Auto replenishment potentially makes CVS/pharmacy's Family Vitamin Center a supplement gamechanger

With the launch of Family Vitamin Center, CVS/pharmacy created a new health hub on CVS.com to help educate customers on the vitamins and supplements that can support their personal health goals. The site is designed to declutter the dietary supplement aisle with features like an interactive questionnaire and guidance tools that provide personalized supplement recommendations. It also allows users to shop by goal, such as heart health or immune support, and get the latest health tips. And perhaps most important, there's an automatic replenishment program. 

It's a smart play. Those who supplement regularly fall into one of two categories — they're supplementing as part of a major lifestyle improvement change, or they're supplementing because they're already living that healthier lifestyle. In either case, you've got a consumer looking for — and willing to pay for — healthier solutions. CVS/pharmacy is positioning itself to be that solution. 

According to a Council for Responsible Nutrition survey, 68% of adults take dietary supplements, and those supplement users are more likely than non-supplement users to also engage in certain other healthy habits, which is otherwise known as, they're in the market for healthy solutions. The demographics are nice, too. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, half of everyone between the ages of 31 and 50 supplement. And 65% of anyone between the ages of 51 and 70 supplement. 

And more and more, these healthier lifestyle consumers are shopping online. In GNC's last quarterly conference call, president and CEO Joseph Fortunato noted that GNC's online growth trajectory is double that of the e-commerce industry growth rates, which was running pretty close to 15%. 

But the kicker in all of this is the automatic replenishment program. It's a feature that borrows successfully from the subscription-based services of Amazon.com, Dollarshaveclub and others. Sales of vitamins and diet aids — which represent the kind of chronic needs for which Amazon's subscription service "Subscribe & Save," and now CVS/pharmacy's Family Vitamin Center, would become a differentiated convenience — account for more than 29.2% of all OTC medicines sold and represent $10.2 billion in sales.