The Vitamin Shoppe's Foot Traffic Data Shows A Major Downward Spike
The Vitamin Shoppe is a nutritional supplement retailer that sells everything from vitamins and minerals to protein powder and beauty products. According to Zippia, the store opened in 1977 and has over 700 stores across America today. The Vitamin Shoppe's motto, "lifelong wellness starts here" promises shoppers that their store is dedicated to "helping customers become their best selves," per their website. But the shop has seen its fair share of struggles in recent years, as personalized vitamin subscriptions have become increasingly popular, while others are more hesitant about unregulated vitamins on the market.
In the post-pandemic era, are people taking their vitamins and supplements each day? Foot traffic data shows they may not be. The List created a graph with exclusive data that tracked monthly foot traffic trends at The Vitamin Shoppe over the past two years, and the results are not looking good for the nutritional supplement retailer.
Many Americans are leaving vitamins and supplements off their shopping lists
According to The List's graph, The Vitamin Shoppe has seen a massive decline in shoppers in recent years. Prior to the pandemic, the retailer saw between 26,000 and 30,000 shoppers each month. In April 2020, visitor counts dropped drastically but mostly recovered the following summer. Foot traffic really began to drop in May 2022 and has not seen much upwards movement in recent months. This could be due to the rising inflation that is affecting millions of American consumers, who have to make hard cuts to their monthly spending (via NPR).
Per Financial Assets, The Vitamin Shoppe has seen a slight increase in consumer need for sleep aids and immune health products since the pandemic, but not enough to combat the immense decline in foot traffic the shop has seen since inflation began. In a recent interview with Fox Business, Vitamin Shoppe CEO Sharon Leite reflected on this year's inflation, saying, "There's no question that we have seen an issue in rising costs across our business." Noticing their downward trend in visitors, the retailer has made efforts to reach a younger crowd by opening stores around college campuses. As health care could soon be affected by inflation, as Politico reported, the store hopes to be a good alternative to health needs. Hopefully, young people will see the shop and remember that it's time to take their vitamins and supplements.