Our recent Healthnotes Newswire Opinion article reassures shoppers that, while the findings of the study don’t suggest cause for alarm, they serve as a great reminder that shoppers should do their own research before purchasing supplements. Aisle7 Chief Science Editor, Alan R. Gaby, MD, believes that, “while it is important to identify the purest sources of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other natural substances, the majority of the evidence indicates that the positive effects of taking recommended amounts of dietary supplements for proven benefits outweighs the risks.”

The article provides a checklist of actions that shoppers can take immediately to safely choose supplements, including finding unbiased, science-based resources like Aisle7.

Read the entire Healthnotes Newswire Opinion here: Are Herbal Supplements Safe?

In these times when heavier supplement regulation seems imminent, making sure your staff is answering shopper questions about product facts and drug-nutrient interactions using our science-based decision-making tools is key to maintaining DSHEA compliance. To protect your shoppers and your brand, it’s essential that store associates provide reliable product information, demonstrating to shoppers that you take their health seriously.

To ensure your staff knows how to comply with DSHEA, we suggest the following steps:

1. Make sure all new staff is aware of your Aisle7 IN-STORE resource: how to locate it and, briefly, how it can help shoppers and protect the store brand and reputation as a source of wellness information.
2. Train staff members working in or near a supplement, natural foods, or nutrition department on the benefits of our full program, including how to maintain regulatory compliance by using our information to legally answer questions beyond what is found on a product label.

To make this training easier for store management, we offer a variety of training options on our Aisle7 University website to meet your individual needs. From short-format on-demand videos to webinar and live training sessions, you’ll find something to fit your needs. And if not, let’s work together to develop something that does.

Go to Aisle7 University

Discover Popular Supplements for Natural Weight Control

Share three healthful supplements with shoppers to naturally slim down this spring.

Read the full article here

Find Easy Ways to Go Green

Help shoppers celebrate Earth Day with a list of small steps that make a big difference for the environment.

Read the full article here

Control Your Allergies

Find simple strategies to head off allergy symptoms before they start.

Read the full article here

Of course, there’s no point in having tools in your chest, if you don’t know how to pull them out. From an HR Perspective, it’s important to me that my employees have the training and the education they need to do their jobs well. I know that right now it’s hard to take staff off the floor to train them since your resources are precious. We can help train staff on using your kiosk program in a variety of ways based on your store’s needs:

• Online training videos
• Store-site visitor “Train the Trainer” sessions
• Webinar training
• In-kiosk Supplements Basics articles

Your shoppers want information to help them proactively manage their health, so they are looking to easily match their needs to the right products. Specifically, they want more product information in the health and wellness category. Vitamins and herbs can be intimidating, costly, and confusing and your customers want to know they’re investing wisely. This is likely why you’ve invested in our Aisle7 IN-STORE kiosk program.

Imagine your customer, Charlotte, who enters your store not sure which diet and fitness supplements she needs to support her new training program. She finds a helpful staff member who leads her to your Fresh Ideas Center kiosk and shows her how to find exactly what she needs. Charlotte leaves with two bottles of supplements and a printed article on how protein powders may benefit her workout, thanks to your staff.

Your staff member initiated a relationship with a new customer who will come back to your store when she needs helpful information, refills, or that protein powder. Charlotte feels confident in purchases that she was previously nervous to make. Your employee feels empowered that they helped a customer find exactly what she needed.

Staff that is trained on how and when to use your Aisle7 IN-STORE kiosk helps you stay DSHEA compliant, enhances the shopping experience, and builds sales. Visit our Training Site or call us today for help training your staff.

- Kelly Orehovec, Aisle7 Human Resources Manager

HEALTH CONDITIONS
One of our top Health Centers is all about Allergies. From here, you can share helpful articles like:

• How to Get a Jump Start on Hay Fever
• Take Control of Your Allergies

Getting on top of seasonal allergies with treatments sometimes makes all the difference. If you have shoppers asking questions about allergy self-care tips and over-the-counter antihistamines, point them in the right direction with these articles.

