Joining me this week on PowerTalk is Richard Demb, the co-founder and CEO of Abe’s Market, a company that is growing briskly due to strong demand for natural foods and products, along with gluten-free, Paleo-friendly, Kosher or Raw offerings.
As you shop at your local grocery store — a Kroger’s (KR), Safeway (SWY), Harris Teeter (HTSI), Publix Super Markets or some other one — you likely have observed an increased amount of shelf space dedicated to natural, organic and gluten-free products. Figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that retail sales of organic foods alone grew to $21.1 billion in 2008, up from $3.6 billion in 1997. According to Datamonitor, U.S. sales of gluten-free food and beverages are expected to reach $5.6 billion by 2015. That total compares to other figures that put the market size for gluten-free foods at $2.6 billion in 2010.
That fast growth seems likely to soar further as people become increasingly concerned about the quality of the food we eat, as well as how it is grown, raised, fertilized, etc. There doesn’t seem to be any slowdown in sight for these types of products. Better yet, they appeal to a proactive consumer — the kind of customer that any company would love to have.
That combination has done wonders for companies like Whole Foods (WFM), The Fresh Market (TFM), Natural Grocers (NGVC), United Natural Foods (UNFI) and others.
Rather smartly, Abe’s Market co-founder and CEO Richard Demb realized what could happen when the demand for natural, organic and gluten-free products was combined with the power of Internet retailing. After the launch of Abe’s Market, it grew to carry thousands of products that have the company’s stamp of approval across a number of categories including food, beauty, health, home and more. In short, Abe’s is like a combination of Whole Foods and Amazon.com (AMZN).
But there’s more…
Abe’s Market recently launched a new service offering that I think you’re going to want to hear about — leading some people to call it a Groupon (GRPN) killer.
We will address all of that and more as we go behind the scenes to hear the latest in my PowerTalk with Richard Demb, co-founder and CEO of Abe’s Market.
Listen to my behind-the-scenes PowerTalk conversation now, so you are even more in the know:
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Access prior PowerTalk interviews here:
Sizing up Cyber Security with Sourcefire (FIRE) CTO and Founder Martin Roesch
Online Gaming with Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling
Unveiling the Future of Coupons with Michael Vivio, president of Cox Target Media
Immigration and Immigration Reform with former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez
Steve Forbes Focuses on the Economy, Taxes, Health Care and Obama
Paul Musselman, CEO of Carnegie Speech
Jim Nolan, EVP of InterDigital (IDCC)
Manish Chandra, Founder and CEO of Poshmark
Michael D. Brown, Customer Experience Expert
Debra Kaye, Partner at Lucule Consulting
Beth Solomon, President and CEO of NADCO
Bob Keheller Founder of The Employee Engagement Group
Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal
Currency Expert Bernard Lietaer
CEO of Accellion Yorgen Edholm
Founder and former CEO of Staples Tom Stemberg
Bestselling author Daniel Pink
Cuttone & Company’s Keith Bliss
Consumer Electronic Association CEO Gary Shapiro
Smith & Wesson CEO James Debney
Mobile Payment expert Matt Jacobson
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