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1 month ago | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner |James Gormley
As a small business owner, one of your primary duties is to develop strategies to get more people into your store. In fact, the two most important metrics that every retailer in America should track are store traffic and basket size. If you have enough people coming through the door and they are buying things, barring tremendous waste in your operating model, your business is likely to be successful. But how has advertising evolved, and what can you do to build an ad strategy for your store?
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Jan 22, 2025 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner |Eric Munson
“To grow older doesn’t mean to grow old,” Renee Southard once told me with a knowing smile. That philosophy, rooted in her boundless energy and passion for life, guided everything she did—as a mother, a friend, a SENPA leader, and the owner of Organic Marketplace in Gastonia, NC. Renee was a force of nature, blending Southern hospitality with unstoppable determination. She touched lives and transformed our industry, leaving behind a legacy that inspires us to do the same.
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Jan 2, 2025 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner
Running an independent health food store is no small feat. Between managing inventory, assisting customers, and staying competitive with big-box retailers and online giants, marketing often falls to the bottom of the to-do list. Yet, marketing is essential for growth and success. It forms the foundation of your business, not just in how you attract or retain customers, but also as a key component integrated into your entire business plan.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner
In today’s hyper-competitive retail environment, where online giants and big-box stores reign supreme, the real challenge for independent natural products retailers isn’t just attracting new customers—it’s keeping them. Customer retention, often an afterthought, should be front and center for any retailer who wants to build a sustainable, profitable business. We all know that acquiring a new customer can be five times more expensive than retaining an existing one.
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Sep 1, 2024 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner |Terry Lemerond |Nicholas Saraceno
Historically, businesses drove growth by creating better products. Through a product-centric approach, huge companies were created—think of Henry Ford and the Model T. Today, the path to growth can take several different approaches. Thanks to digital technologies, it is possible to focus on individual interactions with your customers both in and out of retail. This approach is most often referred to as customer centricity.
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Aug 1, 2024 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner |Eric Munson
Social media isn’t “new” anymore, but how to leverage this medium for your small business can often be a bit of a mystery. How do you know what to post? Is there a magical time for a post to go live? How do you know if social media is working? Let’s dive in!Where Did Social Media Come From? While there is some debate about the origins of social media, many consider an early site called Six Degrees, launched in 1997, as the first recognizable social media platform.
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner
Benjamin Franklin once famously said, “Beware of little expenses—a small leak will sink a great ship.” While most often applied to financial lessons around limiting expenses, it is also more than apt when it comes to your consumer experience within your store. If a ship is sinking from leaks, there are two approaches to solving the problem. You can run around your store trying to fix every leak that has appeared, or you can proactively build a ship that doesn’t leak in the first place.
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Jun 3, 2024 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner
Two of the most challenging tasks that retailers face are identifying the best products to feature in-store and establishing ideal planograms to effectively merchandise these products. Unfortunately, these tasks, which are central to driving profitability, are often done inconsistently. It’s a significant undertaking, which explains why it’s frequently neglected. So, how can you optimize your shelves without the associated headaches? Unfortunately, there’s no magical fix.
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May 1, 2024 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner |Eric Munson
America is built on small businesses, but competition from the masses is growing every day. For many independent retailers across America, failure is not an option. It’s a personal and profound mission to make a difference in the health of our communities. With increased competition comes greater demands on store management, and being good at something is no longer enough. You must be great.
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Apr 1, 2024 | 
vitaminretailer.com | Ryan Sensenbrenner
If there is one universal concept across retail managers, it’s the constant battle against time—there’s always more to do than there are hours in the day. This relentless pace typically results in extended work periods, tirelessly tackling a to-do list that only seems to grow and never shrink, while focusing primarily on those critical tasks essential for keeping the business afloat. Marketing, a key component for any business, often falls by the wayside in this hustle.
