February 19, 2025 • 29 mins
Looking to revolutionize your retail strategy and create an unforgettable shopping experience? Discover the secrets of sensory marketing as Tina and Amanda explore how scents and music can transform consumer behavior in ways akin to a luxurious spa visit. From the increasing allure of adaptogenic and botanical-infused beverages reshaping traditional drinking habits to innovative practices like "dry January" and "dry June," this episode serves up fresh insights into how retailers can tap into these burgeoning trends to captivate consumers and boost sales.
Imagine a retail environment that not only attracts customers but also nurtures its employees. We discuss how the thoughtful use of coffee substitutes, essential oils, and music can invigorate shoppers and lead to more sales. The conversation dives into the world of retail psychology, exploring how understanding the preferences of both employees and customers is crucial for creating a welcoming and successful retail space. By aligning with their desires, businesses can enhance engagement and satisfaction across the board, making everyone’s shopping experience more enjoyable and meaningful.
Want to build a thriving community around your retail space? Learn about innovative strategies like offering prepaid cards for healthy meals and adopting a four-day work week to improve employee wellness and customer engagement. We unpack the benefits of financial wellness programs, community partnerships, and family-oriented initiatives like meal kits that reinforce stress-free, shared experiences. This episode equips retail business owners with actionable insights that align with evolving market trends and consumer expectations, ensuring a commitment to caring for both employees and customers while fostering long-lasting community connections.
Connect with us:
Email: info@naturalproductsmarketer.com
About Amanda Ballard
Amanda has worked in natural products marketing in the retail setting since 2016 and has a great understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that retailers in this industry face. More than anything, she wants this industry to continue to boom and believes much of that success hinges on the ability of retailers to do well in their businesses and market their products effectively.
About Tina Smith
Since 2014, Tina has worked with multiple natural products businesses, discovering how to market their CBD products online, without having their payment processor shut them down, to letting customers talk about their health issues those products have helped them solve. She knows first hand how experts like you offer the best products and a superior customer experience, that is why she is committed to helping you find an easy way to grow your natural product business.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tina Smith (00:00):
I mean there have been some good studies around
both music and scents, wherecertain scents will get you to
move forward or make purchasingdecisions.
There's a really famous onefrom Germany.
I'll find it and link it in theshow notes.
But if you can decide what vibeyou're wanting people to feel
(00:23):
when they come in the door andyou guys know this because spas
do it all the time it makes youfeel a certain way when they
have that music in thebackground.
Those sounds of like a forest,a rainforest or like bubbling
water in the background, andthey use scents very well to
either perk you up or calm youdown and make you feel relaxed.
(00:45):
Welcome to the Natural ProductsMarketer podcast.
I'm Tina.
Amanda Ballard (00:53):
And I'm Amanda, and we're here to make marketing
easier for natural productsbusinesses so you can reach more
people and change more lives.
Hey everyone, welcome back toNatural Products Marketer.
Today we are going to betalking about some retail trends
.
Now, my dear friend, tina, is adata nerd, and so she lives for
(01:16):
this kind of stuff.
I feel like the farmer'salmanac was made for her, so
this is the perfect thing forher to kind of take the lead on
and show some of the things thatshe found interesting, as she
was diving into a lot of thesetrends, and then we want to kind
of just look at what all ofthis really means for you guys.
So, tina, what are you seeing?
(01:38):
What was most interesting inthese trends that you were
seeing?
Tina Smith (01:42):
Okay, so some of these are from Farmers Almanac,
some of them from differentresearch reports like Deloitte,
and then others from Spins, andI just figured I've been looking
at these, this data and thesetrends, and I told you, Amanda,
I had little post it notes likeall in my notebook.
With every time I see one ofthese, I'm like jotting it down
(02:04):
and it makes me think of amillion different connections
that we can make for retailersor the product manufacturers and
natural products industry, andI figured we could sit and go
through at least some of them.
There's no way we're getting toall my little data nuggets
today, but we can go throughsome of them and say, all right,
it's been over six months ofthe year by the time this
(02:26):
podcast comes out.
It's going to be even furtherdown the road and the question
is like how much of this reallyhas held true, is holding true,
and what does that mean?
And how can you use this datain your retail store or in your
manufacturing facility to helpyou take advantage of the trends
that are coming our way andthat might be coming our way in
(02:48):
2025 as well?
So let's just dive in All right.
Amanda Ballard (02:53):
So what you got?
What's number one?
Tina Smith (02:55):
Yeah, so adaptogenic drinks this is from the Farmers
Almanac.
It was like something to watchBotanical infused beverages to
aid in relaxation without theuse of alcohol.
It feels to me like there isthis, or has been, a groundswell
around finding non-alcoholrelated beverages where you can
(03:18):
do celebrations and have a greattime without using alcohol.
The conversation then sort ofturned toward well, why are we
using alcohol?
And mostly it's to numb oranti-anxiety, and so I think
that's where the botanicalinfused ingredients started
(03:38):
coming into play.
So are there things that youcan use to help you relax?
I've seen a ton of these withlike magnesium in them, theanine
, which is another big productthat you and I were just talking
about, and other things to helpus just sort of calm down and
feel relaxed without having todrink alcohol.
(03:59):
I think this trend will continue.
I've seen adaptive drinksreally work in the retail
industries, especially sort ofon the way out.
If you've got those fridges onthe way out the door, they're an
extra basket ad.
I mean, you tell me, what areyou seeing in the retail stores?
Does that feel right?
Amanda Ballard (04:17):
Yeah, absolutely , and there's more and more
coming on the market and I thinkfor a long time a lot of
companies struggled with thetaste getting that right,
because some of those adaptogensdon't have the best flavor.
So I think there's been a bigimprovement in those types of
drinks in the past couple yearsand I think we're only going to
(04:38):
see that improve.
And just the idea of likemocktails in general, I know are
just becoming bigger and bigger.
We're seeing tons of uptick intraffic around mocktails on
different websites and I thinkyou know I had a lot of friends
participate in dry January andall sorts of things like that.
(04:59):
So I think that that trend isdefinitely here to stay.
Tina Smith (05:02):
Yeah.