PROBIOTICS
Many probiotics may improve digestion in people with allergies, helping the intestinal tract control allergen absorption and changing immune system responses to foods. Better nutrient absorption is critical to staying healthy year round.

RX ANSWERS
Help seasonal allergy sufferers identify nutrient depletions that may be caused by their medicines and improved by supplements. And give them a head’s up on foods and other nutrients they should avoid.

VITAMINS & HERBS
Shoppers interested in exploring natural treatments like nettle or homeopathic remedies will find information to help them take control of their allergies naturally in this area.

Helping your shoppers find new ways to manage their seasonal allergies goes a long way to increase their loyalty to you and your staff, and build long-term, profitable sales.

Retailers have a huge opportunity to provide the support, answers, and information that shoppers need when dealing with their own or their loved ones’ food allergy. It may sound simple to remove eggs, soy, or wheat from the diet by cutting out a handful of foods—but the problem goes deeper, or “undercover,” in many hidden ingredients.

Your Aisle7 IN-STORE kiosk complements and supports your other in-store programs to add even more value for your shoppers. A few ways you can maximize assistance for food allergy sufferers include:

• Make sure your shoppers and staff know how to find food allergy information within your in-store kiosk. Recipes, food prep tips, articles and a comprehensive Gluten-Free Center with even more on this growing area are right at your fingertips.
• Locate and mark products on the store floor, pointing to some common allergen-containing foods and also popular ingredients used as substitutes by people with certain allergies.
• Have you considered food allergy store tours or classes? If those are out of scope, direct shoppers to your kiosk to share new recipes that meet their restrictions so they have a few examples to walk away with.

Helping your shoppers find new foods to replace the ones they once enjoyed goes a long way to increase their loyalty to you and your staff, and build long-term, profitable sales.

With the increased attention on the cold-and-flu season this year has predictably come stronger claims on both ends of the treatment spectrum: from those who cling fervently to favorite remedies that may or may not be supported by research, to conservative practitioners who dismiss anything but flu shots and decongestants as a waste of time and money.

As might be expected, for many people the answer lies somewhere in between: There’s simply too much research to completely dismiss some traditional remedies, but not enough to call any one treatment an actual “cure.” And keep in mind, that sometimes “a lack of evidence” means that a treatment has simply not been studied, but traditional use may suggest benefit.

However, all of the remedies below remain well supported ways to deal with cold-and-flu season so you can confidently share these much-talked about natural supplements that may help shorten the life of a cold or flu and get shoppers back on their feet.

• Vitamin C—Studies have shown a higher-than-normal dose of 1,000 to 2,000 mg per day may make your cold shorter and milder.
• Echinacea—At the onset of a cold or flu, 3 to 4 ml of echinacea in a liquid preparation or 300 mg of a powdered form in capsule or tablet can be taken every two hours for the first day of illness, then three times per day for a total of seven to ten days.
• Zinc lozenges—Lozenges containing zinc gluconate, zinc gluconate-glycine, or zinc acetate, providing 13 to 25 mg every two hours, may help slow the cold virus and shorten the illness. (Avoid zinc sprays, however, as recent reports confirm that they may sometimes seriously damage sense of smell.)

You can show your shoppers with assurance our articles on each of these remedies under Vitamins and Herbs, along with other Cold and Flu articles in Health Conditions for even more support.

Beyond price, the most common reason shoppers won’t try something new is that they don’t know what to do with it or how to prepare it. Help them solve that problem with sample foods, recipes, and prep tips, and you’ve just made an incremental sale, along with a happy customer.

As you plan your store’s seasonal product sampling and demo events, use Your Fresh Ideas Center kiosk for hundreds of great seasonal recipes, features, and prep tips to share with your shoppers today. Here are a few simple ideas to do so:

1. Location! Set up your sampling station near your kiosk, or vice versa so that your staff can personally show them how to use it.
2. Make sure your staff is familiar with locating recipes so they know just what to do with a shopper.
3. When sampling a recipe from the kiosk, have some already printed out as handouts.
4. When sampling fresh foods, share the Food Prep Tip for that item to encourage new ways to prepare an old favorite.
5. Right from your home page, your staff and shoppers can access great articles on holiday entertaining guides, preparing gourmet meal on a budget, and other timely ideas.

