Q&A: Scott Rudolph, CEO of Piping Rock Health Products

The vitamin and mineral category continues to be a high-growth business for retail pharmacy, with sales topping more than $6 billion annually. To get a handle on where the growth is coming from, what’s next and how his new company can help retailers fully leverage the opportunities in the space, Drug Store News recently caught up with Scott Rudolph, CEO of Piping Rock Health Products, makers of the Nature’s Truth brand of vitamins and supplements. Piping Rock may be a new company, but Rudolph and his team are definitely not newcomers to the VMS business, having helped to pioneer the category in the 1980s and 90s with the Nature’s Bounty brand. DSN talked to Rudolph this summer at Piping Rock’s Ronkonkoma, N.Y., offices to find out more about the new company and why experience matters in the VMS business. 

 

Drug Store News: Your leadership team has decades of experience in the VMS business — tell us a little bit about the history of the company. 

Scott Rudolph: We started Piping Rock Health Products about four years ago. More than a dozen members of my former senior management team joined me to help build the company. They have a vast array of skill sets and experience, including operations, manufacturing, production, sales, marketing, finance, product development and customer service.

 

DSN: Do you think the business is different today than it was in the past, either from a regulatory, consumer or a news media standpoint?

Rudolph: The regulatory environment is much more complex today and monitored more closely, with more frequent FDA audits. Quality and manufacturing standards are higher, and much more is required these days.

 

It is also more difficult to manufacture products today than it was 10 years ago — there are more rigid testing requirements and method validation, increased documentation and computer system requirements, including enhanced monitoring of raw material tracking, purity standards, GRAS requirements and more. Additionally, training and documentation to support qualified staffing is also more intense and more frequent than it once was.

 

[We believe that] regulation of our industry is important to ensure quality assurance and compliance; it is extremely important for regulators to continue to protect the consumer, ensuring both the quality of the product and truth in labeling.

 

At Piping Rock, we guarantee our manufacturing process is safe, clean and meet[s] or exceed[s] all of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s quality standards.

 

[That said], one area where government/regulatory action has had a negative impact on the category was the decision about four years ago to eliminate pretax eligibility for vitamins and supplements [under Flexible Savings Accounts].

 

Consumers are still looking for the next great trend in wellness — that really has not changed. They’re looking for quality product packaging and specific ingredient callouts like “standardized herbals,” “high ORAC values,” “gluten-free” and “preservative-free.”

 

The media has tried to be evenhanded, but they sometimes jump the gun before all the facts are in, and that makes retailers and manufacturers have to scramble to take a defensive position. Over the years, the media has reported both positively and negatively about the category. For example, about 10 years ago the negative press on vitamin E practically devastated the category, but the business bounced back. I believe it allowed other segments to grow like fish oil and Co Q-10, which are still top-trending heart health supplements today. A year and a half ago, we saw some softness from negative press around multivitamins; however, vitamin D remains a popular ingredient that continues to receive positive press and helps fuel industry growth. Interestingly, vitamin E was back in the news this year, and we have seen an uptick in sales from the positive press. 

 

DSN: Overall, IRI has the total VMS category up about 2%. Do you think VMS is a mature market, or do you think there is room to grow the business? 

Rudolph: I still believe there is a lot of room for growth, both from current users and new users. Baby boomers are still coming into the market, and they’re living longer — people in their 70s and 80s take substantially more supplements than people in their 40s and 50s. When a life event occurs, consumers tend to enter a specific supplement category as a proactive approach to their health and wellness; society is becoming more results-driven. So, products that deliver results, where consumers can see or feel the difference, is where, I believe, the growth in the category will continue to come from — particularly in such areas as sleep, energy, beauty and probiotics.

 

New products that enhance wellness help fuel trial and category growth. The media can also help influence purchasing decisions, as well.

  

There are always new ingredients coming to market. The vitamin industry is like the fashion industry that way — trends come and go. Some of the new ingredients that are hot right now are turmeric, tart cherry and matcha green tea. 

 

We monitor consumer data daily on our Piping Rock website and can see trends emerge early on. We are also able to react quickly and create a testing platform for new products, including new ingredients, higher potencies, and various delivery forms.

 

DSN: What do you think the big trends are right now in the natural health space — and what's coming next? Do you think retailers are fully leveraging those opportunities?

Rudolph: Enhanced delivery systems will continue to fuel growth as consumers experience pill fatigue. Alternative delivery forms that enhance consumer satisfaction and ease of swallowing — such as gummies, fast-dissolves and sublingual liquids — are also top-growth drivers right now. 

 

Women’s wellness doesn’t just refer to [products for] internal [use], but external, as well. For instance, a woman’s overall wellness regimen includes products that cross into the beauty aisle, such as hair, skin and nails formulas and Biotin supplements. We are seeing more crossover categories that are expanding the vitamin customer’s basket.

 

One of the biggest trends emerging in wellness right now is aromatherapy … consumers are using it to complement their nutritional supplementation based on their specific wellness needs — for example, the soothing aroma of lavender and the cooling feel of eucalyptus. The aromatherapy market has seen continued, exponential growth. I see this as the next big incremental opportunity for retailers in the VMS category — offering aromatherapy items supports a total wellness approach. We sell more than 125 different aromatherapy items on PipingRock.com and just launched a line featuring our top 16 items for [our] Nature’s Truth [brand]. All of our oils — including fragrant essential oils and base oils — are 100% pure and are derived from 100% all-natural plant sources, such as flowers, fruits an