Hy-Vee's Personalized Vitamin Innovation

Today we're gonna talk about vitamins. We're gonna talk about supplements, and we're gonna talk about a retailer who's really changing the way we're gonna be consuming our foods forever. With me, Elisa Sloss, senior VP of Health Markets and dietitians at Hy-vee. She oversees the sales, merchandising, and educational efforts of the company's more than 190 health market departments. It's a store within a store concept that features a strong and varied selection of organic products, specialty foods, all of what's designed to help support customers' dietary needs and health conditions. She also leads the company's team of retail dietitians whose mission it is to support customers in their health journey. 

Hy-Vee's dietitians support thousands of customers through store tours, virtual and in-person dietitian sessions and meal prep classes and workshops to help customers find foods and products to support their unique health goals. The team also offers routine health screenings for customers and employers, including biometric and cholesterol screenings and free A1C screenings. 

Also, joining us is Angie Nelson, a pharmacist and senior VP of Pharmacy at Hy-Vee. She's been with Hy-Vee over 20 years and began working as a registered pharmacist and over the years promoted to pharmacy manager, store director, pharmacy supervisor, vice president of pharmacy operations, and now the senior VP of Pharmacy. You can't get any higher except, you know, CEO. Now, Angie's helped implement artificial intelligence technology and machine learning models across Hy-vee's pharmacy space to improve patient adherence. And she's been named one of Progressive Grocers top women in grocery, twice. A drugstore news top women in health, wellness and beauty, and one of mass market retailers Most influential Women. She's also a member of the Hy-vee Hall of Fame. 

Transcript

Phil: 0:14

Welcome to Lost in the Supermarket. Today we're gonna talk about vitamins. We're gonna talk about supplements, and we're gonna talk about a retailer who's really changing the way we're gonna be consuming our foods forever. With me, Elisa Sloss, senior VP of Health Markets and dietitians at Hy-vee. She oversees the sales, merchandising, and educational efforts of the company's more than 190 health market departments. It's a store within a store concept that features a strong and varied selection of organic products, specialty foods, all of what's designed to help support customers' dietary needs and health conditions. She also leads the company's team of retail dietitians whose mission it is to support customers in their health journey. Hy-Vee's dietitians support thousands of customers through store tours, virtual and in-person dietitian sessions and meal prep classes and workshops to help customers find foods and products to support their unique health goals. The team also offers routine health screenings for customers and employers, including biometric and cholesterol screenings and free A1C screenings. Also, joining us is Angie Nelson, a pharmacist and senior VP of Pharmacy at Hy-Vee. She's been with Hy-Vee over 20 years and began working as a registered pharmacist and over the years promoted to pharmacy manager, store director, pharmacy supervisor, vice president of pharmacy operations, and now the senior VP of Pharmacy. You can't get any higher except, you know, CEO. Now, Angie's helped implement artificial intelligence technology and machine learning models across Hy-vee's pharmacy space to improve patient adherence. And she's been named one of Progressive Grocers top women in grocery, twice. A drugstore news top women in health, wellness and beauty, and one of mass market retailers Most influential Women. She's also a member of the Hy-vee Hall of Fame. So to both of you, welcome to Lost in the Supermarket.

Angie: 2:24

Thank you for having us.

Elisa: 2:25

Thanks for having us.

Phil: 2:27

So I can think of, you know, not a better team of having, you know, a registered dietitian and a pharmacist on the same podcast to be able to really understand what the role is of the two of you and how you compliment each other. But before, you know, we get to that you both co-founded and came up with an idea called Vitamine. So tell me what is and why I should be ordering it.

Elisa: 3:00

So Vitamine comes from the concept of how can we deliver vitamin education and materials better to our customers. Because when you walk up and down those aisles, it can be really overwhelming if you don't know where to start. And, you know, talking with Angie, we spitball a lot of ideas off each other. We're talking about the trends and how it's going online, how people are looking for their education, how we can get customers to really look at what's complimenting their medication. You know, what you should take if you're on a prescription medication. And so, in many, many hours of discussion, we came up with the idea of putting this on an online format and really looking at the e-commerce space so that we can be able to talk to our customers and give them the education they need to make the best decisions for what they're looking for.

Phil: 3:46

So Angie, when I go into a store, even a Hy-Vee, and I go up to the pharmacy department, usually vitamins and supplements are nearby. I just see people, you know, looking, they can't find what they're looking for. They don't understand what this vitamin does, what that vitamin does. And I'm sure you know, your pharmacists get lots of questions about that. How do we solve that issue for people by using vitamin?

