Show News

Health & Nutrition Show’s Targeted Focus Wins Approval
From Retailers, Exhibitors

Nutritional product retailers and manufacturers converged on Long Beach, CA recently for the Health & Nutrition Show (formerly Healthy Harvest Show), the first trade show and educational conference specifically for the dietary supplements and nutritional products industry. The annual event was organized by TLC Tradeshow Productions (Ojai, CA), and sponsored by Vitamin Retailer magazine.

Held at the Long Beach Convention Center the weekend of November 6-7, the Health & Nutrition Show featured some 100-plus exhibitors, including many leading industry brands such as NOW Foods, Solgar, Bluebonnet Nutrition, TwinLab, Good ‘N Natural, Wakunaga, Life Extension and World Organic. It also showcased several new companies and first-time exhibitors, and served as a launching pad for a variety of new products—much to the delight of the show’s retailer attendees.

Organizers expressed satisfaction with the results of the 2010 Health & Nutrition Show, which saw an increase in attendance to more than 1,300 registered attendees, including some 1,000 health food retailers, natural product pharmacies and health care practitioners—a ratio of approximately 10 attendees for every one exhibitor.

“We are very pleased to offer the nutritional products industry a different kind of trade show: a more intimate, less-frenzied environment where retailers and other qualified industry attendees can spend adequate time with each exhibitor to learn about their products, and establish solid relationships with their vendors,” said Yoko McSweeney, show manager. “Also, our show’s targeted focus on nutritional products brought out the stores and buyers that do a strong business in supplements, so we had a concentration of high-quality retail attendees, which translated into good order writing for most exhibitors.”

McSweeney noted that some of the top dietary supplement retailers from throughout the US were in attendance at the show, including such well-known stores as Super Supplements (Seattle, WA), Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (Lakewood, CO), Tunie’s (Coral Springs, FL), Life Source Natural Foods (Salem, OR), People’s Rx (Austin, TX), The Health Food Center (Oklahoma City, OK) and PCC Natural Markets (Seattle, WA)—not to mention major health food retailers from Southern California like Naturway, Clark’s Nutrition, Mother’s Market and Rainbow Acres.

“We truly thank all of the wonderful retailers who came to our show this year to support our exhibitors, and look forward to an even bigger turnout at next year’s show,” she said. Dates for next year’s Health & Nutrition Show have just been announced: November 5-6, 2011 at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Positive Exhibitor Feedback
Many exhibitors agreed that the Health & Nutrition Show presented an excellent opportunity for successful retailer relationship-building, product education and order writing.

“Health & Nutrition was a great experience for us—we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from local retailers. We had a great time meeting a lot of new retailers who I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise,” said Mindy Whitacre, national sales manager and part-time educator with LifeSeasons (Copper Canyon, TX).

“I had a great day on Sunday—we signed up four wholesalers, took 12 orders and connected with some wonderful customers already carrying Life Extension,” added Patty Serino, Western regional sales manager the Ft. Lauderdale, FL-based company.

“We had a great Health & Nutrition Show,” said Elizabeth Krumholz, sales rep for Good ‘N Natural (Ronkonkoma, NY). “We received orders from existing customers and had quite a lot of retailers stop at our booth, which gave us a great opportunity to introduce our line to them.”

Some exhibitors used the Health & Nutrition Show as a testing ground for new items. Brian Taschereau with Highland Labs (Holliston, MA) said his company showed off its earth-friendly bottle, which is an industry first, according to Tachereau. “There was a great vibe on the floor,” he added. “I thought it went very well and we made a lot of good contacts.”

“This was my first time at the Health & Nutrition Show, and I really like the idea behind it—having a focus on health and nutrition products rather than a broad term like ‘natural’ products,” noted Rebecca Alvandi with Maxim Hygiene Products (New York, NY). “The retailers really seemed interested in hearing the health aspects of what’s being offered.”

Newcomers to the natural products industry said the Health & Nutrition Show offered benefits particularly well suited for them. “As a new company with two basically unknown brands, shows like this are great ways for us to not only meet retailers and press, but also to get feedback on our products, and find out what product attributes buyers are most interested in,” said Christopher Angell, president of Jungell (Solana Beach, CA), makers of a line of Fair Trade certified organic candy called Angell Bars. “We love talking with independent retailers who know their customers personally. They play such an important role in terms of educating people about new items, and if you have a good relationship and offer them something that they value, they can be great ambassadors for your brand.”

