The Vitamin Shoppe Unveils Future Store Concept
The Vitamin Shoppe is opening a new innovation store in Edgewater, N.J. The store aims to bring a new vision to wellness retail, incorporating technology-driven innovations in product, service, and education into The Vitamin Shoppe experience, while elevating the customer journey through a simplified modern design and personalized elements.
Building off the footprint of the existing Edgewater store, the completely reimagined 3,185 square-foot space features cutting-edge interactive elements, such as on-demand digital product guides, enhanced mobile POS checkout, a designated area to take the brand's new Only Me personalized health assessment, a complimentary body composition analysis station, and a supplement sampling machine.
Signature merchandise assortments, including the store's CBD Central and Keto HQ sections, as well as service programs like free nutritionist consultations via the Healthy Awards loyalty program, are seamlessly integrated into the innovation concept. The retailer plans to open five new stores in a similar format through January 2020.
"Our newly remodeled Edgewater location represents the next generation of stores for The Vitamin Shoppe, and will inform the future direction of our total retail experience,” said Sharon Leite, CEO, The Vitamin Shoppe. “We have taken the elevated aesthetic of a modern apothecary and imbued it with leading-edge technology and services that will simplify and demystify the experience of shopping for health and wellness supplements."
A new digital product education tool will bring a wealth of information currently available on the retailer’s website directly to the hands of in-store shoppers. Piloting technology from Addison, TX-based Spacee, the product recognition device brings up a detailed product guide on an LCD flat screen for any product in the store. Shoppers can quickly view usage guides, nutrition facts, customer reviews, current promotions and additional recommended products on screen. Enlarged labels are also shown, making small labeling text easier to read.
The Vitamin Shoppe is also launching the Aptos ONE Store Commerce mobile selling application, which enables mobile checkout on iPads ― empowering associates to engage with shoppers, ring transactions and answer questions throughout the store floor without leaving the customer's side.
Mobile POS, along with The Vitamin Shoppe's Vbook mobile selling app, gives associates easy access to customer and product information, enabling them to provide a personalized experience to every customer.
The Vitamin Shoppe is deploying both traffic counting and advanced heat mapping technology from RetailNext to fully understand how in-store behavior, marketing campaigns, and promotions guide the shopper path to purchase. These analytics will be leveraged to improve the customer experience across all channels.
"At The Vitamin Shoppe, we are continually searching for innovative ways to evolve and enhance the customer wellness journey," said Leite. "The new digitally-powered elements of our store encourage customers to deeply engage with our product offerings, as well as our highly knowledgeable in-store health enthusiasts, for a fully integrated omnichannel experience."