Wild Oats: Shopping for Partners

All merchandising materials at the 101 stores in the Wild Oats Markets Inc. system "reflect our brand identity, colors, font and voice," says Sonja Tuitele, director of corporate communications for the Boulder, Colo.-based natural food retailer. "We want a very consistent look throughout the store, so it's rare that we use vendor supplied materials unless it's a special program."Even then, however, vendors must deliver more than generic pole toppers and static clings to partner with Wild Oats on in-store programs. "All of our promotional programs focus on educating the consumer, providing them with valuable information whether nutritional or ecological, and typically inviting them to take some action," Tuitele explains. "If you look around our stores, you'll see most of the communications are less about item and price and more about giving back and supporting local communities and environmental programs. Our vendors tend to be activist-oriented, however, so it's not difficult for us to come together on a program."For one recent vendor-supported in-store promotion, Wild Oats partnered with Natural Touch, a brand of soy patties owned by Kellogg Co., on a tree-donation program. Supporting materials included freezer clings with information about Natural Touch and the tree donation with each purchase. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was another recent partner in a program that educated consumers about fair-trade practices with coffee-producing countries. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Green Mountain bulk coffees went to community programs in those countries. "We did all new in-store display materials for the program, which were created by our in-house design team to fit the needs of both the Wild Oats and Green Mountain brands," Tuitele says.Such programs have proven successful for Wild Oats, and company management hopes to do more co-promotions with vendors, according to Tuitele. In fact, Wild Oats is considering creating a vendor relations position to field the increasing number of requests from suppliers to co-promote and also develop programs. "We see this as a valuable type of activity and would like to do several promotions throughout the store on a regular basis," Tuitele notes.

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