Angie: 4:15

Yeah, the very reason why we came up with this small strategy was because we've seen research where over one fourth of individuals who are on medications, where they have the need, they are maybe some sort of depletion or they may have an interaction or not even having a conversation with their pharmacist about a potential supplement in what the right supplement might be. And so that was part of the reason why Elisa and I started strategizing. How can we make it easier? And so having this digital asset available, we actually have it available on kiosks within our store, but we also have it online for customers as well.

Phil: 4:51

And I also think it's important to note that while Hy-vee just operates in about eight states in the center of the country, Vitamine is available nationally. I mean, when I ordered mine I was in New York. So, you know, the whole country can avail themselves of Vitamine.

Elisa: 5:11

Yeah, we were excited to kind of take it out of our current eight state footprint so we can ship nationally to anyone in any state. And we've actually seen a lot of people outside of our eight states ordering and interacting with the website, which is exciting to see.

Phil: 5:25

So when I went on the website, you know, it's basically a questionnaire or a quiz to get personalized recommendations based on how I answered. So, you know, I think Angie, that's where your artificial intelligence, you know, came in. Not you personally, but AI came in to really be able to target what my nutritional needs are to select what the vitamins are that you're going to, you know, you're gonna send me and let's hold up what a Vitamine looks like.

Elisa: 6:01

Yeah, I have a blister pack right here. So here is the box that it comes in, and then when you open it, you have your 28 day supply and it is all individually packed for you. So we're pretty excited about this unique package. It gives you exactly what you have in there on your daily regimen. And this is mine. So you can even upload a selfie if you want your own picture on there, so you don't mix it up with your roommates or husbands and it has everything. So you can take it off and individually take with you throughout your day, throw in your purse, throw in your gym bag. And the nice thing is this blister pack, Angie can talk about this, but it's originally designed for medication. So compared to other companies, this keeps your vitamins and supplements from getting crushed and adds protective layer.

Phil: 6:47

So Angie, talk to us a little bit about the artificial intelligence that went behind this. You know, I can take a quiz and I get my Vitamine in the mail, but there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to pick those vitamins and supplements for me, correct?

Angie: 7:04

Yeah, actually it was a lot of combination of Lisa and I working together with our teams and really taking all the vitamins, the most commonly depleted vitamins and taking an algorithm and really going across asking the right questions to get us to the right answers so that we can determine which would be the right recommendation for each individual. So it's an extremely personalized experience.

Phil: 7:31

So, you know, you mentioned, or I guess I mentioned, in the introduction, you know, Hy-vee has a bunch of retail dietitians that are designed to help shoppers when they're in the store or online. Talk to me about the role of the retail dietitians at Hy-Vee with Vitamine. If I've got a question when I go into the store or I go online, will they help me figure it out?

Elisa: 7:56

Yeah, absolutely. So that's one thing that we really wanted to utilize to set us apart from other companies is our strong retail dietitian team. So on the Vitamine website, if you have a question, you can hit a box that will chat with a dietitian, and so they'll receive that message and chat back with you. We also have in depth one-on-one sessions. So if there's a customer that really wants to go through their diet and ask for the dietitian's advice, they can set up a one-on-one, um, consultation time with an RD that can help guide them through their vitamins and supplements.

Phil: 8:28

The other thing that I really liked and I don't know whose idea it was of the two of you, and I know you're gonna say since you both co-founded Vitamine, it was both of you, but I'm sure one person had this idea when I got mine and I opened up my box, there was a handwritten note from one of the RD's. Whose idea was that? And how clever is that.

Angie: 8:52

Honestly, it really was both of us coming together and how can we make it more personalized? As, Elisa pointed out, we wanted to have that personalized touch throughout the entire experience. So the ability to upload the selfie, to just have that ability to chat with the dietitian and ask the one-on-one questions and then taking it all the way through the final step and dropping that postcard in there and taking that personalization to the final touch of the package is really what our whole goal was the entire time. Personalization, personalization, personalization.

