Top 5 Reasons Vitamin Shoppe’s stock is in the shitter unfiltered.
By Daniel Pierce
1. They’ve partnered with brands that are direct to consumer focused in sports nutrition. A certain category manager forgot to review the online marketing tactics of players she gave major shelf space to. NEVER partner with a brand with hundreds of skus when you plan to only carry a few. This is common sense when it comes to sorting out potential brands who want to use your shelf space as a sales funnel to their website.
2. They’ve partnered with dead brands. I’m sorry but Cutlers brand was dead. It’s still dead. But I guess when your category manager is banging a VP at the brand trying to acquire shelf space exceptions will be made. Between this and point 1 they shit on a lot of brands that want nothing to do with them who were real partner/growth potential.
3. They moved away from their core strength of “assortment.” Consolidating shelf space to fewer brands doesn’t work when you much of the foot traffic is built upon “discovery.”
4. Their regulatory is too stringent. This has GREATLY hurt there position against Amazon believe it or not. DMAA is illegal their too and has been for a REAL long time. Just like many of the other elicits stimulants and hormones. However, labeling discrepancies causing recalls that were harmless, ingredients not allowed, etc hurt them greatly. New technology takes vision and some measure of risk to support. I personally own extremely valuable IP that will be revealed in the next 12-18 months and wouldn’t even bring it to them at this stage. I’m not the only who thinks like this.
5. The CEO is an idiot. You can’t cure stupid just like you can’t deny your strategy is failing vs Amazon and brick and mortars that are popping up and kicking your ass in many areas of the country.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vitamin-shoppe-inc-announces-fourth-quarter-2017-results-300604534.html
