WellnessGrocer.com puts frozen organic and natural food online
An estimated 43% of U.S. consumers purchase organic products – but there are few places to purchase a wide variety of natural and organic frozen foods online. And brick and mortar retailers of organic foods tend to limit the space allocated to frozen foods in favor of other inventory, meaning only a selection of the full lines available from producers of frozen organic food is available. WellnessGrocer.com, which launched in May, aims to tackle both issues with a 30,000-square-foot warehouse that inventories the full lines of some 200 manufacturers of frozen organic and natural food products, representing about 3,000 frozen products it can ship direct to online shoppers.
Lafayette, LA-based WellnessGrocer.com leverages the established fulfillment operations of a related business, online store CajunGrocer.com, which launched six years ago. Also sharing the same facility is a third arm of the business, fulfillment operations that are provided on an outsourced basis to the online channel of New Orleans food product brand Zatarain’s as well as other local food brands, says CEO Charlie Hohorst III.
“No one really provides that service in the organic and natural foods marketplace online,” says Hohorst of WellnessGrocer.com’s focus on direct to consumer shipment of frozen foods. “We`re the only ones shipping frozen premium organic and natural brands that are already established in traditional retail. It’s a challenge to ship frozen foods at a low cost and get it to the consumers in an efficient way in an excellent condition.”
But Hohorst says WellnessGrocer.com has mastered the challenge, offering three levels of shipping, at tiered shipping costs, including ground shipping for perishables. Ground shipments are packed in dry ice and Styrofoam and shrink-wrapped to hold up over 4-5 days in transit. “I can ship from Louisiana to California and the product will still arrive frozen,” Hohorst says.
WellnessGrocer.com is building awareness through keyword buys, search engine optimization, and local newspapers in smaller markets—where shelf space for frozen and natural foods is particularly at a premium in local stores. Recently, the company expanded into categories such as supplements, personal care product and cleaners that also target customers of natural food products.
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