The global leader in commercial fitness and home recreation equipment is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Stoneham as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

Mr. Stoneham is an experienced CEO with a notable track record of building strong consumer brands, high-performance organizations and companies that deliver industry-leading growth through brand investment, product design and innovation.

As chief executive, Mr. Stoneham has led three global consumer businesses and achieved successful exits by delivering market-leading growth across different industries: most recently and for the past six years, Helly Hansen AS, a technical outerwear company, GHD Group Holdings in professional haircare and Boots Healthcare International in consumer healthcare. He began his career in consumer products at Procter & Gamble, and was President of Global Business Development at Colgate-Palmolive, leading the global categories. He holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Sociology from the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

“The fitness sector is undergoing a phase of rapid transformation, driven by technological innovation and shifting consumer expectations, all on the back of an unprecedented period of disruption,” Mr. Stoneham said. “As a global fitness leader, Life Fitness has the brand strength, team and infrastructure to drive innovation and provide everyone from professional athletes to new gym users an unparalleled experience. I am excited to be joining such an experienced team and look forward to building on Life Fitness’ deep brand heritage and reputation.”

The company thanks departing CEO Chris Clawson for his years of service at Life Fitness and wishes him well in his future endeavours.

Many of us retailers have probably started their e-commerce first swim in the last 12 months thinking that their notification will blow up like the spin on the “wheel of the fortune TV show”. Reality must have settled pretty fast.

Google Search Central has released new guidelines for developers that have impacted your success. Of course like anything, there are ways around those changes with just a few easy steps to follow.

Google stated that:

“Your content shows up in Google Search & other Google surfaces only when Google can find and parse your eCommerce data and site structure. Your site and products will then be visible to the shoppers.”

Guidelines for all the eCommerce SEOs

1. Understand Google Surfaces
Google has many surfaces where your content can be displayed. Understanding every surface can help you reach new potential customers.

2. Provide product data to Google
Sharing your eCommerce product data with Google can help you get more traffic to your site.

3. Google appreciates structured data!
When you add structured data to your websites, Google’s accuracy to understand your content is highly enhanced.

4. Steps to launch a new eCommerce site
If you are planning to launch a new eCommerce site, Google suggests you follow certain steps so that your site is recognized & crawled by Google.

5. Well-designed URLs can help…
A well-developed URL structure can help Google to locate your web pages.

6. Navigation structures can impact Google’s understanding!
The navigation structure on your site helps Google to determine the importance of a webpage.

7. Display a subset of a larger list
To improve page performance, Google suggests displaying a subset of results. Also, ensure that Google crawlers can find your site’s content.

We encourage you to share the links in this article and discuss with your SEO experts to implement the guidelines.

If you need help with your e-commerce website, our digital team will be glad to help you.

Reducose® — a proprietary water extract of white mulberry leaves backed by multiple clinical studies — presents an opportunity to product formulators and brands to approach the healthy aging market through the various benefits of maintaining healthy blood glucose levels. With a long history of safe use, white mulberry leaf extract is a natural ingredient that is water soluble, heat and pH resistant and has limited sensory impact — meaning it can be easily incorporated into several food and drink products, medical or special dietary foods or used in dietary supplements.

A new peer-reviewed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study shows that daily supplementation with Pycnogenol® French maritime pine bark extract may help to significantly preserve skin hydration, enhance skin elasticity, and strengthen skin barrier function for those exposed to urban environmental pollution.

“So many of us are awaiting this summer to truly enjoy the outdoors after a brutal winter and a long pandemic year. I personally cannot wait to be outside, and that means we have to be proactive in protecting our skin from heat, humidity, solar radiation, and pollution,” says renowned natural health physician and author, Dr. Fred Pescatore. “This new study shows that daily supplementation with Pycnogenol® counteracts damaging environmental stress factors and improves skin barrier function, even when exposed to rigid conditions.”

Researchers measured the skin moisture content of the participants with the Corneometer® skin moisture tester. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) was measured with the Tewameter®, and skin elasticity was measured with the Cutometer®.

Results showed that daily oral supplementation with 100mg of Pycnogenol® for 12 weeks from April to July, during the wet season, provided a striking improvement of significant skin concerns, including:

7% improvement in skin elasticity (vs 0.1% increase in the placebo group)
7% improvement in skin firmness (vs 0.3% decrease in the placebo group)
Additionally, during phase 2, from July to October, during the dry season, daily oral supplementation with 100mg of Pycnogenol® showed:

13.8% increase in skin lightening (vs 0.8% decrease in the placebo group)
14% decrease in transepidermal water loss (TEWL), indicating a significant improvement of skin barrier function (vs 4.5% increase in the placebo group)
3.3% decrease of skin moisture (vs 14% decrease in the placebo group)
13% improvement in skin elasticity (vs 0.7% increase in the placebo group)
13% improvement in skin firmness (vs 0.3% increase in the placebo group)
This corroborates with previous research that has shown Pycnogenol®’s unique ability to promote collagen and hyaluronic acid production within the skin. Indeed, in a clinical study Pycnogenol® revealed increased hyaluronic acid synthase levels by 44%. The hyaluronic acid synthase is the natural source of water-binding hyaluronic acid in the dermis.

“Pycnogenol® has a deep catalogue of research for skin health, and this study builds upon decades of existing science to show that oral supplementation with Pycnogenol® can make a significant difference in skin health and appearance, even in strenuous environmental conditions,” said Dr. Pescatore.

