your store? Dorothy Lane makes it easy to find gluten-free foods by highlighting healthy options in every category. A QR code connects gluten-free shoppers to additional online resources to support their needs. Read the complete NFM interview.
Learn the bells and whistles. Contact your point-of-sale provider and ask for a tutorial on the system’s capabilities. Even if you just want a better cash register, a quicker way to check people out or a streamlined process for doing inventory, your provider can teach you how to become truly efficient at these tasks and more by optimizing your POS system. Maintain a relationship. Gruvman knows that his business uses only 40 percent of its POS system’s potential, but he stays in communication with his provider about the latest technologies. “As soon as they are through with beta testing, they come to us saying, ‘This is now working perfectly and will be incredible for your stores,’” he says. Regular check-ins with your provider can help you stay ahead of the curve. Don’t be overwhelmed. Start where you are. It’s easy to compare yourself with competitors, but instead contrast where you were a year ago. Don’t buy a POS system and expect to understand all of its potential in the first year. Instead, add one piece at a time as you master other areas. Think of working with your POS system like building a relationship. Read the complete NFM interview.
Ask questions. Before recommending any products, Fitzmorris or one of her staff starts with one question: What are your child’s favorite foods? A love of pastas and breads or cheese and milk might indicate a gluten or dairy intolerance, she says, because the foods we crave are often the ones we have the most trouble digesting. Fitzmorris recommends parents cut problematic foods and see if there’s an improvement before taking further action. Keep it simple. Rather than immediately turning to herbs and supplements to address conditions, start with basic dietary suggestions such as drinking more water or adding fiber and protein, which are often lacking in American diets. “I want to make the information as simple as possible so customers understand and it sticks,” she says. “The goal is for them to walk away thinking, Oh, that really makes sense.” Provide free material. Keep information on hand about the products you regularly suggest so interested parents can do their own research. Springs of Life has a library through which customers can check out wellness books and DVDs or read and watch them right in the store. Read the complete NFM interview.
Don’t overhaul. Armed with a new book or information from a recent Dr. Oz episode, new shoppers might come in ready to spend $500 or more on new products to transform their health. Bone cautions any new supplement user against taking on too much, because a drastic influx of anything can disrupt the body and cause burnout. Suggest shoppers start with one product and then add another after three weeks to a month. Focus on benefits. Most customers don’t want to know how something works in the body—they just want to know that it will work, Bone says. So keep your explanations simple. Promote flexibility. As shoppers add dietary supplements, it’s tempting to encourage them to stop eating foods that could hinder a product’s benefits. Instead, focus on the 80-20 rule—80 percent of their food choices should come from wholesome and nutritious sources and 20 percent can be foods they enjoy that might not be the best for their bodies. “When you tell people no, no, no, that’s all they hear,” Bone says. “It’s better to focus on success.” Read the complete NFM interview.
Pick a cause. Each of MOM’s 10 stores is encouraged to get involved in an issue that most impacts its community. Be it cleaning up a local stream or teaching schoolchildren about organic, employees choose how best to support MOM’s mission to protect and restore the environment. Empower your staff. Anyone with an idea is encouraged to bring it forward at MOM’s. “It makes a lot of sense to put that responsibility on everyone at the company—whether you’re the owner, GM, cashier or stocker,” de Lima says. Employees email managers or send ideas directly to founder Scott Nash, who always responds with feedback. Hire the right people. Rather than hiring based on experience, at MOM’s, it’s passion and values that really stand out. Interviews focus on the causes and personal interests potential candidates most care about. It’s not hard to teach the technical aspects of a job, but you can’t teach passion. Read the complete NFM interview.
Start with your people. To institute any business philosophy, you first must lay out the framework and explain to your staff how it matches your values, Collie says. Let your team help you craft how to execute the vision. That’s where the best ideas originate. Forget spreadsheets. More than a checklist, your social mission must be a part of how you do business every day. For example, when doing promotions, consider what will happen to the materials you use. Will they go into landfills? Can they be recycled? What could you do differently to support your efforts. Be transparent. Involve employees, customers and stakeholders in your decisions. Share the motivations behind new initiatives and why you do or do not offer specific products. When you have nothing to hide, you have everything to gain. Read the complete NFM interview.