And so here's when I look upkeyword research.
I'm a huge fan.
When I look up mocktails, itwas like the chart kind of goes.
It dipped a little bit and thenit spiked and now it's come
down a bit, but it's trendingback up again.
So all that means to me is thatthere's some variability in how
(05:24):
much people are talking aboutthings like mocktails.
I do think it spikes everyJanuary, but I also think that
we're having more things likedry June.
So people are either spreadingit out, substituting it for
another month, or they're saying, hey, I can do more than one
month, I can do January, I cando June, I can do July,
something like that, I can doJanuary, I can do June, I can do
(05:45):
July, something like that.
And they're adding to their drydays.
And then, of course, you've gotplenty of people who are just
going without.
So some of our friends at 221BCKombucha they're a great
non-alcoholic substitute,especially for social moments
and that sort of thing they'recoming out with mocktail recipes
(06:06):
all the time, which is great,and getting some traffic with
those online.
And I think what we're hearingfrom some of their customers is
hey, my husband drinks less, somaybe it's not about like
complete overtake of alcoholicbeverages, but you might drink
less if you're drinking some ofthese and if you have some of
(06:27):
those adaptogens or honestly,like 2-2-1 uses, botanicals
without adding any lab createdbotanicals to the recipes, and
things like lavender, which arejust normally calming.
And then you've got those otheradaptogen drinks that are
really adding magnesium ortheanine or something else like
(06:49):
that.
So you've got your completelynatural ones and then those that
are adding lab created things.
But again, I think, on your wayout, a quick cooler by the
register easy basket, add by theregister easy basket, ad and um
I you know, I think Alina at umMassDales was saying what a
great win that was by adding acooler with some of those
(07:13):
adaptogen beverages for peopleto pick up on their way out.
Super convenience item.
I think it works for sure, okay.
Amanda Ballard (07:22):
So next point um , our next trend I should say uh
is the willingness of people toshare medical data.
Tell me about this.
Tina Smith (07:32):
Yeah, so there was something again farmer's almanac
.
I love it.
42% of shoppers would sharesome medical data with grocers
in order to get foodrecommendations, and what I
think about that is like, hey, Ihave IBS, or I am gluten
sensitive, or there's some otherunderlying medical condition
(07:53):
that they're sharing with theirgrocers to get recommendations.
Oh, try this as a substitutefor that.
What I found interesting aboutthat is, even if you don't have
food in your supplement retailstore, people are willing to
share their information.
If you don't have food in yoursupplement retail store, people
are willing to share theirinformation if you give them a
valuable insight of somethingthat they can use or is helpful
(08:14):
to them.
So 42% of people are just readyto be open and transparent.
And you know, maybe you don'talways want that, but the truth
is that people are willing toshare their information.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe medical, but what they're
looking for is a way to offloadsome of this decision making
(08:34):
that feels really important, andthey don't want to have to make
those decisions by themselves,and they want trusted experts to
help them with that.
And that data comes directlyfrom Deloitte Fresh Food
Consumer Survey.
So I think this consultativeapproach that most of our
retailers have in their storesis everything that we thought it
(08:59):
would be.
It's a huge differentiator andconsumers will continue to ask
for suggestions, recommendationsand have an expert in the field
sort of help them make goodchoices.
Amanda Ballard (09:19):
Yeah, where he was talking about kind of like
cross merchandising, withouthaving to cross merchandise,
just by being able to do theseupsells and have these
conversations with a customer,where it's like, hey, maybe you
were sampling collagen that day.
And they're like, oh yeah, I'veseen something about like
collagen and coffee.
(09:39):
Does that actually work well?
Does that damage the collagen?
Maybe you can kind of explainhow that works but also be like,
hey, did you know that we havesome great organic coffee?
Just, it's the next aisle over,let me just walk you over there
.
It doesn't even have to be rightnext to them, but just having
those, those things in yourstore that are common.
(10:01):
Obviously you have to have thesquare footage and be able to
accommodate a lot of thosethings.
But even if you don't just belike, hey, you know we don't
have the space to accommodateall of the requests that we get
for food, but you know, here's abrand that we highly, highly
recommend and maybe we couldeven special order it for you if
(10:21):
we can get it at a better pricethan what you could get online
or something like that.
So I think, I think, just beingable to have those
conversations and be equip yourstaff with the knowledge that
they need to have thoseconversations.
Even if you don't have theproducts in your physical store.
Or they're right, they're notright next to you know, the
coffee and the collagen aren'tright next to each other.
Tina Smith (10:43):
It doesn't have to be that way you know, the coffee
and the collagen aren't rightnext to each other.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Yeah, and you know, speaking ofcoffee, my next stat is
completely around people whodrink a complimentary cup of
coffee, caffeinated coffee,before they shop spend more
money, they buy more items whilethey're in your store and I
think there's a couple of thingsthat are going on honestly.
(11:04):
But they did have a controlgroup for this, because they
also offered decaf coffee andwater and people that had that
caffeinated coffee spent moremoney and bought more product.
Um, I think there's a demoingeffect.
So if you demo something,you're more likely to buy it,
(11:24):
and I think having demos on aregular basis we make the
recommendation of, you know,once every two weeks, once a
week is ideal.
If you're demoing something,it's a reason for someone to get
off their couch and come intoyour store.
But also people usually there'sthey build bigger baskets
whenever you do my products, um,because they get that taste.
(11:46):
And then there's also that, um,that reciprocation that they
feel like you've given themsomething, so they need to give
you something going on there andthen, hey, you know, caffeine
will propel you forward to buythings.
So you know we were talkingabout it.
Maybe we shouldn't be drinkingso much coffee before we go on
(12:06):
our shopping spree.
Amanda Ballard (12:08):
Yeah, my, my, my bank account might thank me for
that.
So I might have to switch todecaf.
But don't switch to decaf ifyou're a retailer.
Tina Smith (12:16):
That's right and you know.
It just makes me think of, likethis bio coffee that a lot of
the retailers have, which is acoffee substitute, and I think,
even though it's not actuallycaffeinated, that it could be a
good thing to demo.
