NPEW 2017

If you're a local community retailer, we invite you to join us for three hours of action-packed, retail-specific education at Expo West! By attending the Local Community Retail Summit, you'll learn a lot in a short amount of time while also developing new relationships with your peers.  So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and prepare to engage! We've packed this Retail Summit with a fast-paced agenda that includes presentations, networking, an inspiring keynote, and an executive roundtable.  Agenda 9:00 - 9:10am       Welcome 9:10 - 10:10am     Presentations Pricing: For decades the natural products industry focused on the features, benefits and quality of what it sold. While those are still our hallmarks, more and more conversations are about price.  We can’t ignore the economic reality of many current and potential customers, but our independent retail stores have tremendous disadvantages when the focus turns to price.  We will visit what is driving this focus on price and realistic moves that can be taken in light of it. Bill Crawford, Crawford Solutions Minimum Wage: Payroll is a tricky subject. On the surface, the idea of paying less to increase profits makes sense.  But if you desire more productive, customer-service oriented, long-term employees, then being pro-active about wage issues can be of great value. The minimum wage issue is "out there" in a big way in the media, so here are some thoughts on the issue, and ideas for how to strategically think about voluntary or mandatory wage changes in a way that positively impacts your retail business and staff. Michael Kanter, Cambridge Naturals Local: Local is becoming more and more important in the food world. Is it because local can be easier for customers to understand? We have found supporting local gives us a unique advantage over the big chain stores. Your commitment to local provides several benefits to your customers and your community plus it keeps the dollars in your neighborhood. For us supporting local meets two of our core principles, supporting our community and being stewards of our planet. Be transparent and tell a true story about why you support local products and how you define them. Bart Yablonsky, Dawson's Market Gluten Free: Are you making your gluten free and food allergy customers sick? Of course natural products retailers are expected to seek out and sell the best new products for their customers, but explicitly or implicitly, you’re also expected to adequately vet the products offered on your shelves. Recent changes in food labeling, independent certifications, and use of monikers like “natural” are being complicated further by the rapid influx of so many new products in the free from and specialty diet marketplace. When your customers believe you’re shopping on their behalf, many don’t do their own homework in selecting products off of the shelf for their families. We’ll cover the surprisingly questionable safety of products many assume are reliable staples for their gluten free and food allergy customers, and we’ll discuss ways to protect these customers, educate them and endear them to your business. Jules Shepard, gfjules 10:10 - 10:30am   Networking & Coffee Break 10:30 - 11:15am   Keynote: What Are We So Afraid Of?  Michelle Poler, Hello Fears 11:15 - 12:00pm   Executive Roundtable: How to Differentiate in a Competitive Retail Market Christine Kapperman, Natural Foods Merchandiser  Danielle Vogel, Glen's Garden Market Steven Petusevsky, The Culinary Institute of America Matt Ryan, Independent Natural Food Retailers Association (INFRA) As a natural products retailer, you are a changemaker and one of the many leaders driving increased consumer access to education and better-for-you healthy products. The education presented during this Summit will help you to continue driving industry change by showcasing retail best-practices and it will help you to uncover new ways to excel, differentiate, and innovate at your store. Relevant New Hope Content Natural retail channel remains core to natural products industry