Tyler Vissers, president of TycolaPro (San Pedro, CA), maker of a complete nighttime recovery product called R.E.M.edy, said his overall impression of the show was a little different than what he expected. “I have only been to Expo West, and compared to that, it was definitely a lot smaller. However, I did like the show—it seemed a little more personable and not as chaotic.” In addition, Vissers said he met a lot of great retailers and clients. “Our product is now available in a few other states that it wasn’t before. We definitely built some great relationships from the show.”

Saturday Education
The Health & Nutrition Show kicked off with a free retailer breakfast sponsored by Bluebonnet Nutrition (Sugar Land, TX). Afterward, retailers stayed on for an information-packed keynote address titled “Nourishing Our Future: Nutrients for Healthy Kids!” given by Carl Germano, RD, CNS, CDN. Germano traced the health of children from prenatal to the teen years, outlining the consequences of maternal malnutrition to the diet of children ages 9-12.

Germano began the talk asking why we should care about adverse stimulus and nutrient deficiencies in women. “Because 90 percent of women expect to give birth,” he explained. He further discussed how children could get sufficient levels of nutrients through food, however, “there is a case to be made for children beyond diet.” Germano said children are overweight, undernourished and deficient in calcium and vitamin D, and have low intakes of zinc, iron, omega-3s and vitamin C. Children are also snacking more, not eating breakfast and dinner, and are eating away from home more often, Germano noted. Regarding foods and beverages for children, “there is an emphasis on soda, juice, pizza and sugar-laden snacks,” with little fruit and vegetables. Current RDA levels are “grossly inadequate,” he added.

Also on Saturday, Neil Levin, nutrition education manager with NOW Foods (Bloomingdale, IL), gave a lecture titled “Are You Unregulated? Addressing Customers’ Concerns About Dietary Supplement Regulations.” Levin discussed adverse event reporting (AERs) and Codex, which he explained sets rules for vitamins and minerals but doesn’t apply to herbs, amino acids, antioxidants, etc. “It doesn’t ban anything,” he said, “but was intended as a model for national legislation … harmonization of laws is a stated goal.”

Levin offered insights on how foreign regulations of US exports often “dumb down” formulas. “When the UE says no boron, we take it out of formulas to export.” But, he added that Canada’s restrictive supplement laws are the most “troubling” because of requirements for approved product registration. “NOW Foods will lose $1 million in sales to Canada because of these regulations,” he said. “Companies are waiting four-plus years for approval.”

‘Prescription’ For Success
Sunday’s educational conference kicked off with Bob Phibbs, known as “The Retail Doctor,” who engaged his retailer audience with the interactive program, “You Can Compete: Succeeding in Today’s Challenging Retailing Environment.” After asking audience members to make a paper airplane, decorate, price and fly it, Phibbs pointed out that price doesn’t make something a good value—people do. Then, after cutting a piece of cake neatly with a knife and presenting it on a plate, he then smashed the cake by hand and threw it on a plate, to make the point that presentation is everything.

Phibbs also explained that it is hard to deliver an exceptional experience, and retailers should consider the personality types of customers. He said most customers are considered “feelers”—expressive and amiable. “Customers never forget how you make them feel. It isn’t about getting more people in the door—concentrate on the feelers you already get,” Phibbs said. He added that the object is to “get people to buy more and tell their friends about your store.”

Phibbs suggested retailers rethink their strategies on how to meet with customers and engage in conversations. He stressed that customers left alone can’t decide, so managers should be on the floor selling. “The customer is more important than anything else the manager may be doing,” Phibbs said. He suggested salespeople greet the customer first but refrain from “stalking” them. “Say to them, ‘Hi, feel free to look around. I’ll be right back.’ When you return, ask the customer if this is their first time in the store. If so, say ‘May I give you a store tour?’ Then get as much information as you can from the customer before explaining a products’ feature and benefits. Personalize the benefit,” he added.

Feedback to Phibbs’ interactive lecture was enthusiastic and positive. “The speakers at this show are excellent … especially The Retail Doctor,” said Susan Levee, of Grassroots Natural Market in South Pasadena, CA. “This is the first time I sat and listened to a lecture where so much useful information was given in such a short amount of time!”

Also educating retailers on Sunday was Terry Lemerond, president of Europharma, who discussed “Nutrition and Alzheimer’s,” promoting the benefits of curcumin supplements. “We are the most over-medicated country in the world,” he said, “and we are nutrient deficient.” Lemerond noted that information on curcumin from tumeric is exploding, and that while Alzheimer’s is common in the US, it is relatively unknown in India where tumeric is plentiful in the diet. “Curcumin is orange in color, which is not a good thing to apply topically. It is used as a dye for fabrics in India. They eat so much, their brains are dyed orange,” he noted.

