BOULDER, Colo. -- Wild Oats Markets here is launching a category management program and tripling the amount of its private-label stockkeeping units, executives said at Wildstock, the company's first manager/vendor conference.
The 52-store retailer also plans to open 11 new stores this year, including its first Northeastern store, which is slated to debut in Princeton, N.J., late next month. The store is a former independent that was sold to Wild Oats.
An additional three units will open in 1999. The company will also relocate two stores this year and one next year.
While the company's stores are concentrated in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast areas, other sites are planned to open in the Northeast "over a period of time," Jim Lee, president and chief operating officer, told SN.
"The Northeast is an important market, in terms of demographics and population density," Lee said.
Company sales surged 62% to $311.1 million in 1997, reflecting four newly opened, one relocated and nine acquired stores, as well as the inclusion of a full year of sales for seven newly opened and 13 acquired stores in 1996. Comparable-store sales increased 6% for the fourth quarter of 1997 and 5% for the year. The company went public in October 1996.
"We expect continued strong growth for 1998, fueled by our full inventory of excellent new sites and the increasing demand for natural products all across the country," Mike Gilliland, company chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Category management will also be part of its growth. During his speech on category management, Lee said the uniqueness of natural/organic products and the tremendous growth of new items helped prompt the debut of a company-wide category management initiative.
"Our people have not had many tools to assist them in how many facings or what types of products they should have," he said. "Now they will be provided with information obtained from our vendors and our new software package."
The main goal of the program will be to create a better assortment of products. A pilot test in the rice-, soy- and oat-beverage category is currently under way in two stores. The company also plans to reset this and several other categories -- including beverages, snacks, cereals and glass juices -- chainwide by the third quarter of 1998.
In discussing private label, Dale Kamibayashi, grocery buyer, talked about how the company plans to expand its private-label program from 150 SKUs to about 450 SKUs this year. Private label currently accounts for about 5% of total store sales, Kamibayashi told SN.
Condiments -- such as mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauces and spices -- will account for a large part of the new items. Other entries will be a variety of frozen food, including vegetables, entrees, side dishes and pizza. The company is also moving into dairy, offering soy-based foods and organic eggs.
Most of the items will be 95% organic, unless it's cost-prohibitive, according to Kamibayashi. In those instances, most of the ingredients will be organic, while the rest will be natural. None of the private-label selections will have artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.
Wildstock was a manager/vendor natural-food conference organized by Wild Oats. The meeting, held from Jan. 31 through Feb. 3, included 250 Wild Oats/Alfalfa's managers and 80 top natural-food vendors. Wild Oats acquired Alfalfa's in 1996. Lee described Wildstock as an informative, bonding meeting.
Growth and development, sales and earnings and new marketing initiatives were among the issues covered. "It brought the company much closer together and also helped improve the relationship with our vendor partners," Lee told SN.
Held at the Regal Harvest House hotel, also here, Wildstock was conducted similarly to major industry trade shows, complete with a welcoming reception, roundtable discussions, store tours, an awards banquet and a themed party.
There was even an exhibition hall, which included representatives from companies like Celestial Seasonings, Horizon Organic Dairy, Muir Glen, Hain Pure Foods.
