Chicago, IL—Aiming to help natural retailers better understand the science of "natural" products, the inaugural Healthy and Natural Trade Show in Chicago will open May 5 with a day of education for trade show attendees.

The education series will focus on topics such as non-GMO, probiotics, product differentiation and supplement labels, to “resolve these points of confusion and opportunity [and] building a baseline for all retail operators,” according to a news release. The trade show is presented by William Reed Business Media. 

Unlike other tradeshows that focus mainly on helping small, independent retailers to sell more, this education program also includes other areas like emerging consumer behaviors, best practices in other channels and locations and general all-channel retailer education.

“We’re in an age where consumers have just as much access to information as those retailers with whom they shop,” said Len Monheit, general manager for North America at William Reed, in a news release. “We’re going to newly empower our retail community, by giving them an intimate show experience to leverage this new knowledge and then give them access to an exhibitor base filled with leaders and disrupters.”

The three-day trade event will run May 5-7 at Navy Pier in Chicago, and will showcase food, beverage, dietary supplements, personal care, pet and household products.

“We’re extremely excited to launch this event in Chicago and the Midwest,” Monheit stated. “Many know Chicago for food innovation and distribution; we intend to make it the showcase for healthy products across many consumer categories for the U.S. and across the Americas.”

Registration for the event is available online now at http://thehealthyandnaturalshow.com/.  

Published in WholeFoods Magazine December 2015