Supermarket News

SN Whole Health: Wellness Sales Feeling the Pinch

Nov. 26, 2012 Robert Vosburgh

Some point to the rise of natural food retailers like Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market. Others suspect the dollar channel. But no matter who’s responsible, the mainstream supermarket industry reports that maintaining health and wellness sales is much more competitive today than it was even a few short years ago. Mass merchandisers were also seen as a principal rival, according to stakeholders surveyed in the 2012 WH Asks poll, conducted by SN Whole Health. “As ...

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Discuss this Article 2

eseadler

on Nov 27, 2012

I observed that this article doesn't discuss the vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements category. Did I miss it or do Supermarkets consider VMNS as outside of the health and wellness trend? This retail segment (e.g. GNC, Vitamin Shoppe) aren't mentioned.
I would be very interested in understanding how VMNS and its various channels figure into this trend.
thank you

Bob Vosburgh

on Nov 28, 2012

Thanks for your question. SN and the SN Whole Health supplement certainly do write about the vitamin category, and a check of our archives should reveal the extent of our coverage. For the purposes of the poll, however, we made a conscious decision to focus on food/beverages/services, since that is where the bulk of sales comes from in the conventional channel. Future studies may include the VMNS category, depending on which trends dominate that year.