The power of partnerships in growing health and wellness business

Impact the sales of health and wellness items by looking outside your store for lifestyle customers like runners and bikers, then simply direct them to your doors. These customers are hungry for healthy options. You don’t have to sell them on organic, non-GMO, whole foods, they already get it and are ready to make the investment.

Partner with business who cater to this customer base. These strategic partnerships can produce powerful results.

With a goal to promote health and wellness at one of our upper, mid-range grocery store chains, we developed partnerships with healthy lifestyle businesses in the market area like, The Grand Rapids Bicycle Company (a recreational, road, triathlon and mountain bike store), Gazelle Sports (a boutique running, yoga and lifestyle fitness store) and Delta Subaru (a car dealership that sells Subaru vehicles, an active lifestyle brand).

BRA FIT FEST TO SPINATHON
We simply formed solid relationships with each business by supporting their in-store special events with healthy food and beverages and creating our own healthy lifestyle events then inviting each partner along with their customer base to take part. For example, Gazelle Sports was having a Bra Fit Fest in conjunction with their upcoming all female half marathon. Getting in front of the chief health officer of the household who also happens to be the person who is doing most of the grocery shopping, yes please! We simply kept these women hydrated with an infused water bar and talked with them. They loved the value added service and I had a chance to tell these women where they can find healthy fuel for themselves and their families.

To involve all of our partners and all of their customers at once, we hosted a spinathon for charity in a local greenhouse this past winter. Delta Subaru parked their latest healthy lifestyle vehicle at the entrance, the bike shop provided trainers which enable a road bike to become a spin bike and Gazelle Sports donated raffle prizes. Employees and customers from each business took part. Triathlon teams took advantage of the warm sunny place to ride and local media covered the event. A DJ was spinning thumping tunes and we had a captive audience for three hours to give product samples away and deliver our health and wellness message in a fun and engaging way. These are just two examples of many more like supporting their summer group rides, running training clinics and restorative yoga classes for runners.

WIN-WIN-WIN
Through nurturing these relationships with win-win-win (their business-their customers-us) partnerships we were able to substantially effect our health and wellness business in less than a year and bring new customers into our stores. We’d love to know how you are thinking outside the box.

What are you doing to grow your healthy lifestyle business?