In this Issue

Nature’s Bounty launched a line of aromatherapy products under the Nature’s Origin banner. The line includes an essential oils kit designed to attract new shoppers, as well as a “Travel with Scents” that has four scents packaged in a branded tin and diffused in easy-to-carry inhalers. The lineup features three diffusers, including one that can be in continuous operation for up to eight hours and fill a room of up to 400 sq. ft. with the optimal scent. A second diffuser can be in continuous operation for up to four hours for a suggested room size of 50 sq. ft.

Overall, sales of multivitamins are relatively flat — 0.2% annual growth toward a $1.8 billion base. But according to the latest consumer survey from the Council for Responsible Nutrition, 3-in-4 adults use a multivitamin. So, have sales of multivitamins plateaued, or are there pockets of opportunity out there?

The proof a category is hot can be measured not only by the number of players looking to participate in that category, but also by the heft of new entrants. Such is the case with aromatherapy, and this year, a major player in the VMS space is “getting their sniff on.”

Consumer Suzanne Lee grew up in upstate New York, but moved to Ontario many years ago. Recently, upon visiting her hometown, she stopped at a local drug store for her favorite skin care product. She was surprised to find it wasn’t sold there.

(To view the full Beauty Trends Report, click here.)

Perhaps because of their parents and grandparents, millennials are taking a shine to the use of dietary supplements as a strategy toward being healthier, according to the 2016 Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the Council for Responsible Nutrition. Overall, as many as 170 million U.S. adults, or 71% of the population, take dietary supplements.

There is perhaps a latent opportunity for retailers to create a new destination center out of three existing categories that would appeal to a new millennial mom — products boosting preconception health; products supporting a pregnant woman’s health; and products supporting lactation and breast feeding following her pregnancy.

(Click here to view the full VMS Report.)

The minerals/supplements category saw year-over-year growth of 8%, with the one- and two-letter vitamins up 4%. Growth was led by Quincy Bioscience followed by private label in the minerals/supplements category (see Figure 1). Prevagen led drug channel growth in minerals and supplements, which nearly doubled in sales up 87%, while IBgard’s skyrocketed 306% year over year. Larger brands that contributed with double-digit growth were Nature’s Bounty, Culturelle and Align (see Figure 2).

Beauty brands are rushing to add apps as a ploy to allow shoppers to experiment with beauty more often, while also eliminating the need for consumers to return products because of disappointment in shades. If a brand doesn’t have an app now, it probably will this year.

(To view the full Beauty Trends Report, click here.)

L’Oréal kicked off the trend two years ago with Makeup Genius, but many others have been quick on its heels.