News
Solgar takes education online
17.12.08
Solgar has launched a new educational service for retailers online.
The Solgar Academy Portal provides the independent health food trade with up-to-date information, research and knowledge.
Features on the website, found at www.solgaracademy.com, includes the latest Solgar educational news, nutrition updates, a forum to ask questions or join a discussion, and links to nutrition sources. Solgar is also making its educational resources such as manuals, presentations and lectures available on the site, as well as access to the Solgar Gold Training Course.
An exciting addition for the future will be webinars, in which retailers can participate in seminars delivered over the website using video conferencing.
To access the site retailers need a username and password, which can be obtained by calling the technical department on 01442 890355 or emailing Alice Bradshaw at bradsha@solgar.com
Royal praises industry manufacturer
17.12.08
Prince Charles reaffirmed his support of complementary healthcare during a visit to Nelsons.
HRH The Prince of Wales was guest of honour at the company’s recent open day, where he was given a tour of the manufacturing facility in Wimbledon, south-west London.
During a speech made during the visit, the Prince of Wales commented: “My sympathies are with The Duchess as she is not feeling well today, she obviously has not taken enough Nelsons products!
“I’ve grown up with complementary medicine so it is a pleasure to visit their manufacturing facility to see how they are leading the way to integrate natural and conventional healthcare.”
Company Chairman, Robert Wilson, said afterwards: “We are greatly honoured His Royal Highness has expressed an interest in visiting our manufacturing facility and to make time in his busy schedule in the run up to Christmas to do this.”
Campaign against Lisbon Treaty gathers pace
17.12.08
Irish campaigners have further pressured Euro MPs to respect their opposition of the Lisbon Treaty.
A contingent of campaign groups from Ireland, including the Irish Association of Health Stores, took the opportunity during a recent European Council meeting to highlight the damage it believes the Treaty would do to the VMS sector, as well as the farming community.
The campaign groups, along with Irish MEP Kathy Sinnott, argue that the Treaty would mean the country has even less influence over both European legislation and its own health and nutrition.
IAHS President Jill Bell said: “Last year over 60,000 consumers in Ireland signed a petition objecting to over-regulation by the EU, which threatens to remove from public sale the majority of effective natural health supplements on the market and to stifle innovation.
“The EU should respect differences of tradition between Member States. Its attempts to impose sameness overall, specifically in relation to natural healthcare, will win no friends if the Lisbon Treaty referendum is re-run.”
Paul Anthony Taylor, Co-ordinator of the European Referendum Initiative, said Ireland was “by no means alone” in not ratifying the Treaty.
“I find it particularly ironic that despite German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, having appealed to the Irish people to vote yes to the Lisbon Treaty, even her own Government has not yet been able to ratify it,” he said.
“Without doubt, had citizens in all 27 Member States been permitted to exercise their democratic rights by voting in referendums on this treaty, it would have been abandoned long ago.”
Organic growth forecast for slowdown
03.12.08
The credit crunch is expected to hit the growth of the organic market with more than half of followers expected to seek out cheaper alternatives.
Market analysts Mintel has predicted that the economic climate will force 48 per cent of organic shoppers to reduce or even give up shopping for such products next year.
Analysts are forecasting a slowdown in growth of the market, which has increased by an average of 16 per cent between 2003 to 2008 and is currently valued at £1.6 billion.
Mintel’s research also revealed that when consumers are making ethical choices with their shopping, organic ranks at 21 per cent of shoppers, lower than both locally sourced goods, which comes in at 33 per cent, and fairtrade, at 26 per cent.
It seems that the growth in organic is being replaced by locally sourced produce, which is now worth £4.8 billion.
Mintel’s Director of Retail and Financial Research, Richard Perks, commented:
“On top of the effects of the financial problems, organic food is facing increasing competition from other ethical choices including welfare, fair trade and locally sourced foods.
“Now, more than ever, retailers and suppliers need to clearly communicate the ethical, environmental and personal benefits of buying organic.”
Prestigious accolade for Fairtrade chief
03.12.08
The businesswoman who has transformed the Fairtrade movement into a multi million pound market has been decorated with a national award.
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director at the Fairtrade Foundation, has won the Credit Suisse Award for Outstanding Woman in Business at the National Business Awards.
Harriet was up against eight leading businesswoman, eventually being named the winner in recognition of her leadership in guiding the foundation through “a period of staggering growth”.
Harriet’s background is in international development issues and she joined the Fairtrade Foundation in 2001 from the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation. During that time, Harriet, who has a CBE, has taken the organisation from a market worth £30m to one now valued at £493m. She has also written a successful book, Fighting the Banana War and Other Fairtrade Battles, detailing the rise of Fairtrade.
In accepting the award, Harriet paid tribute to the hundreds of businesses around the world who make Fairtrade happen.
“Fairtrade is a successful business model showing that you can put social and environmental considerations first and still succeed commercially,” she said.
“Driven by millions of consumers who make it their business to choose Fairtrade, we have seen a seismic shift over the last few years. And with their help, we will be able to grow the Fairtrade market much further still and make a difference to the lives of millions more people who are still earning less than $2 a day."
Retailer invests in training courtesy of HFB
03.12.08
A health food shop is able to enrol staff on training courses after winning a competition run by Health Food Business.
All retailers who contributed their views to this year’s HFB reader survey were entered into a draw to win hundreds of pounds worth of training vouchers from the Health Food Institute.
Broadstairs Herbal Apothecary was the store picked from the hat, and Manager and Herbalist Patina Blakeney was delighted to receive the vouchers.
“It’s special because as a small shop I couldn’t afford to send everyone on training so I try to do it all myself but there’s so much to teach and it needs to come from an outside source,” she said.
“I think this will be valuable to my employees and something that they will always remember, something they can take to any job, not just mine.”
Pukka learning
03.12.08
The people at Pukka Herbs have launched a new training programme to educate people about Ayurveda.
Pukka Herbal Director, Sebastian Pole, has developed a distance-learning programme, Introduction to Ayurveda, which comprises 14 modules and takes 100 hours to complete.
The syllabus gives students an insight into the Ayurvedic approach to disease prevention, common health complaints and their causes and treatments. It also then teaches the student about Ayurveda’s most useful herbs and formulas.
Pole believes the course is timely as more people turn to philosophies for treating the whole body.
“We piloted the distance learning scheme last year and were amazed by the uptake and the eagerness of the first cohort of students. Thanks to this great response, we have decided to make the course widely available, with the aim of training up to 500 people a year,” Pole explained.
For more information, email learn@pukkaherbs.com
HFB online proves a success
03.12.08
Just a few weeks after its relaunch, Health Food Business magazine’s website is proving a valuable tool for the industry.
The HFB site, found at www.healthfoodbusiness.com, was revamped along with all the other titles published by Target Publishing.
The site now features all the latest industry news, the current issue in an innovative page turner format, along with an archive of the last year’s worth of magazines. A forum has also been created, which is generating retailer responses.
So far, 64 per cent of retailers have said they find the Health Food Business news online valuable to very valuable while 68 per cent find the back issues archive valuable to very valuable.
Target Publishing Managing Director, David Cann, commented: “Since the relaunch of all our websites, we have been delighted to see both suppliers and retailers engaged in what we are doing.
“Suppliers have realised the merits of web advertising and are now committing budgets to both online and in print, recognising the two go hand in hand, and our readers tell us they find the websites incredibly useful. It is encouraging to see more and more retailers engaging in the website each month, which runs in tandem with the magazine.”
For more information about advertising in any of Target Publishing’s titles please telephone the sales team on 01279 816300 or log on to http://www.targetpublishing.com/advertise.htm.
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