By Taryl Stelmaschuk
Following the success of last year’s event, the Retailer Roundtable returned at CHFA NOW Vancouver 2026. This year’s session was hosted by Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci, co-hosts and co-founders of This Commerce Life. Participants enjoyed friendly debate, lively discussion, and thoughtful insights on key issues impacting the natural health industry.
Aimed at boosting retailer growth, participants were split into five groups to discuss pressing issues that are impacting the natural health industry: maintaining margins amid rising costs, balancing product variety, navigating the demand for Canadian-made products, using AI tools appropriately, and taking risks to build business resilience.
Many of these conversations were shaped by the broader economic pressures affecting both Canadian businesses and consumers. From shrinkflation to the rising cost of food, childcare, and housing, more people are struggling to make ends meet. And while these challenges may seem personal, their ripple effects can be felt across the economy, including natural health retailers.
To help combat this crisis, the first part of the 2026 Retailer Roundtable series will dive into maintaining margins and protecting profitability—without increasing prices.
Anticipating demand
Demonstrating product knowledge is essential in business. Being well-educated allows you to stock the right products, enables employees to confidently recommend products, and builds customer trust. But during times of economic uncertainty, education becomes even more valuable, setting independent retailers apart from mass-market retailers that prioritize broad selection over expertise.
Margins can be maintained in two ways: by increasing selling prices or decreasing selling expenses. During economic downturns, price increases are not a viable option, making it even more important to carefully choose which products to stock in larger quantities and which to carry conservatively. Leslie Aitken-Mather, store manager at Nutters Everyday Naturals, explains: “We need to make sure that we are educated on the products to buy in volume at the warehouse, so that stores can then buy from the warehouse to get better margins.” She also suggests paying close attention to what customers are looking for: “Customers too sometimes tell us what to buy and what they want us to bring in.”
Phil Chang, co-host of Retailer Roundtable and co-founder and educator at This Commerce Life—a Canadian podcast focused on helping small businesses grow—points out the challenges in this. “You’re a retailer, you’ve got a lot of SKUs and a lot of brands. How do you stay on top of all of it? How do you teach it to staff?”
Make sure you’re getting adequate support from your suppliers, suggests Elizabeth Hellebrand, director of operations at Nutters Everyday Naturals. Suppliers may offer tools—such as staff training sessions and educational materials—to help you and your team understand products and consumer demand inside and out.
“That’s where we can leverage so many resources. Go into the stores, online, webinars, podcasts; demand that [support from] the brands,” she says.
Kenny Vannucci, Retail Roundtable co-host and co-founder and lead educator at This Commerce Life, notes that once you are educated on your products, you must ensure that it shows on the floor. “Then the [challenge] is ‘how do I educate at the shelf?’ Maybe it’s an old-school shelf talker. Or maybe it’s QR codes driving people to buy pages or webinars online.”
Curating your selection
There will always be a “hot new thing” in natural health. But meeting customer demand without overstocking flash-in-the-pan fads is a subtle art.
“Sometimes you buy something hot, and you end up with so many that you’re never going to sell them all,” Leslie says. She suggests starting slowly when adopting trendy products. “Don’t go overboard. You have to know what’s hot but you must also know what you’re going to be able to realistically sell.”
Elana Wallace, category manager at Nutters Everyday Naturals, points out that SKU rationalization and approaching trends thoughtfully can help you stand out. “With trends, you want to make sure that you’re not competing with big-box stores by offering the exact products they are.”
You can distinguish yourself by adopting hot trends through unique products. Leslie suggests bringing in “some unique brands that [your customers are] not going to find everywhere else.” Specialization can be something that defines your business, as Elizabeth points out. “That’s where innovation is key too,” she explains, “because as smaller retailers, we can incubate these brands.”
The retailers also noted that streamlining your offerings can help mitigate costs in a challenging economy. Kenny shares, “The rule of ‘less is more’ really does apply a lot in retail. You don’t need 75 brands of pop. You can narrow it down to maybe three.” Having seen the effect of going overboard firsthand, he says, “When you get really carried away, it just makes it confusing for the customer.”
For Kenny, the key is not focusing on competing with big-box stores; instead, retailers should “learn how to cater to the people they already have in stores.”
Maintaining margins
Big-box stores can buy in quantities that earn them massive discounts, allowing them to price their stock as low as possible. Typically, this can’t be matched by independent retailers; however, as Kenny points out: “Not everybody shops [at chain stores], otherwise none of us would be here.”
“A big part of that is keeping the business, keeping the margins,” Leslie explains. Kristina Hus, wellness category manager at Kootenay Co-op, suggests looking beyond the margin on individual products. She suggests lowering the margins on everyday staples like milk to bring customers through the door while creating opportunities for profitability on complementary products. In support, Kenny recommends that retailers’ goal should be to build a larger basket, “what we should be trying to do is [have customers] come in for three and leave with 12 items.”
There are things you can offer, to build a larger basket, that are more meaningful than discounts. Mass retailers serve too many people to have the luxury of developing personal relationships. “People want that personal care,” Leslie says. “They want to come into a store and know that the person standing there remembers them. It’s those little things that made a huge difference that are going to keep those people coming back.”