WW CEO, The Vitamin Shoppe CEO on new partnership, product rollout
WW and The Vitamin Shoppe are partnering to support healthy living. WW CEO Mindy Grossman and The Vitamin Shoppe CEO Sharon Leite join Yahoo Finance to break down the details.
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: WW and Vitamin Shoppe disclosed today they are teaming up to help you shed some pandemic pounds in 2021 and be healthier overall. The duo will join forces to sell co-branded supplements and digital memberships for WW. WW CEO Mindy Grossman and Vitamin Shoppe CEO Sharon Leite are here to discuss.
Happy new year to you both, always good to speak with you. Mindy, let me start with you. What's the thinking behind this tie-up?
MINDY GROSSMAN: You know, our focus at WW has really been to provide as much of a holistic support across all areas of health and wellness, and certainly to provide weight loss. But this holistic approach includes expansion outside of just technology. And certainly, products that can support their journey are really important.
Secondly, we are very focused on partners who share our goal of really being able to democratize wellness and be able to provide people those things, particularly right now, that are going to help support them in any way possible. And certainly Vitamin Shoppe, certainly Sharon, share with us that goal. And to be able to bring these products to people to support their journey is very important.
BRIAN SOZZI: Sharon, as you know, I'm a frequent shopper of your stores-- really, every weekend-- full and fair disclosure. How will this show up in your stores?
SHARON LEITE: You're going to see the WW products featured front-and-center in our stores. In fact, right behind me, I have some of the products that we'll be carrying in the stores. We're very excited to not only carry the WW by the Vitamin Shoppe Essentials Pack, which is based on foundational health. We'll also have the WW by the Vitamin Shoppe Essentials Plus Heart Health. And we are also going to be carrying, as you can see, the proteins behind me, as well as a number of the snacks that WW's produced.
And I think, you know, as Mindy shared in this shared vision that we both have around demystifying the health and wellness experience, providing expertise, it is our goal to be able to share that expertise with both sets of customers-- both the WW consumer as well as the Vitamin Shoppe consumer. And I really think that the complements of the two businesses are great, as it relates to holistic, science-backed weight management program and the wellness ecosystems that both organizations have.
- When we speak about both customer bases here, Mindy, I want to ask you about the sort of Venn diagram of the customers of both brands. I picture Brian Sozzi going into the Vitamin Shoppe on the one hand, and-- maybe incorrectly-- I picture, probably, a woman as a WW customer. Which I know increasingly is not true-- you guys have been reaching out to men. But talk to me about the intersection of these brands and who that customer is.
MINDY GROSSMAN: Yeah, I think it's an opportunity for both of us to not only engage and attract existing audiences, but to expand audiences. So to your point, a little less than 90% of our members are female. But we have been really working to diversify. I think you may have recently seen that James Corden has joined the WW family and really wants to make a statement around weight and wellness, both for men and for women.
And then the Vitamin Shoppe has close to 50-50, but a much bigger male audience, which gives us the opportunity to reach new audience on our side as well. So I always believe that the best partnerships are where one on one can equal 10, because you're both investing with each other to provide something for people that are going to be meaningful.
- And Sharon, actually, I would ask the same question to you. Because if just under 90% of WW's customers are female, what does that skew look like for Vitamin Shoppe? And who are you hoping to now get more exposure to?
SHARON LEITE: Yeah, our customers are actually about 50-50 split. We have both male and female consumers. And our male and female consumers shop a little differently. The female consumer focuses more so on the vitamin-mineral supplement side of the business, where our male consumer tends to spend more on the sports nutrition side of the house.
We see this as an opportunity to bring both sets of customers, as they focus on health and wellness. We did a joint poll together where we found that, although people focused on health and wellness in 2020, it was a really tough year. And we know that over 60% of consumers are looking to kind of strengthen their health and wellness goals. And we see the opportunity to reach a broader consumer demographic by teaming up with WW.
MINDY GROSSMAN: Yeah, I think that's really important.
BRIAN SOZZI: Go ahead, Mindy.
MINDY GROSSMAN: No, I was saying I think that's really important. Because not only did the poll tell us, but what we're seeing is people doing this radical reappraisal of how they live, work, spend, what they value, and what they trust. And certainly wellness has come to the top of the pyramid of need right now. And people want, though, to be with trusted brands and be able to get the information, the motivation, and support they want. And now is definitely when this is rising to the top of people's priority.
SHARON LEITE: And we also find, I think-- the other thing I think it's important to note is that we have very similar goals around quality, innovation, and expertise. And when you bring those two components together with two like-minded businesses, I think it does really drive a different level of consumer engagement. And certainly our outcome and our expectation is that we help people live a healthier lifestyle.
- Well, good luck with this one. I'm sure I will see the products when I head there over the next couple of weekends. WW CEO Mindy Grossmann and Vitamin Shoppe CEO Sharon Leite, always good to see you both.
MINDY GROSSMAN: As always, great to see you both, thank you.
SHARON LEITE: Yeah, thank you very much.