In the study, researchers concluded that this research “strongly indicates that people exposed to high levels of environmental stress will benefit from the regular intake of Pycnogenol®.” The authors propose that oral intake of Pycnogenol® may represent one easy-to-use strategy, which can be used to benefit the human skin in individuals living in an urban environment.

“As a doctor, I routinely have conversations with patients about the importance of protecting their skin year-round. I regularly recommend Pycnogenol® and this study reinforces why,” says Dr. Pescatore.

This study builds on a body of clinical research supporting the benefits of Pycnogenol® as a natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidative ingredient. To review clinical research and additional information on Pycnogenol®.

“Consumers are planning for big holiday celebrations this year, so the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are a tremendous opportunity for grocery retailers and CPG brands,” said Dr. Krishnakumar (“KK”) S. Davey, president of IRI Client Engagement. “IRI’s latest study shows that sales uplift for edible products in the four weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are typically worth approximately $2.2 billion. There is some variation in the availability of key products across markets and, therefore, brands must be strategic and leverage real-time data to understand demand granularly and optimize their promotions and supply chain operations to capture a slice of that opportunity and earn shoppers’ loyalty.”

“Consumers are planning for big holiday celebrations this year, so the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are a tremendous opportunity for grocery retailers and CPG brands”

Recent trends suggest more shoppers will be planning ahead. Historically, the sales uplift has been concentrated evenly in the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving; however, in 2020, the bulk of Thanksgiving sales shifted a week earlier. (thebeverlyhillsestates.com) For the 2021 season, retailers and manufacturers should prepare for an earlier wave of Thanksgiving shoppers and ensure they have key products stocked and a promotion strategy in place to capitalize on heightened demand.

Manufacturers should keep product allocation strategies nimble to accommodate in-stock level variation across regions. The in-stock rates of the top 25 Thanksgiving-related categories vary greatly across the country. In markets in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida, in-stock rates of the tracked Thanksgiving items are generally 7 to 9 percentage points above the national average. In markets in Texas, Nebraska and Kansas, supply shortages have contributed to in-stock rates between 9 and 11 percentage points below the national average. Manufacturers should closely monitor their in-stock levels by retailer and region and leverage both historical and real-time purchase data to anticipate shortages and allocate products across markets to accommodate shoppers’ shifting holiday demand patterns.

Shoppers should prepare to make substitutions, given supply chain risks in key categories. Product availability in the whipped toppings, liquid gravy, bakery pies and frozen pie/pastry shells categories were between 5 and 13 percentage points lower this week than the same time last year, but availability has been improving in these categories compared to a week ago. Conversely, bottled cider and pie/pastry filling categories have in-stock levels on par with this week last year, but their stock levels are low, and supply is declining compared to last week. Holiday shoppers should plan to shop early for those key ingredients that are experiencing significant out-of-stock levels or prepare to make creative substitutions.

Soli Organic Inc. formerly known as Shenandoah Growers, Inc., the only soil-based, controlled environment agriculture company delivering 100% USDA certified organic produce to more than 20,000 retail stores nationwide, announced a $120 million financing arrangement with leading real estate development firm Decennial Group.

The Company also launched a new corporate name and brand, Soli Organic. The word Soli is derived from the Latin word for soil and reflects the pivotal role of soil in enabling the Company’s mission to make low-cost, high-quality, organic produce grown nearby available to everyone.

The arrangement with Decennial Group is a key component of the Company’s strategy to further expand production capacity to meet growing demand. The Company intends to build eight new farms, in addition to its seven farms in operation today. The Decennial Group financing will support construction of three of the eight planned facilities. Each 100,000 square foot facility will have an annual production capacity of 5 million pounds. The Company recently broke ground on the first facility financed through Decennial Group, which is located in Anderson County, South Carolina, and is anticipated to be operational by Q2 2022.

The arrangement with Decennial Group – a developer-led investment management firm committed to preserving the natural and cultural resources of the communities it serves through environmentally responsible investments – is one of the largest of its kind for a controlled environment agriculture company to date.

“Working with Soli Organic aligns perfectly with the Decennial Group core mission to add value for best-in-class operating companies seeking an optimized real estate investment and development solution,” said Scott Goodman, Decennial Group Managing Partner. “We could not be prouder of this arrangement with Soli Organic, which we believe will support the company’s mission-critical real estate needs in a way that is effective, efficient and highly scalable, while maximizing social impact.”

“Through our proprietary soil-based, organic, indoor production system, Soli Organic is the first company to unlock the full value of controlled environment agriculture, including considerable cost savings and environmental benefits. Support from Decennial Group and equity partners enables Soli Organic to further scale and share those benefits with more retail customers and more consumers in more geographies,” said Matt Ryan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Soli Organic. “As a result, Soli Organic is well-positioned to continue to build on our strong legacy of financial and market performance, execute against our growth plan, and deliver differentiated organic products that meet existing and future customer demand.”

As part of its growth strategy, the Company has made a series of recent strategic hires to its Executive Leadership Team (ELT), including former Starbucks executive Matt Ryan as CEO; former Postmates senior vice president Mike Buckley as Chief Financial Officer; former Walmart executive Cameron Geiger as Chief Operating Officer; and leading plant biology and lighting expert Dr. Tessa Pocock as Chief Science Officer. They join longstanding ELT members President Philip Karp, Chief Customer Officer Steven Wright and Chief Technology Officer Ulf Jönsson.