There’s no denying that people have become more health-conscious in recent years, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. More individuals are looking at ways to reduce their bad eating habits and boost their immune systems.
Health food stores provide excellent support services for such people, focusing on selling groceries and health supplements designed with healthy living in mind.
If you’re planning to launch a new health food store in your area, it goes without saying that you want it to be a popular and successful endeavor. How can you ensure you’ve got the winning formula for your health food store?
Take a look at the following tips, tricks, and ideas to inspire you and provide the information you need to make the right decisions for the launch of your new business:
1. Design Engaging Branding
Firstly, spending some time creating attractive and attention-grabbing branding for your health food store makes sense. That’s because much of your business will come from people that spot your store in the street and walk in to make impulse buys.
Of course, many others will find you via Internet searches for stores like yours, so in any case, you must ensure your branding is engaging and makes sense to your target audience.
You should also be consistent with your branding; use the same logo and color schemes in your store, online, and on paper.
2. Pick The Right Location
Did you know that some entrepreneurs make the mistake of opening their stores in locations with little footfall? Your health food store should be in a place like a bustling town or city center frequented by shoppers daily.
It pays to research the busiest commercial districts in your area and strategically place your store in one of them. For example, you could open your health food store next to a gym or fitness center to take advantage of customers frequenting those establishments.
You should also ensure that the rent or mortgage for your new store is within your budget.
3. Conduct Some Market Research
Opening a new health food store in your area is fantastic, but do you know what you will sell in it? If the answer is no, it’s time to research the best products for your target audience. After all: you don’t want to stock items that your customers will seldom purchase!
One way to conduct your market research is by visiting competitors’ stores in your area, looking at the products and brands they stock, and noting which ones seem to sell quickly. That way, you can avoid investing your capital in unwanted products.
4. Create The Right Ambiance
What sort of mood do you want to set in your new health food store? Do you want to make it a relaxing environment, such as a welcoming sanctuary from the outside world, or a contemporary place where shopping gets conducted quickly and with minimal interaction?
The former idea is far more likely to win praise from your target audience, especially as some will make an occasion of visiting your store with their relatives and friends!
Consider elements like color schemes, lighting, decorations, and even background music to help you achieve the right ambiance for your store.
5. Introduce An Own-Brand Range
Selling established brands makes perfect sense, especially in an area where few other local retailers stock those items due to their exclusivity, for instance. But, it’s also a good idea to launch a range of own-brand products in your health food store.
Firstly, you will enjoy higher margins on your products and, thus, higher profits. Secondly, you can consider offering your branded products in similar stores. Lastly, it’s an excellent way to increase brand awareness.
Ensure you research the best nutraceutical packaging companies for your products, as you want to avoid falling afoul of any sales and packaging laws.
6. Collaborate With Other Local Businesses
An innovative way to make your brand more popular is by teaming up with other businesses for special projects.
For example, you could collaborate with a chain of regional fitness centers to sell your own-brand products, and they could offer your customers special discounts to join their centers.
Collaborating with other businesses isn’t a new idea. Yet, it’s one that some startups fail to consider as they offer mutually beneficial ways to increase brand awareness and drive up sales.
When considering whom to collaborate with, think of businesses that your customers are likely to frequent.
7. Run Wellness Workshops
Your health food store might focus on selling physical products to its customers, but you can still give your target market extra benefits to thank them for shopping at your store.
One innovative idea is to host some wellness workshops in your store. You can collaborate with personal trainers, nutrition experts, and other professionals to give your customers tips and training to enrich their lives from a health perspective.
For instance, you could offer such workshops for free to loyalty scheme members and also offer them attractive discounts on any products promoted in each workshop.
8. Build An E-Commerce Website
What happens if a customer wants to purchase something you sell, but your store has closed for the evening? Some people wait until the next day you’re open and visit your store, but others will likely purchase what they need online from your competitors.
That’s why you must set up an e-commerce website and sell your products online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ensure that your website is secure, easy to use, and offers multiple payment options to make shopping more convenient with your business.
Consider an e-commerce solution that works with your store’s physical stock and inventory systems for a seamless integration and shopping experience.
9. Offer A Click-And-Collect Service
Of course, you’ll have some customers that are happy to purchase what they need in person. Shopping can be a generally unpleasant experience for some individuals – especially those who experience anxiety among large groups of people.
You can offer your customers a click-and-collection service from your website, meaning they order with you online but go in-store to collect it instead of having it shipped to their home address or workplace.
Such an option is also helpful for those who are unsure if they will be in a fixed location to receive any deliveries, making it a more convenient choice for their shopping needs.
10. Form An Effective Marketing Strategy
Marketing is an essential element of any business. Without it, your health food store could have little to no customers! Even established brands that have been around for decades and have an international presence still need to market their brands, products, and services.
Consider working with a marketing agency to help you create the best plan for your business. Your marketing plan should encompass offline and online advertising and always offer measurable results.
Always research the best advertising methods consumed by your target audience, and use them as part of your strategies.
11. Offer Convenient Payment Options
There was once a time when cash was the prevalent way to pay for things. However, the evolution of digital payment systems and the rising popularity of contactless payments means you should offer many convenient ways to buy things from your health food store.
The COVID-19 pandemic likely increased the popularity of contactless payments to stratospheric levels, so you should offer choices like Apple Pay and Google Pay to your customers, enabling them to use their phones for making NFC payments.
12. Make Your Store Eco-Friendly
Corporate responsibility is shared by businesses of all sizes, irrespective of whether you have an online-only enterprise or one or more retail stores. One way to show your customers you care about the planet is by making your health food store an eco-friendly one.
Examples include:
- Using LED lighting;
- Making use of natural light during daylight hours;
- Offering customers recyclable paper bags for their shopping instead of plastic ones;
- Providing recycling facilities for used products.
13. Launch An Interactive App
Did you know that creating a smartphone app is very easy these days and requires virtually no programming knowledge? With that in mind, you should consider launching an interactive app for your health food store.
You could provide details of all products you sell and information on which aisle(s) to find them in your store if customers wish to avoid buying online.
Your app could even direct customers to your store if they are nearby using the magic of GPS and push notifications on their phones (as long as they’ve agreed to them, of course!).
14. Implement Regular Promotions
Last but not least, consider planning and running regular promotions in your store to increase sales at all times of the year. For example, you could offer seasonal promotions and create impressive merchandising displays in your health food store.
The key is to grab people’s attention and give them new reasons to visit your store and ultimately buy products from you!