We have seen it demoed andstill increased sales overall.
(12:38):
So I think just demoing in thefirst place or hey, if you've
got some adaptogen drinks thathave energy in them, go ahead,
demo those and you might seesome bigger baskets accruing per
customer.
Amanda Ballard (12:57):
Yeah, and you know, there's something too
about coffee that made me thinkabout the second point.
Even people that don't likecoffee are attracted to the
smell of coffee, and so I don'tknow if there's something to
that.
But our next point was aboutpeople using scent styling
(13:17):
fragrances for rooms.
So I'm curious if that thatcoffee smell like draws people
in and how the kind of thescience of this aroma therapy
type stuff kind of plays intobuying decisions.
Tina Smith (13:32):
Yeah, both I mean there have been some good
studies around both music andscents, where certain scents
will get you to move forward ormake purchasing decisions.
There's a really famous onefrom Germany.
I'll find it and link it in theshow notes.
But if you can decide what vibeyou're wanting people to feel
(13:57):
when they come in the door andyou guys know this because spas
do it all the time it makes youfeel a certain way when they
have that music in thebackground.
Those sounds of like a forestor rainforest or like bubbling
water in the background, andthey use scents very well to
either perk you up or calm youdown and make you feel relaxed.
(14:19):
Try them out.
We do have clients, retailers,who do diffusers in their stores
every day, and a lot of timesthey're doing it for immunity.
But I think you could testdifferent fragrances and see
what wakes people up and getspeople's attention.
I'll tell you orange andlemongrass, those are two
(14:40):
flavors that perk people up andgets people's attention.
I'll tell you orange andlemongrass, those are two
flavors that perk people up andgive them extra energy.
So I would test that and thensee even cinnamon those
fragrances really get peoplemore alert versus having like a
lavender kind of smell going onthere where it starts to chill
you out.
I bet you're going to see morepurchases on the orange lemon
(15:02):
cinnamon flavor out.
I bet you're going to see morepurchases on the orange lemon
cinnamon flavor days.
Amanda Ballard (15:05):
And you know it's interesting, I actually
came across a company that, justlike their whole entire
business model, is sellingfragrances for retail locations
and they have almost like a likethis Febreze plugins.
They'll put them all over yourstore to just create whatever
(15:26):
custom smell you want.
So if you are in your bakeryand maybe you aren't baking, you
know your your homemade breadthat morning, you could still
have that homemade bread smellkind of simulated.
It was outrageously expensive.
So, um, but I think essentialoils are a great place to start
(15:46):
as just kind of an experiment onthat.
But, um, there definitely issomething to this whole scent
leading to purchase um idea.
Tina Smith (15:57):
Yeah, and this is intuitive and easy.
The reason it's easy is becausemost of the retailers carry
essential oils, so why not justuse them, cause you've got them
already?
But second, this is intuitivebecause you know when it's time
to sell your house.
What do they tell you?
Big fresh cookies.
Or half diffuse a scent in yourhome that makes it feel homey.
(16:21):
So, whatever that feelingyou're trying to, whatever vibe
you want your customers to feelas soon as they walk in that
store that makes them feel morelike oh, this is my place, this
is the place that aligns withwhat I'm trying to do right now.
I think those are the rightsense to try.
So in a home, of course, it'sbaked goods.
(16:41):
If you're trying to sell bakedgoods, it would be baked goods.
But think around those ideaslike what is going to most align
with what the customer wants orneeds right now and give it a
try.
I think it's a great idea.
Amanda Ballard (16:57):
Yeah.
So speaking of aligning likewants and needs, I think that's
kind of a good segue into thisnext set of trends that we found
about what workers are wantingout of their employers.
So what were some interestingthings that you saw in in these
reports?
Tina Smith (17:16):
Yeah.
So I love looking at whatworkers want, because workers
are just people.
So even if you don't have aworker which I can't imagine
running a retail store without aworker but if it's just you,
these are things your customerswant as well.
So I think you can use the datain that way, but definitely
you've got people that areworking for you.
If you're in a retail store, Ipray you do, and if you don't,
(17:40):
you're working towards thatright.
But what workers want?
Cards prepaid by the employer sothat they can have more healthy
meals on their own, orgroceries.
But if you're a retailer and youcarry food, there are
opportunities they just aboundfor you to give extra discounts
on food and groceries to youremployees and or give them cards
(18:02):
that are hey, shop at the store, and that way you're not losing
out anything on that.
It's money that's reinvestedright back into your store and
for your products.
And the other reason that thisis a good idea is because we
have found that the best way tosell product or to get your
employees to sell product inyour store is to let them try it
(18:25):
.
So this is a perfect way forthem to demo some of your meals
or grocery items as well.
But if not, look, they've gotthose boxes of prepared foods
and a prepaid card toward boxdelivered meals to their homes
could be a great way to showemployees that you care, to add
(18:46):
an extra benefit that you knowsomeone else doesn't have
somewhere else.
Employees want four day workweeks, which is interesting when
it comes to retail, because youguys are open six or seven days
a week and so that staffingbecomes very difficult.
I would love to know, ifanyone's implementing a four-day
(19:08):
work week in the retail storeand just how it works.
I'm sure it can be done, but Ibet it would be a pretty
difficult thing to do.
But I think that's true.
I would love a four-day workweek, honestly, and hey, if
you're listening to this vote,I'd love to hear from you Would
you love a four-day work week?
(19:29):
But the third thing that cameup in this survey was financial
wellness programs to help withretirement planning, budgeting,
debt management, investmentadvice.
And again I go back to yes, thisis something your workers want.
It will help them pay moreattention to your customers,
because if they're worried aboutlike debt or how they're going
(19:52):
to pay for their mortgage nextmonth, it's going to be very
difficult to concentrate oncustomer service.
But I think just your customersat large will want this, and
the reason I think this is cooland important is because these
are great ways to dopartnerships.
So even the prepaid boxes, mealboxes or a meal delivery
(20:15):
service or something like that,these are great ways for you to
pair with another brand orpartner with another brand and
say this is brought to you byInstacart and us.
