• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Social Security's 2032 deadline puts a 22% cut on the table — but Washington has way less room to negotiate than 1983

2

CEO of $20 billion AI firm Perplexity says the secret to success is ‘sleeping with that fear’ that your competitor will steal your idea

3

Iran proved it can close the Strait of Hormuz, but the U.S. is advertising very loudly that the world's top superpower can at least punch open a hole

1

Social Security's 2032 deadline puts a 22% cut on the table — but Washington has way less room to negotiate than 1983

2

CEO of $20 billion AI firm Perplexity says the secret to success is ‘sleeping with that fear’ that your competitor will steal your idea

3

Iran proved it can close the Strait of Hormuz, but the U.S. is advertising very loudly that the world's top superpower can at least punch open a hole

This Startup Wants to Kill Off the Center of the Supermarket

By
Beth Kowitt
Beth Kowitt
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Beth Kowitt
Beth Kowitt
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 4, 2016, 11:58 AM ET
Courtesy of Thrive Market
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

A new brand is poised to enter the organic and natural food world, but this one won’t grace the shelves of the likes of Whole Foods (WFM)—the mecca for the non-GMO, the gluten-free, and the Paleo.

The new entrant is the private label from Thrive Market, the online natural and organic retailer, which will sell its eponymous brand only on its site.

Thrive’s first private label product, coconut oil, launched in November; its second, organic tomato sauce, hit the online marketplace December 30. Thrive co-founder and co-CEO Nick Green told Fortune that the company plans to develop about 100 private label items in the first half of the year.

The entry into private label is the latest step for Thrive as it attempts to offer natural and organic goods at the price of the conventional non-organic equivalent. “If we can’t do that with a third-party brand, we’ll do it with private label,” Green says.

Thrive prices products to only cover the company’s costs to fulfill and ship, instead making the bulk of its money through a subscription model. The company charges a $60 membership fee, pegged to the cost of a Costco membership. “It’s Whole Foods-type products at Costco-like prices,” Green adds.

Green says that Thrive will develop private label in categories where there is not enough margin to cover its cost. That can happen when brands don’t have enough margin themselves to offer Thrive the pricing to match conventional products, goods are heavier and costly to ship, or the product is commoditized and therefore already low margin.

As an example, take flour and cider vinegar, which the startup has been selling at a loss to date. Both are low margin and costly to ship because of their weight, but they’re also necessary to carry since they’re staples. Green says both items are at the top of the company’s list to private label.

Thrive, with about 150,000 members and about 20,000 new paying members a month, is approaching a $100 million run rate after launching the site at the end of 2014. “We can’t scale the infrastructure fast enough to service the demand,” Green says. Every order over $50 receives free shipping, with 90% of the company’s orders hitting that threshold.

With what Green calls a “hyper-curated catalogue,” the Thrive model also has a little bit of Trader Joe’s thrown in, too. Thrive picks the top three or four brands (think Seventh Generation and Justin’s) in a product category rather than offering 40 choices. As a result, it carries 4,000 SKUs versus some 30,000 to 40,000 for a typical grocery store. Green notes that Thrive is now one of the top-five sales channels for most the brands it carries.

There’s no shortage of startups vying for share of stomach in the food delivery space. But while most of the competition focuses on delivering fresh goods, Thrive sells only non-perishables. Those products that makes up the center of the grocery store that go in the cupboard or medicine cabinet make up about half of a typical grocery bill, Green notes.

“It’s where no one else wants to play,” Green says. “Fresh food is a blood bath right now. We said, let’s look at the part of the grocery that really shouldn’t be in the grocery store.”

Focusing on non-perishables, he explains, simplifies the supply chain because they can be shipped anywhere in the country through an existing service like FedEx or UPS. They also don’t spoil.

One key reason the competition has stayed away from packaged goods? Consumers have shifted their dollars away from them. Shoppers have been increasingly eschewing processed food for fresh goods, which they perceive as healthier. (For more on this trend, see “The War on Big Food.”

But Green contends that there will always be packaged goods. They’ll just take a different form. “The dry goods are going to look less processed food and more like natural foods,” he says, pointing to mixed nuts as an example. “The backlash is toward more chemically laden, scientifically produced mass-agro business consumer packaged goods” that are behind the obesity epidemic, he says.

