Supplement retailer GNC’s new CEO Michael Archbold told investors that the company will bring in more functional foods, such as nut butters, healthy snacks and natural sweeteners, as well as organic and vegetarian products.
“We’re going to be offering far more plant-based and nature-based proteins in our store. We believe this is the start of us being able to focus on taking care of both the consumer we’ve got, who wants to proceed with nature-based proteins and plant-based proteins, but also a customer that we don’t have and to be able to attract that customer in,” said Archbold, as reported by NutraIngredients-USA.
“So what you’ll see, if you go into our store, is a number of products so that our proteins have now been expanded to include soy, hemp, pea, rice and blends of all of the above, and include national brands such as Garden of Life, Vega and SPIRU-TEIN. So these will all play an important role as we continue to grow and expand our customer base,” said Archbold.
However, Archbold also mentioned that the company would continue with its focus on sports nutrition, which he said represents 45 per cent of the company’s sales.
GNC experienced a 2.7 per cent decrease to $656.3 million in consolidated revenue, compared to the same period in 2013. However, the results also indicated the cost involved with changing management, which worked out to $7.5 million for the company.