Now, I don't know if Instacartis going to be really excited
about partnering with a smallretail store, maybe, but to
offer some kind of giveaway.
I think those are great ideas.
And financial wellness programshaving look, education events,
(20:39):
education events, educationevents they're a great way to
keep things fresh and happeningin your store.
And so financial wellness ifthat's something that your
employees want, it's somethingyour customers want too.
So just because they're notlike a nutritionist or an
acupuncturist or something likethat, doesn't mean that you
can't bring someone in, and I'msure there's an accounting firm
(21:00):
in your area that may not evenknow that you exist yet.
But if you were to say, hey,can you come educate my
employees and my customers I,they're going to find out about
your store.
They might tell their customersthat you're there and that
they're going to be doing aneducational event at your space,
and then you can have a wholenew group of people who never
(21:25):
even knew you existed, with onefinancial education class.
Amanda Ballard (21:29):
Right, and it could be just you know, we talk
about that one-to-many approachall the time of you know, if you
were to invite in, you know, aninvestment firm that's great at
financial planning and thingslike that, you could even set up
some sort of referral bonusLike, hey, every time you bring
someone into, every time you'rehaving a meeting with somebody
(21:52):
about their, their portfolio,it's like, hey, give them a 20%
off gift certificate to to thestore next time they come in,
and it can just be this naturalreferral source for you.
Tina Smith (22:05):
Yeah, so good.
I love one to manyopportunities, and when I say
one to many, it's three wordsand it's not T-O-O, it's not one
to many, it's one person bringsyou many people to your table,
and that's exactly what we'retalking about.
(22:25):
So we talk about these jointventures and partnerships all
the time, because gettingcustomer by customer by customer
is a way that you can grow.
It takes more money, moreeffort, more resources to make
that happen.
Versus you speak to one personwho tells a lot of people about
your business, your products,your services.
That is so much easier to bringin repeat customers over and
(22:50):
over and to fill your pipelineversus waiting on the one by one
, by one to pay off.
So we're always looking forthose opportunities.
We don't neglect the one to one, but we love the one to many
opportunities.
So educational events are onegreat way to partner with people
in your community and to showthe community that you care too.
(23:12):
So you're investing in thecommunity while you're also
finding these partnerships.
So she's a great way to dooutreach for sure.
Amanda Ballard (23:21):
Yeah, yeah.
And the next point I'm glad wekind of ended on community,
because I feel like most of theretailers that we're talking
with, and even thesemanufacturers that we're talking
with, they have a lot ofcommunity and family values.
And this next trend that we sawwas really, really interesting.
It said that 91% of familiesreport less stress after sharing
(23:42):
a meal together, and I feellike that's a huge thing that
these retailers in particularcan emphasize in their marketing
.
You know, if they're talkingabout less stress, you know,
obviously that's literally afree thing that you can do with
your family to help you loweryour stress levels.
So nice that they can offer youa tip without asking you to
(24:05):
spend any money.
But also, just if you havegroceries in your store, it's
like, hey, like, put togetherfamily meal kits, you know, put
together recipe cards for howyou could feed your family on a
budget.
We know we're talking aboutfinancial wellness.
And, you know, reducing stress,it's like here's a way to feed
your family for under 20 bucksand reduce stress, build your
(24:27):
bond, all of these things, allof the.
You know there's a way to feedyour family for under 20 bucks
and reduce stress.
Build your bond, all of thesethings, all of the you know
there's that there's afunctional medicine tree, and
I'm sure a lot of you arefamiliar with that concept.
But it's all about getting tothe root issues of of your
health, because at the end ofthe day, you're either not
sleeping, your relationships areout of whack you know something
(24:48):
along those lines, and I thinkthat relationships are such a
huge part of our health.
So I think that that's a really, really important thing that we
can focus on is just how areyour relationships?
How's your family life?
How's your you know, yourrelationship with your
significant other?
Is that leading to extra stressin your life?
(25:09):
How can we help you with that?
And I know a lot of our storesthat we work with that do these,
you know, consultations andhave that consultative approach
like they're asking thosequestions.
So I think this would be agreat thing to just add into
your toolbox of hey, just eatdinner with your family, mm-hmm.
Tina Smith (25:27):
Add into your toolbox of hey, just eat dinner
with your family, yeah, well,and since we were talking about,
workers want those prepaidcards or, you know, mailboxes,
all those things.
It's a great way to pull all ofthese pieces together.
You could even say 91% offamilies report less stress
after sharing a meal together.
Have a meal on us, you know.
(25:48):
Just wrap it all up and bringit back home to the fact that
you are trying to help peoplehave a well-rounded view of
their health and wellness andthat you care about their
relationships and theirconnections and the community
around you as much as you careabout making money off your
supplements or whatever it isthat drives your revenue.
(26:09):
And I think people will begrateful for that and they'll
feel like you care about themmore than you care about your
revenue.
And I think that's mostly true,anyway, for the types of
retailers that we work with, andthey're always looking for ways
to bring all these piecestogether.
This is just.
It feels like a really easy oneto share this data with people
(26:33):
and be like hey, here, here itis on us.
Yeah, I love that.
Okay, so I think we said wewere going to spend about half
an hour 20 minutes to half anhour going through data and look
, we got through maybe five orsix things on my list, and I can
(26:55):
go through so many more andwe'll do this again, for sure.
But I don't want to overwhelmpeople because I think they got
some really good tactics fromthe information that we just
shared.
Pulling all these piecestogether from the information
that we just shared.
Pulling all these piecestogether focusing on the people
part.
Of course, these are thingsworkers want, but they're just
(27:15):
people.
It's exactly what people allaround you want Focusing on that
full health and wellnesspicture and building community
and being the consultants thatare experts, that sort of take
the load off people makingdifficult decisions in their
life, because I think we allhave some decision fatigue for
(27:36):
sure, and so I think those are alot of tactics that people can
pull out and put into playimmediately.
And put into play immediatelyIf you do one thing that we've
talked about put a cooler rightin front of your register so
people can grab theseadaptogenic drinks on their way
(27:56):
out.
Get some 2-2-1 BC kombucha inyour store and plenty of other
brands as well that can fillthat cooler and people will grab
and go.
