In this issue Letter from SPINS' CEO, Tony Olson Service Announcements - Wild Oats Key Account Data now offered at the store-level, Consumer Attitudinal Study, and Advocate Professor online training Marketplace Reports - Announcing the Natural Products Opportunity Report, and the Gluten Free Performance and Opportunity Analysis Industry Trends - Acai Sales Show Wild Growth, SPINS Participates in OTA's Industry Predictions Report on Organic Food and Beverage Sales Expo West Seminar - Consumer-Focused Category and Brand Management, Friday March 24th, 2:30pm Content Corner - Innovation Strikes Again in Natural Products Manufacturing SPINS Company Updates - New SPINNERS, Green Business Certification, Speaking Events, and Recipients of SPINS' Charitable Contributions this quarter

Service Announcements

Announcing Store-Level Wild Oats Key Account Data!

Wild Oats Markets subscription service now includes store-level reporting on your brands and items at no additional charge. Evaluate your sales performance and promotions at the chain, region and store levels, inform your business decisions, and secure sales opportunities at Wild Oats! Contact your regional sales manager or Diana Dixon, SPINS' Inside Sales Manager, at ddixon@spins.com or 815.609.0607 for more information.

SPINS' Consumer Attitudinal Survey Now Available

Surveying over 20,000 households through a partnership with Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), SPINS has developed a study that reveals the hierarchy of values that drive consumer purchases of Natural Products. This information has the potential to further define your Natural Product target market and refine your messaging to these consumers. The number one consumer driver for Natural Product purchases is Overall Good Health. What do you think is number two? Contact your regional sales manager or Diana Dixon, SPINS' Inside Sales Manager, at ddixon@spins.com or 815.609.0607 for more information.

Advocate Professor Online Training

SPINS has teamed up with Ford Consulting Group to offer Advocate Professor, online training for using syndicated data.  Topics include market information concepts, calculations, and applications. Advocate Professor is fast, easy to search, regularly updated, and affordable. Provide this convenient training for your sales and marketing teams with the most complete online reference on the market. Contact your regional sales manager or Diana Dixon, SPINS' Inside Sales Manager, at ddixon@spins.com or 815.609.0607 for more information.

Industry Trends
Acai Sales Show Wild Growth by Kerry Rourke
	Açaí is a delicious berry native to the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, where it has been a dietary staple for centuries. It was just introduced to the United States in early 2000, but can be found in more and more successful products here in the US. Products featuring Açaí are showing impressive growth in both the natural and conventional channels.
With nearly $3.8 million in sales for the 52-week period ending 11/3/05, compared to sales of $435,000 in the previous year, Açaí products have experienced an amazing year-over-year growth of 770% Source: SPINSscan Natural, SPINSscan Conventional (Powered by ACNielsen Scantrack). Full article>
SPINS Participates in OTA's Industry Predictions Report on Organic Food and Beverage Sales To celebrate its 20-year anniversary, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) surveyed researchers and experts on their organic industry predictions for the next 20 years. SPINS was honored to be one of the organizations consulted for this fascinating public report. "The Past, Present, and Future of the Organic Industry: A retrospective of the first 20 years, a look at the current state of Organic, and forecasting the next 20 years" was released last December. Read Report >

Expo West Seminar
SPINS Presents: Consumer-Driven Category and Brand Management
	Jeff Nibler, SPINS' president, will be revealing the industry's key consumer trends, and tools that can turn this knowledge into smart business decisions. Learn how to develop successful brands and category management strategies by leveraging key consumer segmentations and store-level retail sales data. Both retailers and manufacturers are invited to attend this Expo Seminar. Join us on Friday, March 24th from 2:30-3:30pm.

Content Corner by Kerry Rourke, Certified Nutritional Consultant Innovation Strikes Again in Natural Products Manufacturing Not a day goes by here at SPINS when we don't marvel at a new development in Natural Products. Read about just a few of the new products that caught our eye this quarter and see instructions for product submittal below.

Green Tea Meets Energy Bar The T Bar is an innovative new creation from Tzu-The, a new green tea company based in Atlanta, Georgia. The T Bar is a whole-food green tea nutrition bar that is packed with the cancer-fighting antioxidant, ECGC. The ECGC comes from the company's own cold processed enzyme-rich green tea. High in protein and dietary fiber but low in carbohydrates and fat, it's the perfect choice for a healthy snack.The T Bar is available in three flavors: Multi-Grain, Japanese Germ Rice and Tropical. All of them taste great and incorporate the distinct flavor of green tea. For more information visit www.tzu-the.com.

Macrobiotic Treats MacroTreats is a new brand of cookies and bars made from 100% macrobiotic ingredients. Mother and daughter team Jolanta Sonkin and Amelia Kirchoff started MacroTreats after Amelia was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2003. Adopting the macrobiotic lifestyle strengthened Amelia's immune system, helping her recover from various cancer treatments and go on with her life. Today she is doing well, and is driven by her desire to share her delicious macrobiotic treats with the world. She hopes her rewarding results will encourage others to adopt a healthier lifestyle.The macrobiotic approach is based on the concept of strengthening the immune system through establishing optimal personal habits. The macrobiotic philosophy incorporates diet, exercise and stress reduction as part of a healthy lifestyle.  It is a holistic approach to health, with an emphasis on proper diet and nutrition.  MacroTreats use high fiber, macrobiotic ingredients and contain slow burning, complex carbohydrates.  In addition to being vegan, the products do not contain any refined sugars or artificial sweeteners.  Instead, MacroTreats use organic ingredients whenever possible, and are grain sweetened with brown rice syrup.  They are free of preservatives, synthetic additives, hydrogenated oil, refined flour, and artificial flavors/coloring.  For more information go to http://www.gomacro.com/.

