SHOPRITE TO ROLL OUT NUTRITIONAL PRODUCTS

MATTHEW W. EVANS

ELIZABETH, N.J. -- ShopRite stores of the Wakefern Food Corp. buying co-op here will debut Nature's Bounty nutritional products this month. The vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements will be rolled out to all 201 units, said Rich Scoza, vice president of sales administration at Nature's Bounty, Bohemia, N.Y.

"There may be variations to the actual planograms," he said. "We're in the middle of discussions, but the product has gone into their warehouse." It was too early to tell how merchandising may be affected by the rollout, Scoza added.

The manufacturer has been The manufacturer has been in touch with the co-op's "sub-groups," the separate retailer entities that make up Wakefern and operate under the ShopRite banner, said Scoza. "It is a partnership between the sub-groups, Nature's Bounty and ShopRite. I think they feel very good about the program." The manufacturer will continue to ship to Wakefern for redistribution, said Scoza.

John Slevenski, nonfood supervisor at Glazier Supermarkets in Philadelphia, said it was too early to tell how the rollout might affect the health and beauty care section. "Wakefern does their own planograms through their warehouse. They would set it up," he said. Wakefern did not return calls for comment.

"It's preliminary but the expectation is to have the program in all of the ShopRite stores by the end of September," Scoza said. "We'll be working with ShopRite and with our broker and salespeople; the teams will go out and reset the sections." He added that products would hit the shelves in the next week or two. In addition to Nature's Bounty vitamins, the set will include calcium products and glucosamine.

"We'll be taking out the competitor brands that are in there currently and putting our brand in their place," said Scoza, who would not discuss what brands were being removed.