Amanda Ballard (28:06):
For sure It'll build bigger baskets on their
way out and give them caffeinewhen they walk in.
Tina Smith (28:13):
Oh yeah, lots of demos, lots of demos.
Amanda Ballard (28:17):
So you get a drink when you come in and get a
drink when you go out.
Tina Smith (28:20):
That's right.
If you give a small drink, whenthey come in, they will grab a
drink on their way out.
Small drink when they come in,they will grab a drink on their
way out.
So our goal here is to helppeople build their retail
business while they care forpeople, and so I think just
these few trends that we'retalking about, they're easy
(28:44):
things that you can implement totake advantage of the trends
that are happening naturallyaround you.
Amanda Ballard (28:49):
Thanks so much for listening to the Natural
Products Marketer Podcast.
We hope you found this episodeto be super helpful.
Make sure you check out theshow notes for any of those
valuable resources that wementioned on today's episode.
Tina Smith (29:00):
And, before you go, we would love for you to give us
a review.
Follow, like and subscribe onApple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
or wherever you're listeningtoday, and make sure you join us
for our next episode, where wegive you more marketing tips so
that you can reach more peopleand change more lives.
I mean there have been some good studies around
both music and scents, wherecertain scents will get you to
move forward or make purchasingdecisions.
There's a really famous onefrom Germany.
I'll find it and link it in theshow notes.
But if you can decide what vibeyou're wanting people to feel
(00:23):
when they come in the door andyou guys know this because spas
do it all the time it makes youfeel a certain way when they
have that music in thebackground.
Those sounds of like a forest,a rainforest or like bubbling
water in the background, andthey use scents very well to
either perk you up or calm youdown and make you feel relaxed.
(00:45):
Welcome to the Natural ProductsMarketer podcast.
I'm Tina.
Amanda Ballard (00:53):
And I'm Amanda, and we're here to make marketing
easier for natural productsbusinesses so you can reach more
people and change more lives.
Hey everyone, welcome back toNatural Products Marketer.
Today we are going to betalking about some retail trends
.
Now, my dear friend, tina, is adata nerd, and so she lives for
(01:16):
this kind of stuff.
I feel like the farmer'salmanac was made for her, so
this is the perfect thing forher to kind of take the lead on
and show some of the things thatshe found interesting, as she
was diving into a lot of thesetrends, and then we want to kind
of just look at what all ofthis really means for you guys.
So, tina, what are you seeing?
(01:38):
What was most interesting inthese trends that you were
seeing?
Tina Smith (01:42):
Okay, so some of these are from Farmers Almanac,
some of them from differentresearch reports like Deloitte,
and then others from Spins, andI just figured I've been looking
at these, this data and thesetrends, and I told you, Amanda,
I had little post it notes likeall in my notebook.
With every time I see one ofthese, I'm like jotting it down
(02:04):
and it makes me think of amillion different connections
that we can make for retailersor the product manufacturers and
natural products industry, andI figured we could sit and go
through at least some of them.
There's no way we're getting toall my little data nuggets
today, but we can go throughsome of them and say, all right,
it's been over six months ofthe year by the time this
(02:26):
podcast comes out.
It's going to be even furtherdown the road and the question
is like how much of this reallyhas held true, is holding true,
and what does that mean?
And how can you use this datain your retail store or in your
manufacturing facility to helpyou take advantage of the trends
that are coming our way andthat might be coming our way in
(02:48):
2025 as well?
So let's just dive in All right.
Amanda Ballard (02:53):
So what you got?
What's number one?
Tina Smith (02:55):
Yeah, so adaptogenic drinks this is from the Farmers
Almanac.
It was like something to watchBotanical infused beverages to
aid in relaxation without theuse of alcohol.
It feels to me like there isthis, or has been, a groundswell
around finding non-alcoholrelated beverages where you can
(03:18):
do celebrations and have a greattime without using alcohol.
The conversation then sort ofturned toward well, why are we
using alcohol?
And mostly it's to numb oranti-anxiety, and so I think
that's where the botanicalinfused ingredients started
(03:38):
coming into play.
So are there things that youcan use to help you relax?
I've seen a ton of these withlike magnesium in them, theanine
, which is another big productthat you and I were just talking
about, and other things to helpus just sort of calm down and
feel relaxed without having todrink alcohol.
(03:59):
I think this trend will continue.
I've seen adaptive drinksreally work in the retail
industries, especially sort ofon the way out.
If you've got those fridges onthe way out the door, they're an
extra basket ad.
I mean, you tell me, what areyou seeing in the retail stores?
Does that feel right?
Amanda Ballard (04:17):
Yeah, absolutely , and there's more and more
coming on the market and I thinkfor a long time a lot of
companies struggled with thetaste getting that right,
because some of those adaptogensdon't have the best flavor.
So I think there's been a bigimprovement in those types of
drinks in the past couple yearsand I think we're only going to
(04:38):
see that improve.
And just the idea of likemocktails in general, I know are
just becoming bigger and bigger.
We're seeing tons of uptick intraffic around mocktails on
different websites and I thinkyou know I had a lot of friends
participate in dry January andall sorts of things like that.
(04:59):
So I think that that trend isdefinitely here to stay.
Tina Smith (05:02):
Yeah.
And so here's when I look upkeyword research.
I'm a huge fan.
When I look up mocktails, itwas like the chart kind of goes.
It dipped a little bit and thenit spiked and now it's come
down a bit, but it's trendingback up again.
So all that means to me is thatthere's some variability in how
(05:24):
much people are talking aboutthings like mocktails.
I do think it spikes everyJanuary, but I also think that
we're having more things likedry June.
So people are either spreadingit out, substituting it for
another month, or they're saying, hey, I can do more than one
month, I can do January, I cando June, I can do July,
something like that, I can doJanuary, I can do June, I can do
(05:45):
July, something like that.
And they're adding to their drydays.
And then, of course, you've gotplenty of people who are just
going without.
So some of our friends at 221BCKombucha they're a great
non-alcoholic substitute,especially for social moments
and that sort of thing they'recoming out with mocktail recipes
(06:06):
all the time, which is great,and getting some traffic with
those online.
