Wild Oats Private Label Vitamins, Supplements Go Online With ENutrition
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Vitamins, minerals and supplements sold at Wild Oats natural foods stores will be available online under an alliance with Web retailer eNutrition. The joint online store, www.wildoats.com, represents the bricks-and-mortar chain's first e-commerce push.
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Vitamins, minerals and supplements sold at Wild Oats natural foods stores will be available online under an alliance with Web retailer eNutrition. The joint online store, www.wildoats.com, represents the bricks-and-mortar chain's first e-commerce push. The company's current Web site, carrying the same URL, promises an "exciting, enhanced online shopping experience, premiering in the first quarter of 2000." Under the agreement announced Jan. 24, the joint online store will offer all Wild Oats private label supplements, as well as products from eNutrition's portfolio, which includes more than 8,000 vitamins, minerals, herbals, homeopathic remedies and sports nutritionals. Wild Oats private label products will be priced the same online as in retail stores. Some of the firm's branded products will be available through the site, depending upon the extent of brand duplication between Wild Oats and eNutrition. Wild Oats products also will be offered through eNutrition.com. Co-marketing efforts include promoting eNutrition in Wild Oats stores though bag stuffers, demonstration kiosks and discount cards. Wild Oats will make a $1.5 mil. equity investment in eNutrition and may earn additional equity through customer conversion programs, coordinated buying projects and co-marketing. ENutrition will record revenues from wildoats.com sales and will oversee product distribution and fulfillment. Wild Oats, which operates 107 stores in 22 states and British Columbia, anticipates overall vitamin/mineral/ supplement category sales of $120 mil.-$150 mil. in 2000. ENutrition predicts it could record $6 mil. in revenues in the first year of the agreement if 5% of the chain's customers convert to online purchasing. Launched in March 1999 with partial funding from Weider Health & Fitness, eNutrition also provides health information content. The firm says it generated more than $1 mil. in sales during the fourth quarter, that site visits more than doubled and that average monthly revenues increased approximately 185% compared to the previous seven months. ENutrition is developing an "eSeal" program for independent testing of products it sells to verify label content claims. |