Vitacost.com, Inc. (VITC), a leading online retailer and direct marketer of health and wellness products, today announced the groundbreaking for the expansion of its east coast manufacturing and distribution facility in Lexington, North Carolina.

The Company will add approximately 113,000 square feet to its existing facility, increasing the total square footage to roughly 225,000. The Company will equip the facility with new state-of-the-art, A-Frame technology that will allow the Company to double the number of orders processed in its distribution center from approximately 500 per hour currently to 1,000 per hour. The Company expects to be able to process 1,700 orders per hour at peak utilization. The state of North Carolina will provide up to $2.5 million in incentives to the Company based on program eligibility.

“We are pleased Vitacost has the opportunity to expand its operations in North Carolina and has qualified for certain state incentive programs,” said Ira Kerker, Vitacost.com’s Chief Executive Officer. “We have operated in North Carolina since 2008 and greatly appreciate the support of the state. Our new facility will not only greatly improve our efficiencies over time, but will provide the infrastructure needed to support the continued strong growth we expect to meet the demands of Vitacost’s growing healthy living and wellness customer base in the years to come.”
The stock is up over 11 percent after the news on above average trading volume

OPSY has developed a superior software solution that provides a broad range of functionalities. The Company markets the industry’s only integrated lead sourcing, Internet CRM, desking and inventory management tool.

In addition to feature-rich software, OPSY supports its save-a-deal customers with business development call center, management consulting and network solution services. OPSY’s President/ CEO B.J. Grisaffi, and new directors Keith Orr and William Mokry have extensive dealership management backgrounds and have imparted their accumulated wisdom in the Company’s feature-rich software.

Business Strategy

The Company’s business strategy encompasses every aspect of its operations from product development and positioning to marketing, brand building and funding strategies.

Call center solution enhances customer acquisition and retention
OPSY is enhancing its value proposition to automotive dealerships by leveraging the customer leads gathered through the front office software with business development call centers which convert leads into showroom sales. Preliminary results indicate that dealers using the support services of the business development call center can expect to more than double closing rates for their stores. The call center frees dealership sales personnel from mundane, low value tasks such as handling incoming preliminary sales inquiries, making outbound follow up calls to customers and qualified prospects, and calling\emailing prospective Internet leads. The Company staffs its call center with trained vehicle sales personnel instead of the inexperienced, low skill workers typically associated with call center operations.