And I think what we're hearingfrom some of their customers is
hey, my husband drinks less, somaybe it's not about like
complete overtake of alcoholicbeverages, but you might drink
less if you're drinking some ofthese and if you have some of
(06:27):
those adaptogens or honestly,like 2-2-1 uses, botanicals
without adding any lab createdbotanicals to the recipes, and
things like lavender, which arejust normally calming.
And then you've got those otheradaptogen drinks that are
really adding magnesium ortheanine or something else like
(06:49):
that.
So you've got your completelynatural ones and then those that
are adding lab created things.
But again, I think, on your wayout, a quick cooler by the
register easy basket, add by theregister easy basket, ad and um
I you know, I think Alina at umMassDales was saying what a
great win that was by adding acooler with some of those
(07:13):
adaptogen beverages for peopleto pick up on their way out.
Super convenience item.
I think it works for sure, okay.
Amanda Ballard (07:22):
So next point um , our next trend I should say uh
is the willingness of people toshare medical data.
Tell me about this.
Tina Smith (07:32):
Yeah, so there was something again farmer's almanac
.
I love it.
42% of shoppers would sharesome medical data with grocers
in order to get foodrecommendations, and what I
think about that is like, hey, Ihave IBS, or I am gluten
sensitive, or there's some otherunderlying medical condition
(07:53):
that they're sharing with theirgrocers to get recommendations.
Oh, try this as a substitutefor that.
What I found interesting aboutthat is, even if you don't have
food in your supplement retailstore, people are willing to
share their information.
If you don't have food in yoursupplement retail store, people
are willing to share theirinformation if you give them a
valuable insight of somethingthat they can use or is helpful
(08:14):
to them.
So 42% of people are just readyto be open and transparent.
And you know, maybe you don'talways want that, but the truth
is that people are willing toshare their information.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe medical, but what they're
looking for is a way to offloadsome of this decision making
(08:34):
that feels really important, andthey don't want to have to make
those decisions by themselves,and they want trusted experts to
help them with that.
And that data comes directlyfrom Deloitte Fresh Food
Consumer Survey.
So I think this consultativeapproach that most of our
retailers have in their storesis everything that we thought it
(08:59):
would be.
It's a huge differentiator andconsumers will continue to ask
for suggestions, recommendationsand have an expert in the field
sort of help them make goodchoices.
Amanda Ballard (09:19):
Yeah, where he was talking about kind of like
cross merchandising, withouthaving to cross merchandise,
just by being able to do theseupsells and have these
conversations with a customer,where it's like, hey, maybe you
were sampling collagen that day.
And they're like, oh yeah, I'veseen something about like
collagen and coffee.
(09:39):
Does that actually work well?
Does that damage the collagen?
Maybe you can kind of explainhow that works but also be like,
hey, did you know that we havesome great organic coffee?
Just, it's the next aisle over,let me just walk you over there
.
It doesn't even have to be rightnext to them, but just having
those, those things in yourstore that are common.
(10:01):
Obviously you have to have thesquare footage and be able to
accommodate a lot of thosethings.
But even if you don't just belike, hey, you know we don't
have the space to accommodateall of the requests that we get
for food, but you know, here's abrand that we highly, highly
recommend and maybe we couldeven special order it for you if
(10:21):
we can get it at a better pricethan what you could get online
or something like that.
So I think, I think, just beingable to have those
conversations and be equip yourstaff with the knowledge that
they need to have thoseconversations.
Even if you don't have theproducts in your physical store.
Or they're right, they're notright next to you know, the
coffee and the collagen aren'tright next to each other.
Tina Smith (10:43):
It doesn't have to be that way you know, the coffee
and the collagen aren't rightnext to each other.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Yeah, and you know, speaking ofcoffee, my next stat is
completely around people whodrink a complimentary cup of
coffee, caffeinated coffee,before they shop spend more
money, they buy more items whilethey're in your store and I
think there's a couple of thingsthat are going on honestly.
(11:04):
But they did have a controlgroup for this, because they
also offered decaf coffee andwater and people that had that
caffeinated coffee spent moremoney and bought more product.
Um, I think there's a demoingeffect.
So if you demo something,you're more likely to buy it,
(11:24):
and I think having demos on aregular basis we make the
recommendation of, you know,once every two weeks, once a
week is ideal.
If you're demoing something,it's a reason for someone to get
off their couch and come intoyour store.
But also people usually there'sthey build bigger baskets
whenever you do my products, um,because they get that taste.
(11:46):
And then there's also that, um,that reciprocation that they
feel like you've given themsomething, so they need to give
you something going on there andthen, hey, you know, caffeine
will propel you forward to buythings.
So you know we were talkingabout it.
Maybe we shouldn't be drinkingso much coffee before we go on
(12:06):
our shopping spree.
Amanda Ballard (12:08):
Yeah, my, my, my bank account might thank me for
that.
So I might have to switch todecaf.
But don't switch to decaf ifyou're a retailer.
Tina Smith (12:16):
That's right and you know.
It just makes me think of, likethis bio coffee that a lot of
the retailers have, which is acoffee substitute, and I think,
even though it's not actuallycaffeinated, that it could be a
good thing to demo.
We have seen it demoed andstill increased sales overall.
(12:38):
So I think just demoing in thefirst place or hey, if you've
got some adaptogen drinks thathave energy in them, go ahead,
demo those and you might seesome bigger baskets accruing per
customer.
Amanda Ballard (12:57):
Yeah, and you know, there's something too
about coffee that made me thinkabout the second point.
Even people that don't likecoffee are attracted to the
smell of coffee, and so I don'tknow if there's something to
that.
But our next point was aboutpeople using scent styling
(13:17):
fragrances for rooms.
So I'm curious if that thatcoffee smell like draws people
in and how the kind of thescience of this aroma therapy
type stuff kind of plays intobuying decisions.
Tina Smith (13:32):
Yeah, both I mean there have been some good
studies around both music andscents, where certain scents
will get you to move forward ormake purchasing decisions.
There's a really famous onefrom Germany.
I'll find it and link it in theshow notes.
