Imagine you are in your store and the phone rings. The voice on the other end of the line says, “Hello, I’m standing in the store at the probiotics cooler and I don’t know which one to buy.”

Of course, you accept without much surprise the fact that people are now so lazy they’d rather call you on their cell phone than walk a few steps to ask for your help in person. Heading over to your refrigeration aisle, you see no customers.

“Oh, I’m not at the cooler at your store. I’m in the grocery store, but nobody here can help me,” your non-customer says.

This conversation actually took place, and we want to thank Wendy Meyerson, of Natur-Tyme, Syracuse, New York, for sharing the video advertisement she created memorializing this stunning event. Natur-Tyme, WholeFoods Magazine 2011 Retailer of the Year, and perhaps one of the most dynamic independent natural products retailers in the country, is taking lemons like these and making lemonade. The video sheds light on the astonishingly bad manners shoppers display in their single-minded pursuit of low price. As you will see, Wendy highlights the truth this non-customer inadvertently acknowledges by calling the store: that local, independent natural health stores are the best—and sometimes the only—place to get reliable nutrition advice.

To view the 25-second spot, put this link into your internet browser:www.wholefoodsmagazine.com/multimedia/video/natur-tyme-helps-customer/

Naming Contest: We’ve extended our Smartphone Shopper naming contest deadline. Share your most astonishing conversations with customers who rely on you for advice but go online to find a lower price. And, if you are feeling creative, invent a name that aptly describes these ungrateful Smartphone Shoppers. Please submit your entry via email to jay@retailinsights.com. The winner will receive a $100 gift card and a customized cartoon by Jeff Danziger, and be announced in a future issue of WholeFoods Magazine.WF

Published in WholeFoods Magazine June 2017