Hire a great team. With a small store, it’s an ongoing challenge to fit in as many items as you’d like, so you need A-plus managers and buyers. “My grocery managers are fantastic,” Boney says. “They’re constantly checking sales reports and discussing items to make sure we have the right mix. They’re on it.” Price competitively when possible. Many shoppers assume small stores are more expensive than supermarkets or even larger natural stores. For some products, you may have to charge more, but perhaps you can come down a bit on others. Wow customers with value in a few key categories—such as Boney does with produce and sandwiches—and they’ll keep coming back and buying other, more expensive items. Give local vendors a shot. Small stores often have more flexibility to try out local producers’ goods, which lets you stock products shoppers won’t find elsewhere. Boney welcomes regionally sourced sprouts, eggs and other items from small vendors. “If we can fit something on our shelves, we’ll try it out,” she says. Read the complete NFM interview.
Sell stuff the competition doesn’t. Nearly every grocer now carries some natural and organic offerings. But while shoppers can buy Silk soymilk at most supermarkets and plenty of national brands at Whole Foods, neither store likely carries a large selection of foods sourced from farms just a few miles away. This is where smaller retailers like yours can differentiate. Stock lots of local goods not available elsewhere—and promote them. Attend local expos and trade shows. How do you find fabulous local products to sell? Brett’s team has discovered many great items at the Philly Food & Farm Fest. Attend food shows, expos, festivals and even concerts in your region, where local purveyors—both established and brand new—sample and sell their wares and likeminded folks come to pool ideas and forge partnerships. Get political. Even if you can’t jet to D.C. or your state capital to rally for small farmers, you can get in with a local organization that does. Brett donates money to PASA, which advocates for farmers and natural foods issues in Pennsylvania. Find a local agriculture–focused group near you and see how you can support its efforts. Read the complete NFM interview.
Go out and educate. Caster built his business—and continues to attract new shoppers today—by speaking about health and wellness at community events and meetings. “Pretty much any group or club will gladly take a free 15-minute talk,” Caster says. Just a small time investment can score you invaluable face time with several potential new shoppers.” Stock stuff you think they’ll love. It’s important to keep up on trends, but don’t be afraid to jump on a new product that your gut tells you your shoppers will dig. “If something comes out that I think will sell, I don’t care if it isn’t trendy or no one else has it,” Caster says. “We know our customers, and that’s really what you need to be to be successful.” Prioritize social media. Your shoppers are using it, so it pays to create an active presence and ongoing dialogue. Same goes for smartphone apps and other technologies. Raisin Rack has one employee whose only job is to work on Facebook and other tech platforms. Read the complete NFM interview.
Go out and educate. Caster built his business—and continues to attract new shoppers today—by speaking about health and wellness at community events and meetings. “Pretty much any group or club will gladly take a free 15-minute talk,” Caster says. Just a small time investment can score you invaluable face time with several potential new shoppers.” Stock stuff you think they’ll love. It’s important to keep up on trends, but don’t be afraid to jump on a new product that your gut tells you your shoppers will dig. “If something comes out that I think will sell, I don’t care if it isn’t trendy or no one else has it,” Caster says. “We know our customers, and that’s really what you need to be to be successful.” Prioritize social media. Your shoppers are using it, so it pays to create an active presence and ongoing dialogue. Same goes for smartphone apps and other technologies. Raisin Rack has one employee whose only job is to work on Facebook and other tech platforms. Read the complete NFM interview.
As you plan your 2014 business goals, take a few minutes to explore these top retail tips from natural foods retailers like yourself.
Each month, Natural Foods Merchandiser shares a retailer's story and expertise on the Checkout page. This collection of 33 tips were shared on those pages this year and could guide you to a more successful year to come.
Topics include growing local options, supporting the farmers that feed our nation, promoting gluten free, talking supplements and so much more.
Thank you to those who have shared these wise words this year, and to everyone in the supportive natural products community.
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