Vitamin World
Encyclopedia
Vitamin World is a manufacturer of vitamins and nutritional supplements distributed in retail stores in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Background information

Vitamin World was founded in 1960 by Arthur Rudolph, and is headquartered in Bohemia, New York. Vitamin World is subsidiary of NBTY
NBTY
NBTY, Inc., formerly known as Nature's Bounty, Inc., is a manufacturer of vitamins and nutritional supplements which are distributed under many third party brands in the United States and internationally. Its name was changed from Nature's Bounty, Inc. to NBTY, Inc...

 Inc. NBTY Manufactures and sells its products under the Vitamin World, Holland and Barett, and Puritans Pride labels. Vitamin Worlds are the North American retail stores, Holland and Barretts are the United Kingdom retail stores, and Puritans Pride is an online / catalog phone ordering division.

Most divisions sell similar products, but cater to different customer. Vitamin world sells many of their own supplements under the "Vitamin World", "Herbal Authority", and "Precision Engineered" brands. General vitamins and minerals are "Vitamin World" brand. Herbs, teas, and natural beauty products and sold under the "Herbal Authority" brand, and sports nutrition products are sold under the "Precision Engineered" brand. Vitamin World sells products from 3rd party vendors, the majority of which are sports nutrition products from big companies.

Recent changes

Through the end 2007 Vitamin World was a "bargain" supplement store, offering buy 1 get 1 half off and buy 1 get 1 free sales for all of their store brand items. Forcing stiff competition from internet bargain leaders, Vitamin World underwent a "format" change starting in Jan. 2008 when they adopted the "Get Healthy" slogan.

The "Get Healthy" days brought many changes to the stores: The store logo was redesigned from the green 1970's style lettering and changed to all blue letters on a white background. The "world" part of the logo changed from white and green to a gradient rainbow color-scheme. All bottle labels are re-designed featuring colorful new labels and see-through colored bottles that correspond to the category of supplement to which they belong. During this period prices were also raised. Vitamin World also offers a "Savings Passport" card to customers that requires a minimum purchase and gives cardholders discounts on most items.

Vitamin World's new Pricing Strategy has now positioned them slightly up-market. They are generally cheaper than General Nutrition Centers
General Nutrition Centers
General Nutrition Centers is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based American commercial enterprise focused on the retail sale of health and nutrition related products, including vitamins, supplements, minerals, herbs, sports nutrition, diet & energy products.-History:In 1935, David Shakarian opened a...

. In Mid 2008 Vitamin World also invested heavily in associate training in an attempt to increase customer satisfaction. This is referred to as the "Vitamin World Commitment". Along with the VWC, sales associates were given scripts to follow that word-by-word examples of how to execute the new customer service strategy.

Response to the restructuring varies heavily. Many customers who accustomed to bargain prices were upset Vitamin World no longer offers such large discounts. Many associates were unsure of the new scripted selling methods. Most customers and associates feel that the visual upgrades to the store and products were long overdue. Before the reformatting, most bottles and company promotional materials featured designs and styling that were visually reminiscent of 1980's products. In general, most stores are selling less units than before restructuring, but margins have greatly improved. Internal restructuring also occurred in this period: some management departments were eliminated and merged to shrink operating costs.

Reception

Vitamin World's Ultra Man Daily multivitamin was tested by ConsumerLab.com
ConsumerLab.com
ConsumerLab.com is a provider of independent test results and information to help consumers and healthcare professionals evaluate health, wellness, and nutrition products. ConsumerLab.com was founded in 1999. It is subscription fee based....

 in their Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review of 38 of the leading multivitamin/multimineral products sold in the U.S. and Canada. This multivitamin passed ConsumerLab's test, which included testing of selected index elements, their ability to disintegrate in solution per United States Pharmacopeia
United States Pharmacopeia
The United States Pharmacopeia is the official pharmacopeia of the United States, published dually with the National Formulary as the USP-NF. The United States Pharmacopeial Convention is the nonprofit organization that owns the trademark and copyright to the USP-NF and publishes it every year...

 guidelines, lead contamination threshold set in California Proposition 65, and meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

(FDA) labeling requirements.

The future

During the unstable economic environment of 2008 to 2011, many consumers cut back spending which is contrary to Vitamin World's strategy to price higher. Many Vitamin World customers are of the baby-boomer generation which analysts believe will have record-level spending on preventative health care and nutrition, as they approach seniority.
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