Packaged goods might not disappear, but Green predicts that in 10 years time they’ll have evaporated from the center of the grocery store in the same way consumers now buy their books online rather than in brick and mortar stores.

“There’s no reason you’re going to buy a bag of granola there,” he says. “Amazon is going to sell a lot of the products. For us, the differentiator is the focus on health and wellness vertical, and that this is a lifestyle category.”

Green points out that the natural and organic category is growing six times as fast as the U.S. economy but is less than 5% of the total consumer packaged goods market. “There will be a multi-tens-of-billion dollar e-commerce player in natural and organic consumer packaged goods in the next five years,” Green says. “It’s just a question of whom. We have a two-year head start.”

Update: An earlier version of this story incorrectly quoted Green as saying, “There will be a multi-tens-of-million dollar e-commerce player in natural and organic consumer packaged goods in the next five years.” The quote should have read multi-tens-of-billion dollar e-commerce player.

About the Author
By Beth Kowitt
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

OpenAI and Oracle are building one of America’s biggest data centers in a state where tree mortality tripled last year
Environmentclimate change
OpenAI and Oracle are building one of America’s biggest data centers in a state where tree mortality tripled last year
By Catherina GioinoJune 15, 2026
2 hours ago
Katie Moussouris, the founder and CEO of Luta Security.
AIAnthropic
‘Fix this code’—The three little words behind the U.S. government decision that shut down Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos AI models
By Jeremy KahnJune 15, 2026
2 hours ago
Shotwell stands and smiles widely
InvestingSpace X
Here’s how SpaceX’s debut stacks up against other major IPOs
By Jacqueline MunisJune 15, 2026
3 hours ago
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Big TechGoogle
Hundreds of Stanford students walked out of their grad ceremony to protest Google CEO’s commencement speech. It wasn’t all about AI
By Tristan BoveJune 15, 2026
5 hours ago
Beagle breeding farm to shutter for good after rescue group buys nearly 1,500 dogs following violent protests where cops teared gassed activists
North AmericaAnimals
Beagle breeding farm to shutter for good after rescue group buys nearly 1,500 dogs following violent protests where cops teared gassed activists
By The Associated PressJune 15, 2026
5 hours ago
The billionaire founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners makes plea to businesses adopting AI: ‘Don’t destroy your intern program’
AIBrainstorm Tech
The billionaire founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners makes plea to businesses adopting AI: ‘Don’t destroy your intern program’
By Jeff John RobertsJune 15, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

Social Security's 2032 deadline puts a 22% cut on the table — but Washington has way less room to negotiate than 1983
Personal Finance
Social Security's 2032 deadline puts a 22% cut on the table — but Washington has way less room to negotiate than 1983
By John W. Diamond and The ConversationJune 12, 2026
3 days ago
CEO of $20 billion AI firm Perplexity says the secret to success is ‘sleeping with that fear’ that your competitor will steal your idea
Success
CEO of $20 billion AI firm Perplexity says the secret to success is ‘sleeping with that fear’ that your competitor will steal your idea
By Preston ForeJune 13, 2026
2 days ago
Iran proved it can close the Strait of Hormuz, but the U.S. is advertising very loudly that the world's top superpower can at least punch open a hole
Energy
Iran proved it can close the Strait of Hormuz, but the U.S. is advertising very loudly that the world's top superpower can at least punch open a hole
By Jason MaJune 14, 2026
1 day ago
Boomers actually do hold most of the wealth and power. So why do they call it 'whiny' to point that out?
Economy
Boomers actually do hold most of the wealth and power. So why do they call it 'whiny' to point that out?
By Nick LichtenbergJune 14, 2026
1 day ago
SpaceX surge further boosts Saudi billionaire prince’s fortune
Investing
SpaceX surge further boosts Saudi billionaire prince’s fortune
By Adveith Nair and BloombergJune 14, 2026
1 day ago
AI job disruption is here. The problem may be compounded because nearly 75% of people don't apply for unemployment benefits
AI
AI job disruption is here. The problem may be compounded because nearly 75% of people don't apply for unemployment benefits
By Jacqueline MunisJune 14, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.