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During the morning discussions at the Drug Store News Natural Care Symposium, held last month in Baltimore, many retailers stated their resolve to make quality a crucial point in the negotiations with suppliers over new product offerings. With headlines in major newspapers questioning the potency of some herbal brands, retailers in attendance insisted they would be looking to their suppliers to demonstrate that what is printed on the label actually makes it in the bottle.
Other burning issues discussed during the day-long meeting included pricing disparity, pharmacist and other in-store personnel involvement and the challenge of finding room to merchandise new launches by traditional OTC manufacturers.
Drug Store News asked suppliers who attended our Natural Care Symposium to share their thoughts on these and other issues important to retailers.
Michael Wainwright e Twin Laboratories
"This [quality issue] is clearly our biggest advantage coming into [mass retail]. Twin Labs is one of the few suppliers of herbal products that is a truly integrated, fully vertical manufacturer-meaning we grow all the flowers and produce all the products on site at our facilities in Utah.
On the Los Angeles Times article that alleged that several brands of St. John's Wort aren't as potent as their labels indicate: "Our position is that [that kind of media attention] is detrimental to the whole category. What's bad for [one company] is certainly bad for us. In the long-term, something like that is only going to hurt the industry overall.
"In some senses, though, it's probably been a bit of a wake-up call, and probably couldn't have come at a better time. Herbals and supplements have gone mainstream.
Now, we see the Bayers of the world and Warner-Lamberts coming in with major product launches; clearly, these companies will be competing for this mainstream user base, and the sheer dollar volume isn't there yet-the predictions are there, but the consumers aren't there yet.
"For example, could you imagine if a Crest toothpaste product came out that had an ingredient in it that was found to be harmful to your health? After a product has gone mainstream, that kind of thing can be absolutely devastating. So, maybe this wake-up call came at a very good time."
Tom Hall Pharmanex "We're doing a written...