Andrew Laudato, Chief Operating Officer at The Vitamin Shoppe, challenged the perception that an omnichannel approach creates a situation where the channels could potentially compete with each other. <\/p>\n
\u201cCustomers who shop multiple channels actually are the very best customers,\u201d said Laudato. \u201cWe would like our customers to shop how, when, and where they prefer, and even for an individual customer at different times in different parts of your journey, that would be a different channel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company has built a retail ecosystem designed to support different stages of the consumer journey. For instance, a shopper starting a new fitness routine may visit a physical store to consult with the in-house \u201chealth enthusiasts\u201d for tailored advice, he said. Once a regimen is established, that same customer may shift to subscription-based replenishment or e-commerce convenience.<\/p>\n
This flexible approach reflects broader shifts in retail behavior, with consumers increasingly expecting seamless movement between physical and digital environments.<\/p>\n
Consumers can now access a range of purchasing channels at The Vitamin Shoppe, he said, including traditional in-store shopping, ship-to-home orders placed in-store, buy online at vitaminshoppe.com and pick up in-store, same-day delivery via DoorDash, and even order in one store and pick it up in a different store (\u201cso every store doesn\u2019t carry the same thing\u201d). <\/p>\n
With approximately 650 retail locations across the U.S., the company is increasingly treating its stores as distribution nodes to rival larger e-commerce players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think of each store not just as retail, but as a distribution point, we cover the U.S. pretty well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
BOSS, or Buy Online, Ship from Store, allows the company to fulfill orders from store inventory when distribution centers are out of stock and positions The Vitamin Shoppe to compete more aggressively with Amazon by reducing delivery times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like to say we can be faster than Amazon,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The company also sells outside its own \u2018four walls\u2019 via Amazon, while its private brands are also available via the Instacart app, the Uber Eats app, and Door Dash. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have every possible way we could think of to be truly omni. What does omni mean? It\u2019s \u2018many\u2019, many channels, and each one unique to the customer\u2019s needs at that moment,\u201d said Laudato. <\/p>\n
AI investments across operations, stores, and customer experience<\/p>\n
Artificial intelligence is playing an expanding role across the organization, from internal productivity to customer-facing tools.<\/p>\n
At the corporate level, employee productivity has been enhanced through the rollout of Microsoft Copilot, said Laudato, while AI is also being embedded into analytics and inventory management, shifting to machine learning-driven models.<\/p>\n