Yerba Mate - Now More Convenient Than Ever Hats go off to Guayaki Yerba Mate for making the “drink of the Gods” available in a ready to drink tea. Now people who would never dream of drinking mate through a metal straw out of a gourd can easily enjoy this naturally stimulating beverage. Yerba Mate contains the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, but gives a more sustainable and nourishing boost of energy because it contains real nutrition. Mate leaves contain 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids and potent antioxidants. Yerba mate is also a digestive aid, and helps to support weight loss. Guayaki Yerba Mate is 100% organic, fair trade, and sustainably harvested. Guayaki Yerba Mate Organic Energy Drink comes is three delicious flavors: Empower Mint, Raspberry Revolution and Traditional Mate. For more information, visit: http://www.guayaki.com/virtualTour/rvTour/bottlesInfo

These Teas are “Just For Kids” Traditional Medicinals introduces “Just For Kids”, a brand new line of teas specially formulated to meet the needs of children. Safe dosage for herbal medicine differs between children and adults. Some herbs can even be harmful to children if taken in too high of a dosage. Now consumers can rest easy knowing they are helping their children to stay well in a safe and natural way. The packaging is geared towards kids with cartoon characters, games and stories to keep imaginations occupied while the herbs work to relieve discomfort. Just For Kids is available in four familiar products; Organic Cold Care, Organic Throat Coat, Organic Nighty Night, and Organic Tummy Comfort. For more information visit www.traditionalmedicinals.com.

Green Mountain – Taking Coffee To Another Level Green Mountain Coffee Roasters introduces a new innovation in ready-to-drink coffee products. Double-Bean Elixirs is the company's new line of cold, organic, Fair Trade Certified coffee. These products are the first of their kind, combining the refreshing sensation of carbonated soda with the rich flavor of coffee. Double–Bean Elixirs will be available in five traditional coffee flavors: original, vanilla, hazelnut, mocha, and almond. The drinks will come in 12-ounce bottles and four-packs and are being introduced to select retail locations in the Northeast. For more information, visit: www.greenmountaincoffee.com. Manufacturers, send new product samples for consideration for the Content Corner: SPINS Attn: Kerry Rourke 118 2nd St., 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 krourke@spins.com

SPINS Company Updates New SPINNERS SPINS is pleased to announce the arrival of four bright new additions to our team. Please join us in giving them a warm welcome! After contracting with SPINS last quarter, Dustin Marker recently joined our IT team as an Application Developer. Dustin has a strong background in business intelligence and reporting. Prior to SPINS, he developed data warehouse applications as a Software Engineer for Sprint and for IBM.  In his past few months here, Dustin has created a variety of data management and extraction enhancements that we look forward to building on into the future. Our new Controller, Margo Szostek, started with SPINS in mid-November of 2005. She has extensive experience in accounting and financial management, and has already proven to be a strong asset to our Finance & Admin group here at SPINS. Margo is also Vice Principal of Emilia Plater Polish School in Schaumburg, IL. She has Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Business from the Academy of Economics in Poznan, Poland and an MBA from North Park University in Chicago. David Villalobos joined SPINS' team of Client Service Analysts last October after working with CPG clients at Information Resources, Inc. (IRI). At IRI, David was a production analyst and a database consultant on an international assignment. He created and maintained customized CPG client databases, analyzed and filtered market data, researched industry trends and assigned classification to new products. David has also worked as a Technical Audio Consultant. Michelle Watson, SPINS' new Human Resources Coordinator, joined us last December. Prior to taking this role at SPINS, Michelle worked for Ryder Transportation Services, where she helped to manage employee relations, benefits, recruiting and payroll for over 150 employees. Michelle was Production Manager at Trio Video, Inc. for five years before starting her HR career. Speaking Events HSN North American Conference 2006 Marco Island, FL February 16-18, 2006 SPINS' Vice President of Professional Sales and Services, Michael Movitz will be participating in the Health Strategy Network (HSN) conference. Hosted by Health Strategy Consulting, the HSN will offer exclusive insights from industry experts and professionals using the 'business school' case method. How to Reach the Natural Products Consumer, SPINS Inc. IRI's Reinventing CPG & Retail Summit San Francisco, CA February 27-March 1, 2006 SPINS' President, Jeff Nibler will present a seminar sizing the Natural Products Industry and the key trends behind its growth. Learn an approach for managing your brands and categories to best reach and retain the natural products consumer. The presentation will feature information from the ground-breaking consumer attitudinal study SPINS has produced in conjunction with IRI. Consumer-Driven Category and Brand Management, SPINS Inc. Expo West Seminar Anaheim, CA March 24th, 2006 2:30pm-3:30pm

SPINS Charitable Contributions Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief In response to the destruction Hurricane Katrina left in its wake, SPINS matched its employees' donations to the Red Cross. The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs Association "Shop with a Deputy Sheriff" is a yearly event in which children in need are paired up with a deputy sheriff and taken on a shopping spree for clothing and toys. The event takes place right before the holidays and is sponsored by local San Francisco businesses.

Subscription and Delivery

Subscribe to Inside SPINS: Send us an email with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject heading. To unsubscribe, please respond to this email with "REMOVE" as the subject line.

Delivery: This email was sent to you by SPINS. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not your bulk or junk folders), please add sonia@spins.com to your address book.