But if you can decide what vibeyou're wanting people to feel
(13:57):
when they come in the door andyou guys know this because spas
do it all the time it makes youfeel a certain way when they
have that music in thebackground.
Those sounds of like a forestor rainforest or like bubbling
water in the background, andthey use scents very well to
either perk you up or calm youdown and make you feel relaxed.
(14:19):
Try them out.
We do have clients, retailers,who do diffusers in their stores
every day, and a lot of timesthey're doing it for immunity.
But I think you could testdifferent fragrances and see
what wakes people up and getspeople's attention.
I'll tell you orange andlemongrass, those are two
(14:40):
flavors that perk people up andgets people's attention.
I'll tell you orange andlemongrass, those are two
flavors that perk people up andgive them extra energy.
So I would test that and thensee even cinnamon those
fragrances really get peoplemore alert versus having like a
lavender kind of smell going onthere where it starts to chill
you out.
I bet you're going to see morepurchases on the orange lemon
(15:02):
cinnamon flavor out.
I bet you're going to see morepurchases on the orange lemon
cinnamon flavor days.
Amanda Ballard (15:05):
And you know it's interesting, I actually
came across a company that, justlike their whole entire
business model, is sellingfragrances for retail locations
and they have almost like a likethis Febreze plugins.
They'll put them all over yourstore to just create whatever
(15:26):
custom smell you want.
So if you are in your bakeryand maybe you aren't baking, you
know your your homemade breadthat morning, you could still
have that homemade bread smellkind of simulated.
It was outrageously expensive.
So, um, but I think essentialoils are a great place to start
(15:46):
as just kind of an experiment onthat.
But, um, there definitely issomething to this whole scent
leading to purchase um idea.
Tina Smith (15:57):
Yeah, and this is intuitive and easy.
The reason it's easy is becausemost of the retailers carry
essential oils, so why not justuse them, cause you've got them
already?
But second, this is intuitivebecause you know when it's time
to sell your house.
What do they tell you?
Big fresh cookies.
Or half diffuse a scent in yourhome that makes it feel homey.
(16:21):
So, whatever that feelingyou're trying to, whatever vibe
you want your customers to feelas soon as they walk in that
store that makes them feel morelike oh, this is my place, this
is the place that aligns withwhat I'm trying to do right now.
I think those are the rightsense to try.
So in a home, of course, it'sbaked goods.
(16:41):
If you're trying to sell bakedgoods, it would be baked goods.
But think around those ideaslike what is going to most align
with what the customer wants orneeds right now and give it a
try.
I think it's a great idea.
Amanda Ballard (16:57):
Yeah.
So speaking of aligning likewants and needs, I think that's
kind of a good segue into thisnext set of trends that we found
about what workers are wantingout of their employers.
So what were some interestingthings that you saw in in these
reports?
Tina Smith (17:16):
Yeah.
So I love looking at whatworkers want, because workers
are just people.
So even if you don't have aworker which I can't imagine
running a retail store without aworker but if it's just you,
these are things your customerswant as well.
So I think you can use the datain that way, but definitely
you've got people that areworking for you.
If you're in a retail store, Ipray you do, and if you don't,
(17:40):
you're working towards thatright.
But what workers want?
Cards prepaid by the employer sothat they can have more healthy
meals on their own, orgroceries.
But if you're a retailer and youcarry food, there are
opportunities they just aboundfor you to give extra discounts
on food and groceries to youremployees and or give them cards
(18:02):
that are hey, shop at the store, and that way you're not losing
out anything on that.
It's money that's reinvestedright back into your store and
for your products.
And the other reason that thisis a good idea is because we
have found that the best way tosell product or to get your
employees to sell product inyour store is to let them try it
(18:25):
.
So this is a perfect way forthem to demo some of your meals
or grocery items as well.
But if not, look, they've gotthose boxes of prepared foods
and a prepaid card toward boxdelivered meals to their homes
could be a great way to showemployees that you care, to add
(18:46):
an extra benefit that you knowsomeone else doesn't have
somewhere else.
Employees want four day workweeks, which is interesting when
it comes to retail, because youguys are open six or seven days
a week and so that staffingbecomes very difficult.
I would love to know, ifanyone's implementing a four-day
(19:08):
work week in the retail storeand just how it works.
I'm sure it can be done, but Ibet it would be a pretty
difficult thing to do.
But I think that's true.
I would love a four-day workweek, honestly, and hey, if
you're listening to this vote,I'd love to hear from you Would
you love a four-day work week?
(19:29):
But the third thing that cameup in this survey was financial
wellness programs to help withretirement planning, budgeting,
debt management, investmentadvice.
And again I go back to yes, thisis something your workers want.
It will help them pay moreattention to your customers,
because if they're worried aboutlike debt or how they're going
(19:52):
to pay for their mortgage nextmonth, it's going to be very
difficult to concentrate oncustomer service.
But I think just your customersat large will want this, and
the reason I think this is cooland important is because these
are great ways to dopartnerships.
So even the prepaid boxes, mealboxes or a meal delivery
(20:15):
service or something like that,these are great ways for you to
pair with another brand orpartner with another brand and
say this is brought to you byInstacart and us.
Now, I don't know if Instacartis going to be really excited
about partnering with a smallretail store, maybe, but to
offer some kind of giveaway.
I think those are great ideas.
And financial wellness programshaving look, education events,
(20:39):
education events, educationevents they're a great way to
keep things fresh and happeningin your store.
And so financial wellness ifthat's something that your
employees want, it's somethingyour customers want too.
So just because they're notlike a nutritionist or an
acupuncturist or something likethat, doesn't mean that you
can't bring someone in, and I'msure there's an accounting firm
(21:00):
in your area that may not evenknow that you exist yet.
But if you were to say, hey,can you come educate my
employees and my customers I,they're going to find out about
your store.
They might tell their customersthat you're there and that
they're going to be doing aneducational event at your space,
and then you can have a wholenew group of people who never
(21:25):
even knew you existed, with onefinancial education class.