Phil: 9:27

One of the things that I really like about Vitamine, besides, you know, taking the questions and making sure I'm taking the right vitamins and supplements is the lack of space. You know, you held up that blister pack so you know there's one for the morning and one for the afternoon instead of me having to have, you know, six or eight bottles of of vitamins. And usually when I get vitamins, I always look at the expiration date because I'm concerned that maybe it was sitting on the shelf for six months or three months depending on the store. This way I never have to worry about the expiration date and it just takes up a lot of space instead of, you know, having this huge bottle of vitamin C.

Elisa: 10:15

Yeah, absolutely. And it saves you time because we have a lot of people that will put it in pill boxes for the week and this way it's just break it off, take it with you and go throughout your day.

Phil: 10:25

So we talked about the retail dietitians, registered dietitians that are in store and online. What role does the pharmacist have, Angie, in this process? If any?

Angie: 10:38

Yeah, so a couple of fun facts about the operation. So one thing that you probably don't know is that it each and everyone is personalized, packed for you, but it's used through automation. And so our pharmacy teams are a part of that whole fulfillment process along with the dietitian. So that's an intriguing piece of the puzzle that you may not have guessed was happening. The other thing is, as patients or customers reach out to the dietitians and they have any questions that might, engage a pharmacist or involve a pharmacist or a medication, they quickly bring the pharmacist in or ask or refer those questions on so that we are able to support. And so they have that personalized touch throughout the whole experience.

Phil: 11:20

So, you know what, what I think both of you and your collaboration does, for Hy-Vee and probably sets a great example for other supermarket retailers throughout the country, is you're really looking at, you know, my whole health, whether it's from a medication standpoint, a food standpoint, a supplement standpoint. So, you know, I'm not on my own, if you would, wandering the aisles.

Angie: 11:46

That is a hundred percent what our whole strategy is, is to look at the entire patients and how can we benefit them.

Phil: 11:55

So, you know, I have to ask you one last question, and this might be a tough one for you. You know, I'm used to buying my vitamins, you know, in these large containers, vitamins are expensive. What kind of of pricing do you have on this? I mean, is it costing me a lot more than if I just bought the vitamins myself and bought one of those little pill things and put them in?

Elisa: 12:24

I would say our goal is to be one of the most affordable on the market. So we have looked at competition, we wanted to make sure that we could reach the greatest amount of customers with our products. So we really strive to be really affordable. And if you look at our bundles, we actually break it down by day. So some of'em are anywhere from a dollar to a$1.18 per day for all your supplement needs less than a coffee, right?

Phil: 12:48

Yeah. And needless to say, much better as it relates to convenience. And also, you know, I will share with you a nd both as a pharmacist and a registered dietitian, this might make you cringe. But I've gone in stores and I've bought vitamins that I've never used, you know? Because I came back from the doctor or I read a n a rticle or something and said, I should be taking vitamin X, so I go buy it, but then I never consume it. I mean, this is really forcing me to make sure that I'm getting the right nutrition and the right supplement for my diet.

Elisa: 13:24

Absolutely. I break off my blister pack and put it on my keyboard each day, so I know it's visually right there, I have to take it. So if a dietitian can do it, anybody can do it.

Phil: 13:34

Love it. Love it. So, last question. Vitamine is a really smart, really cool idea. Angie, you go, you go first. What's next after Vitamine?

Angie: 13:49

You know, I have to say we spent, brainstorm things all the time. We have lots of exciting projects that are brewing in the back. We're not quite ready to share yet, but we have lots of exciting projects. But we do always want to try to bring that whole health experience to our customers. And so that's really what we're trying to do is bring the dietary and the pharmacy, the medication pieces together and see how we can best benefit our customers.

Phil: 14:17

So I know Elisa longer, so I'm gonna ask you the same question you've gotta tell me. You've gotta tell me something.

Elisa: 14:25

I wish I could. We can't give all the secret sauce away, but we have some super exciting updates coming to the Vitamine website. So maybe if you're not a pill taker, we might have some new options for you there, but still supplement wise. So stay tuned on that one. We also, we just brainstorm all the time on how can we help our customers be healthier, how can we do it so it's easy? So we have a lot of really exciting things in the works for this next year.

Phil: 14:51

So if somebody wants to order Vitamine, give us the web address.

Elisa: 14:57

Yep. It's VitamineWellness.com.

Phil: 15:00

And that's V I T A M I N E, like VitamineWellness.com

Elisa: 15:07

Yep.

Phil: 15:09

Thanks so much for joining us today on Lost in the Supermarket.

Elisa: 15:12

Thanks for having us.

Angie: 15:13

Thank you for having us. We appreciate it.