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Log in Request a free trial. Request a free trial Log in. General Nutrition Centers. General Nutrition Centers Overview Update this profile. Founded Employees 8, Financing Rounds Investments 5. General Nutrition Centers General Information Description GNC Holdings Inc is a specialty retailer of health, wellness and performance products that include protein, performance supplements, weight management supplements, vitamins, herbs and greens, wellness supplements, health and beauty, food and drink and other general merchandise.
Ownership Status. Financing Status. Formerly PE-Backed. Primary Industry. Other Consumer Non-Durables. Other Industries. Specialty Retail. Parent Company. Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Holding Company. Former Stock Listing. Primary Office. What you see here scratches the surface Request a free trial.
Want to dig into this profile? Request a free trial. General Nutrition Centers Comparisons. HQ Location. Total Raised. Post Valuation. Last Financing Details. GNC Holdings Inc is a specialty retailer of health, wellness and performance products that include protein, performance. Pittsburgh, PA. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi. Chula Vista, CA. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat n.
Horn also made a concerted effort to appease critical federal regulators and to clean up the company's reputation. He initiated communication with the FDA, for example, seeking to establish a collaborative relationship. In addition, the company kicked off a new advertising campaign targeted more toward fitness-conscious consumers, including body-builders.
Although Horn closed nearly GNI stores in , he opened 30 new ones and was planning to open many more before the close of the decade. Horn also set a goal of utilizing 88 percent of the company's manufacturing capacity, a strategy that would be achieved by augmenting sales through GNI stores with shipments to third-party retailers.
Horn's most prolific strategic initiative was a franchising program. Started in , the program was created to help finance expansion and to infuse a new spirit of entrepreneurialism in the organization.
GNI helped its franchisees, many of whom were former employees, by financing the stores and supporting owners with a high-quality marketing program. Existing stores that had been converted to franchises typically experienced sales increases of 60 percent during their first year of private ownership.
As a result, GNI stepped up its franchising efforts throughout the late s and early s. Although GNI struggled to regain profitability during the late s, Horn had successfully put the company on a new path toward growth and prosperity. The streamlined nature of the new GNI reflected Horn's personality and management style.
Out of the gym and behind his desk by a. William E. Horn retained his position as chief executive officer and was later elected chairman of the board. Lee Company. A new company, General Nutrition Companies, Inc.
After strong earnings performances in and , it was decided to take the company public again. Proceeds were applied to reducing the company's debt. With its new cache of capital, GNC began aggressively pursuing an aggressive growth strategy. Having successfully restructured its organization and cut much of the fat from the old GNI, GNC was prepared to concentrate on replicating its proven manufacturing, distribution, and retail strategy.
GNC planned to expand its retail store base and boost market share by opening stores in new metropolitan areas and by stepping up its franchise efforts. Between and it would open more than 2, stores, making it one of the fastest growing retail chains in the nation during the s.
GNC retained its emphasis on vitamins and minerals which represented about 40 percent of revenues and sports nutrition supplements 30 percent of sales , but it also began adding new lines of apparel and exercise equipment. In addition, the company significantly increased its marketing budget, with expenditures on television advertising more than doubling during The Gold Card program developed into a key component of the company's marketing strategy and had a membership of 3.
While most other retailers struggled to retain sales and profits during a lingering recession, GNC expanded its organization to include 1, stores by the end of and 1, by the end of Furthermore, the average total floor space and sales-per-square-foot of its outlets soared as GNC continued to emphasize the development of self-care "SuperStores.
Nearly half of GNC's more than 2, stores were franchises. The format worked well, and the company was able to successfully roll out new stores.
The company's biggest international presence at the time was in Mexico, where there were 63 GNC stores in It also had franchises in numerous other countries, including the Bahamas, Peru, Guatemala, the Philippine Islands, Trinidad, and Guam. Franchising was the company's main vehicle for international growth. GNC planned to open another 15 stores in the United Kingdom by the end of and saw a potential for new locations there. In , 24 GNC centers were opened in Canada.
In GNC launched the concept of Live Well stores, which were about one-third larger than traditional GNC outlets and included some of the details from prototype stores being tested in the Pacific Northwest that offered gourmet and health food products as well as upscale health and beauty products.
By mid the company had 15 Live Well stores in operation and planned to convert 55 existing stores and add another ten by the end of the year. The ad campaign was part of GNC's strategic shift from a specialty retailer to a branded retailer focused on wellness and self-care.
The first was opened in Lake Oswego near Portland, Oregon, in August ; it combined a natural foods supermarket with a pharmacy, spa, salon, and resource center. The investment resulted in a 60 percent increase in distribution capacity and improved order accuracy to an astounding In addition to Live Well, the company was experimenting with other niche concepts, including two natural food stores called Nature Food Centre and Nature's Fresh, and Amphora, which specialized in bath and home fragrance products including aromatherapy products.
The Amphora brand was also used for aromatherapy products carried in the Live Well stores. GNC was also pursuing a strategy of partnering with outside firms to develop new health products that it would sell exclusively in its stores. It had established six partnerships since By mid only one such product was available in GNC stores, a shark cartilage extract developed by Aeterna Laboratories of Quebec, Canada. Another product, a plant oil extract linked to cardiovascular health developed by Monsanto, was due later in GNC's goal was to provide more scientifically validated proprietary products.
The strategy hit a snag in July , however, when GNC filed suit against Humanetics Corporation, a Minnesota-based research company, for breaching its contract to allow GNC to exclusively market Humanetics' dietary supplement, 7-Keto.
GNC charged that Humanetics had entered into another agreement with a Wisconsin distributor for the product. GNC continued to open company-owned and franchised stores during , and by the end of the year it had 2, company-owned and 1, franchised stores in all 50 states and 19 foreign countries.
Although the company's net profit rose at an 83 percent annual rate from fiscal through fiscal , The Value Line Investment Survey noted that GNC stock was under pressure during and had lost a substantial amount of its value. This was due to several external factors, including heightened competition through the proliferation of vitamins and other nutritional supplements and a growing number of discount chains. As a result, GNC saw its same-store sales weaken during , when for the first time since it reported a negative year-over-year earnings comparison.
GNC's response was to slash the prices of some of its most popular commodity products in its company-owned stores. In other cases it offered special discounts to meet store-specific competition, and it launched a chain of outlet stores carrying a full range of products at a discount. GNC would also manufacture a new line of vitamins and nutritional supplements called PharmAssure that would be jointly marketed by Rite Aid and GNC beginning in fall Under the agreement GNC would also become the exclusive manufacturer of Rite Aid's private label vitamin line, and the two companies would launch a joint consumer Web site to provide nutritional information.
In April GNC announced it was ending its experiment with "wellness" grocery stores. GNC was also negotiating to provide Wild Oats with a line of private label health supplements. GNC's long-term strategy as it prepared for the 21st century was to position itself as the primary source of vitamins, nutritional supplements, and other health and fitness products for America's aging population.
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