Amanda Ballard (21:29):
Right, and it could be just you know, we talk
about that one-to-many approachall the time of you know, if you
were to invite in, you know, aninvestment firm that's great at
financial planning and thingslike that, you could even set up
some sort of referral bonusLike, hey, every time you bring
someone into, every time you'rehaving a meeting with somebody
(21:52):
about their, their portfolio,it's like, hey, give them a 20%
off gift certificate to to thestore next time they come in,
and it can just be this naturalreferral source for you.
Tina Smith (22:05):
Yeah, so good.
I love one to manyopportunities, and when I say
one to many, it's three wordsand it's not T-O-O, it's not one
to many, it's one person bringsyou many people to your table,
and that's exactly what we'retalking about.
(22:25):
So we talk about these jointventures and partnerships all
the time, because gettingcustomer by customer by customer
is a way that you can grow.
It takes more money, moreeffort, more resources to make
that happen.
Versus you speak to one personwho tells a lot of people about
your business, your products,your services.
That is so much easier to bringin repeat customers over and
(22:50):
over and to fill your pipelineversus waiting on the one by one
, by one to pay off.
So we're always looking forthose opportunities.
We don't neglect the one to one, but we love the one to many
opportunities.
So educational events are onegreat way to partner with people
in your community and to showthe community that you care too.
(23:12):
So you're investing in thecommunity while you're also
finding these partnerships.
So she's a great way to dooutreach for sure.
Amanda Ballard (23:21):
Yeah, yeah.
And the next point I'm glad wekind of ended on community,
because I feel like most of theretailers that we're talking
with, and even thesemanufacturers that we're talking
with, they have a lot ofcommunity and family values.
And this next trend that we sawwas really, really interesting.
It said that 91% of familiesreport less stress after sharing
(23:42):
a meal together, and I feellike that's a huge thing that
these retailers in particularcan emphasize in their marketing
.
You know, if they're talkingabout less stress, you know,
obviously that's literally afree thing that you can do with
your family to help you loweryour stress levels.
So nice that they can offer youa tip without asking you to
(24:05):
spend any money.
But also, just if you havegroceries in your store, it's
like, hey, like, put togetherfamily meal kits, you know, put
together recipe cards for howyou could feed your family on a
budget.
We know we're talking aboutfinancial wellness.
And, you know, reducing stress,it's like here's a way to feed
your family for under 20 bucksand reduce stress, build your
(24:27):
bond, all of these things, allof the.
You know there's a way to feedyour family for under 20 bucks
and reduce stress.
Build your bond, all of thesethings, all of the you know
there's that there's afunctional medicine tree, and
I'm sure a lot of you arefamiliar with that concept.
But it's all about getting tothe root issues of of your
health, because at the end ofthe day, you're either not
sleeping, your relationships areout of whack you know something
(24:48):
along those lines, and I thinkthat relationships are such a
huge part of our health.
So I think that that's a really, really important thing that we
can focus on is just how areyour relationships?
How's your family life?
How's your you know, yourrelationship with your
significant other?
Is that leading to extra stressin your life?
(25:09):
How can we help you with that?
And I know a lot of our storesthat we work with that do these,
you know, consultations andhave that consultative approach
like they're asking thosequestions.
So I think this would be agreat thing to just add into
your toolbox of hey, just eatdinner with your family, mm-hmm.
Tina Smith (25:27):
Add into your toolbox of hey, just eat dinner
with your family, yeah, well,and since we were talking about,
workers want those prepaidcards or, you know, mailboxes,
all those things.
It's a great way to pull all ofthese pieces together.
You could even say 91% offamilies report less stress
after sharing a meal together.
Have a meal on us, you know.
(25:48):
Just wrap it all up and bringit back home to the fact that
you are trying to help peoplehave a well-rounded view of
their health and wellness andthat you care about their
relationships and theirconnections and the community
around you as much as you careabout making money off your
supplements or whatever it isthat drives your revenue.
(26:09):
And I think people will begrateful for that and they'll
feel like you care about themmore than you care about your
revenue.
And I think that's mostly true,anyway, for the types of
retailers that we work with, andthey're always looking for ways
to bring all these piecestogether.
This is just.
It feels like a really easy oneto share this data with people
(26:33):
and be like hey, here, here itis on us.
Yeah, I love that.
Okay, so I think we said wewere going to spend about half
an hour 20 minutes to half anhour going through data and look
, we got through maybe five orsix things on my list, and I can
(26:55):
go through so many more andwe'll do this again, for sure.
But I don't want to overwhelmpeople because I think they got
some really good tactics fromthe information that we just
shared.
Pulling all these piecestogether from the information
that we just shared.
Pulling all these piecestogether focusing on the people
part.
Of course, these are thingsworkers want, but they're just
(27:15):
people.
It's exactly what people allaround you want Focusing on that
full health and wellnesspicture and building community
and being the consultants thatare experts, that sort of take
the load off people makingdifficult decisions in their
life, because I think we allhave some decision fatigue for
(27:36):
sure, and so I think those are alot of tactics that people can
pull out and put into playimmediately.
And put into play immediatelyIf you do one thing that we've
talked about put a cooler rightin front of your register so
people can grab theseadaptogenic drinks on their way
(27:56):
out.
Get some 2-2-1 BC kombucha inyour store and plenty of other
brands as well that can fillthat cooler and people will grab
and go.
Amanda Ballard (28:06):
For sure It'll build bigger baskets on their
way out and give them caffeinewhen they walk in.
Tina Smith (28:13):
Oh yeah, lots of demos, lots of demos.
Amanda Ballard (28:17):
So you get a drink when you come in and get a
drink when you go out.
Tina Smith (28:20):
That's right.
If you give a small drink, whenthey come in, they will grab a
drink on their way out.
Small drink when they come in,they will grab a drink on their
way out.
So our goal here is to helppeople build their retail
business while they care forpeople, and so I think just
these few trends that we'retalking about, they're easy
(28:44):
things that you can implement totake advantage of the trends
that are happening naturallyaround you.
Amanda Ballard (28:49):
Thanks so much for listening to the Natural
Products Marketer Podcast.
We hope you found this episodeto be super helpful.
Make sure you check out theshow notes for any of those
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