Another lecturer was Dr. Vijaya Nair, CEO and chief science officer of Essence of Life, a bionutraceutical company based in New York. An esteemed medical researcher and epidemiologist, and author of Prevent Cancer, Strokes, Heart Attacks & Other Deadly Killers, Nair gave a lecture entitled “JIVA: The Answer to Chronic Inflammation Using Science-Based Nutritional Products.” Taking a look back at how the company’s JIVA line came about, she said she has observed cancer incidence around the world and discovered that while some areas have minimal cancer rates, the North American rate is extremely high. She began looking at traditional diets and estimated that one-third to two-thirds of common cancers are preventable with diet, physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight.

Then the discussion turned to inflammation, or what Nair calls the “fire within.” She illustrated that while acute inflammation is good, offering the example of the body’s immune defense when it works to get rid of a splinter, that chronic inflammation is bad and the source of all our “-itis” conditions, such as arthritis, bronchitis, sinusitis, etc. “Inflammation is a double-edged sword,” said Nair. “It does protect us, but it also kills. In situations of long-term inflammation, it can destroy joints, damage the heart, affect the digestive tract, rob us of our eyesight and hurt the brain.”

There are several inflammation triggers that consumers are subjected to or subject themselves to daily: chronic, low-grade infection; smoking; air pollution; elevated LDL levels; high blood pressure; diets high in sugar and fat. “Stress, food factors, environmental pollutants, viruses, bacteria—these are all different faces of inflammation and its role in tumorignesis,” said Nair, who then discussed how NF-kB is the protein that triggers and activates inflammation, and can be a major mediator in most diseases.

In searching to suppress NF-kB activation, several sources have been identified as inhibitors. “Approximately 25 percent of prescriptions are derived from 90 plant species,” she said, pointing to ayurveda and Chinese medicine as having thousands of years of history that modern medicine borrows from. “There are different systems and approaches to addressing chronic illness where allopathic medicine hasn’t found a cure or been able to help. In addition, fruits and vegetables are NF-kB inhibitors—red grapes, pomegranate and soybean, to name a few.”

Soy being an integral ingredient in the JIVA line, this was the perfect segway for Nair to discuss her JIVA formulations, which include Fermented Soy & Curcumin Nutritional Beverage Mix, Curcumin & Fermented Soy Energy Plus Capsules, Lutein Healthy Eyes Capsules, Green Tea Stress Relief Capsules, Resveratrol Healthy Heart Capsules, Ginger Digestive Health Capsules and Ashwagandha Natural Health Restorative Capsules.

Fun Times Too!
A highlight of the social events taking place at the Health & Nutrition Show was the Retailer Welcome Reception held in the Grand Ballroom of the Long Beach Convention Center. Sponsored by Good ‘N Natural and Vitamin Retailer magazine, the party featured complimentary hors d’oeuvres and was attended by some 400 people.

During the reception, representatives from Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage were on hand to receive Vitamin Retailer magazine’s 2010 Retailer of the Year Award. In addition, several industry manufacturers in attendance were presented with their companies’ Vity Awards in recognition of top sales performance during 2010.

Sunday’s exhibit hall featured “Sunday Madness,” in which show attendees were treated to complimentary food and beverages at various locations around the trade show floor. World Organic sponsored the event.

Throughout the Health & Nutrition Show, retailers received raffle prize tickets for every order they placed with exhibitors. Raffle prize drawings where held at the close of the show each day, with prizes ranging from gift baskets filled with products, electronics books and a bicycle. Raffle prizes were donated by AgroLabs, Blue Skies Ahead, Content Communication Group, Clickco, Earthzone Caviar Cream, Good’N Natural, Herbal Balance for Life, Highland Laboratories, Legacy for Life, LifeSeasons, MiraCell, Nellie’s All Natural, Randal Optimal Nutrients, Trinity School of Natural Health and Coral LLC. 

Two grand prize winners (one each day) took home a $1,200 travel gift certificate to be used for a cruise or other vacation travel. The lucky grand prizes winners were Jeff Becker of Naturway (Anaheim, CA) and Hamid Shaghaghi of North Coast Medical Pharmacy (Encinitas, CA).

Save the Date!
Next year, the Health & Nutrition Show will return to the Long Beach Convention Center November 5-6, 2011. For more information about next year’s show, visit www.healthandnutritionshow.com.