Education

The Price is not Always Right

December 5, 2002 | By: deaneparkes

I think we, as an industry, [I have been as guilty as anyone] are devaluing our entire industry by leading with discount pricing. Recently it seems the primary way stores are advertising to consumers is based on low price. These flyers are supported by suppliers who feel it is the only option they have in supporting the stores. I think we are creating some short term sales gains that could end in long term sales pains.

When you decide to have discount pricing as your key marketing message you only end up attracting disloyal customers. The price shopper, who amounts to 14% of the buyers, is not a loyal customer and will shop wherever the price is lowest. If we did a survey and asked the general public who the lowest price leader was I am certain they would immediately respond with Walmart, Costco, London Drugs, Westfair, etc.. If we also asked what they thought of a health food/vitamin store they would generally say ‘they are high price’. This is without any real knowledge of the prices. Often health stores have very competitive pricing yet the perception is higher price and to change a consumer perception is a costly endeavor that often is near impossible to do.

We need to sell VALUE.

The key consumers for our products are the baby boom generation. These people began to turn 50 in 1997 and will continue to turn 50 until 2016. The real high demand years for health care will not begin for another 10 – 20 years when the boomers begin, en mass, to hit 60 – 65. Just think of the growth potential we have!!! The boomers, according to David Foote author of Boom, Bust and Echo are interested in value and quality not price. These are the people spending their money for a high end coffee at StarBucks. For less than the cost of that cup of coffee they could also be protecting their health with a good comprehensive daily supplement program. Why is it they freely spend their money on luxuries and not on good basic preventative health products. I think it is because we have not sold the value of the benefits of our products well enough. We need to sell our solutions not our products. [Danny Wells, natural product retail guru, said this in 1988 and it still holds true today]. By using price as a measure of our products we are devaluing our products and doing a disservice to the consumers who end up not understanding how best they can benefit.

What we could consider doing.

Recently I flew to Florida to visit my Dad who had taken ill. On the flight down I sat next to a behavioral psychologist. She was returning from a big convention on behavioral health in Toronto. I asked her if she was familiar with Dr Doris Rapp or Dr Michael Lyons, two medical doctors who have shown how food allergies and food choices are often the root cause to many behavioral challenges and how many can be helped through a healthy diet and supplementation. She looked at me in amazement and said ‘I never thought of that’, ‘that is very interesting’. I am not joking. Here what we think is common sense, basic knowledge, is a revelation to a Dr who treats patients with behavioral challenges. Let’s quit doing the price thing and start getting our messages out on food allergies, supplementation, safe effective choices. This woman was a nice person she just had never been informed, and as we know it is not taught in school. If we do not do it no one will.

Next I went to see my Dad. At 93 his body is wearing out. The hospital he was in had very loving and caring nurses, the doctors really did care and with the new technologies kept my Dad alive when he would have been gone long before. The crazy thing was the food he was fed. Here he is Diabetic, congestive heart disease, plus a multitude of other symptoms and they are feeding him at every meal, Boost [mostly refined sugar], mashed potatoes [sugar], some sugar/dyed fruit juice, iced tea, over cooked vegetable and some ground up meat and milk. No offense but there was nothing alive or healthy being put in my Dad.

The basic foundations of health are the air, water and food we eat yet here is a major healthcare facility, like most others, feeding dead, poisonous food. Do they do this knowingly?, I actually think it is due to mass misinformation and institutional food control by the major food producers. As I said the nurses were very loving, they fed my Dad out of ignorance. We need to EDUCATE people, if we do not do it no one else will.

Lastly I heard a great talk by Sherry Torkas in Ottawa at a recent CHFA event. She gave a great talk on the ravages of junk food and our NA diet on the health of the nation. I cannot wait till she gets out and does her cross country tour. These torchbearers should have all our support as her message gives credibility to the foundation of our industry. Obesity kills more people than cigarette smoking and the major contributor to obesity are the highly processed foods, the tons of fries, the billion of litres of pop, etc, etc, etc.. Do these foods come with a warning that they cause diabetes, heart disease, degenerative diseases!!! Do the pesticide laden foods carry warning labels! We need to educate people on the dangers of a junk food diet. If we do not do it no one else will!!!

My point to all this is let’s work together as an industry to grow our entire category based on the high value and benefits of our products. Sure we can compete on the shelves but let’s start considering some common messages based on telling our great story. Our products help people experience greater well being safely and effectively. Let’s also start pointing out to the consumers the dangers of junk food, pharmaceutical drug side effects, and chemical poisoning etc. [Please read The Food Revolution by Jon Robbins if you need some research to support your claims] Let’s quit leading on price and leave some money for promotion to tell the vital message we have to give… PREVENTION IS THE CURE. To lead a market you need to own a message, ours should be PREVENTION IS THE CURE [or something similar]. As a whole we are the safest means to better health there is PERIOD, WE DO NO HARM. To use the Naturopathic Doctors mission WE HELP THE BODY HEAL ITSELF. This is why our industry can have various ways to help a specific illness as each HELPS THE BODY HEAL ITSELF.

In conclusion: Price is part of your marketing strategy. Having lost leaders is part of retailing. My concern is if the major focus is on price Walmart will win in the end as they are the price leader. [at $250 billion they have a bit more buying power than all of us combined and then some…a lot of some]

I suggest you do an experiment. Take a product. Run an ad or flyer with a low price. Example Vitamin C regular 10 bucks now 5 bucks. Then later run an ad or send out a flyer and have it state the many benefits of Vitamin C as an article with a strong headline, how we need extra C in our diet to offset environmental poisons, etc. Then compare the results. I am confident the second ad will sell more at a higher margin, bring in more profit dollars and educate your communities on the real value of your store….for it is not as a discount house it is as the leader in prevention of major illness and encouraging optimal well being for the families living in our communities.

The community health food stores have a critical role [and I think responsibility] to play in the health of this massively aging country over many decades to come.