Vitamin World
| Private | |
| Industry | Retail |
Number of locations | 446 (March 2011)[1] |
| Owner | Center Lane Partners |
| Website |
www |
Vitamin World is a retailer of vitamins and nutritional supplements in the United States.
Vitamin World was acquired by private equity firm Center Lane Partners in 2016.[2]
Background information
Vitamin World was founded in 1960 by Arthur Rudolph and is headquartered in Bohemia, New York.[3] Vitamin World was a subsidiary of NBTY Inc. NBTY Manufactures and sold its products under the Vitamin World, Holland and Barrett, and Puritans Pride labels.[4] Vitamin Worlds are the North American retail stores, Holland and Barretts are the United Kingdom retail stores,[5] and Puritans Pride is an online / catalog phone ordering division.[6]
Most divisions sell similar products but cater to different customers. Vitamin World sells many of its own supplements under the "Vitamin World", "Herbal Authority", and "Precision Engineered" brands. General vitamins and minerals are sold under the "Vitamin World's" brand. Herbs, teas, and natural beauty products are sold under the "Herbal Authority" brand, and sports nutrition products are sold under the "Precision Engineered" brand. Vitamin World sells products from third party vendors, the majority of which are sports nutrition products from big companies.
Recent changes
Through the end 2007 Vitamin World was a "bargain" supplement store, offering buy 1 get 1 half off and buy 1 get 1 free sales for all of their store brand items. Forcing stiff competition from internet bargain leaders, Vitamin World underwent a "format" change beginning in January, 2008, when they adopted the "Get Healthy" slogan.[7]
The "Get Healthy" days brought many changes to the stores: The store logo was redesigned from the green 1970's style lettering and changed to all blue letters on a white background. The "world" part of the logo changed from white and green to a gradient rainbow color-scheme. All bottle labels are re-designed featuring colorful new labels and see-through colored bottles that correspond to the category of supplement to which they belong. During this period prices were also raised. Vitamin World also offers a "Savings Passport" card to customers that requires a minimum purchase and gives cardholders discounts on most items.
Vitamin World's new Pricing Strategy has now positioned them slightly up-market. They are generally cheaper than General Nutrition Centers. In Mid 2008 Vitamin World also invested heavily in associate training in an attempt to increase customer satisfaction. This is referred to as the "Vitamin World Commitment". Along with the VWC, sales associates were given scripts to follow that word-by-word examples of how to execute the new customer service strategy.
Response to the restructuring varies heavily. Many customers who accustomed to bargain prices were upset Vitamin World no longer offers such large discounts. Many associates were unsure of the new scripted selling methods. Most customers and associates feel that the visual upgrades to the store and products were long overdue. Before the reformatting, most bottles and company promotional materials featured designs and styling that were visually reminiscent of 1980's products. In general, most stores are selling less units than before restructuring, but margins have greatly improved. Internal restructuring also occurred in this period: some management departments were eliminated and merged to shrink operating costs.
Reception
Vitamin World's Ultra Man Daily multivitamin was tested by ConsumerLab.com in their Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review of 38 of the leading multivitamin/multimineral products sold in the U.S. and Canada. This multivitamin passed ConsumerLab's test,[8] which included testing of selected index elements, their ability to disintegrate in solution per United States Pharmacopeia guidelines, lead contamination threshold set in California Proposition 65, and meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling requirements.[9]
References
- ↑ NBTY Quarterly Report - Q2 2011
- ↑ "Carlyle’s NBTY to sell Vitamin World to Center Lane Partners". PE HUB. 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2016-03-26.
- ↑ Vitamin World Company Information (Official corporate website)
- ↑ NBTY Homepage (Official Corporate Website)
- ↑ Holland And Barrett Company Information (Official corporate website)
- ↑ Puritan's Pride Company Information (Official Corporate Website)
- ↑ Grocery.com (Perpetual Media Group)
- ↑ "ConsumerLab Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review - Main Review". 15 June 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2011.(subscription required)
- ↑ "ConsumerLab Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review - Testing Method". 15 June 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2011.