Probiotics, protein, vitamin D among top drivers

The specialty channel, including natural grocery and vitamin retailers, has long been a fair prognosticator of what might be coming down the line in the natural health space for mass, food and drug retailers. Those are the channels where many of the early adopters are presumed to shop, though conventional retailers may in fact be capturing their fair share of those consumers today.

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Today, the three factors driving the business of vitamins and supplements through conventional channels include probiotics; multi-sourced, animal-based protein supplements; and vitamin D, noted Kim Kawa, SPINS content services insights lead. According to SPINS POS data of the conventional channels, sales of probiotics reached $580 million for the 52 weeks ended April 17, on 19.2% growth. Products containing multi-sourced animal protein reached sales of $424.3 million on 24.7% growth and sales of vitamin D supplements totaled $252.3 million on 15% growth.



Looking ahead, conventional retailers may be looking for significant growth to come in their adult and sports nutrition sets, Kawa noted. The meal replacement and supplement powders category is up 14% in the specialty channel, she said, with ready-to-drink products up 17%.



There’s also significant growth across digestive aids and enzymes, up 30% across specialty, with most growth seen in prebiotics and probiotics. “A deeper dive shows combination products containing prebiotics and probiotics are seeing the most growth, up 192%,” she told Drug Store News. “However, probiotics is definitely running the show, accounting for $5.4 million in the segment and up 43%.”



And the mineral magnesium has been gaining a lot of traction in the specialty channel lately, Kawa added. “Magnesium is a top driver, up 21% and $600,000 in sales, in addition to trace minerals, burgeoning in the specialty channel with 194% growth.”