Although many shoppers build their shopping list somewhat habitually, they’re still looking for new ideas from their grocery store to provide some inspiration. And with the holidays around the corner, their upcoming entertaining needs and social cheer will put them in just the right perspective to seek out inspiration.

Now that cold and flu season is here, your shoppers have questions about strengthening their immune system, fighting the flu naturally, what to do once you’re sick and the best way to treat their ill children – and they’re likely turning to your store staff. To help answer these questions (and more), while adding value to the experience in your store, make sure your staff is familiar with the resource right in your store.

Your Fresh Ideas Center kiosk is a reliable guide to self-care that includes helpful information for health conditions, vitamins and herbs and drug-nutrient interactions.

Make sure they know where it’s located in your store and spend a few minutes with the kiosk to become familiar enough with the contents and navigation to share this resource with your shoppers.

Now more than ever, your shoppers are looking for ways to lead a healthier lifestyle and many are doing this research online – 46% of consumers research a health and wellness topic online every week.  To help you address these needs, we’ve launched our first web product under the Aisle7 name: Aisle7 ONLINE 2010. Our new product provides you with new marketing tools and campaign management to help you tell your health and wellness story, your way.

New features of Aisle7 ONLINE 2010 include:

• Campaign Management to create engaging wellness campaigns that compliment your Aisle7 IN-STORE experience and message
• Widgets that update the content on your site automatically – so you don’t have to
• Customizable Landing Pages to give your site a unique look and feel
• 150+ magazine quality features to support your marketing initiatives
• Integrated Marketing Services to drive Acquisition, Conversion and Retention for your website

Aisle7 ONLINE 2010 features a new web services architecture allowing you to integrate Aisle7 content seamlessly into any page of your website.  For more detail on the new capabilities preview our new Aisle7 ONLINE 2010 and learn how you can bring these new features to your customers online today.

Our new Budget-Friendly Center makes it easy for shoppers to eat healthy, satisfying meals without a big blow to their budget. From recipes and plans for specific meals to strategies to help you plan an effective shopping trip, there’s something for everyone in here:

Budget-Friendly Recipes

With plenty of choices to please any palette, our collection of delicious recipes is designed to feed a family of four for just $3 per serving. Someone in the mood for healthy world cuisine might be tempted by Edamame Lo Mein or Greek Diner Salad, while those looking for kid-friendly comfort foods might lean more toward Loaded Twice-Baked Potatoes or Florentine Ravioli.

It Only Tastes Expensive

Does sautéed asparagus spears with shallots and panko-encrusted halibut with pesto sound delectable? We give this gourmet meal a budget makeover. Try our roasted green beans with onions and panko-encrusted tilapia or catfish with cilantro mayo! And along the way, learn a couple gourmet budget secrets (what you can and can’t substitute) and how to apply them to your next makeover meal.

The Mighty Marinade: For Budget-Friendly Back-to-School Dinners

“What’s for dinner?” We have an answer—a healthy one that doesn’t cost a lot of time or money. We’re talking about marinades. Balsamic vinegar, yogurt, pineapple juice and buttermilk are a just few of the bases you can use to spice up your meals on busy school days.

The Healthy Eater’s Guide to Thrifty Shopping

We bust the myth that healthy food is always more expensive. These tips for planning a trip to the store will help shoppers find affordable foods for good health. Tips range from reminders of what to stock in the pantry and some specific suggestions on sauces and sides that give the most bang for the buck.

Smart Strategies to Eat Well and Spend Less

We offer some solid tips for shopping budget-friendly meals, including what to do before you leave the house, how to stake out the store for the best buys, and looking for creative opportunities to match your store finds to your budget and healthy eating goals.