Vitamin World - Recent Changes

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 starting in Jan. 2008 when they adopted the "Get Healthy" slogan.

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.