Sales of adult gummies rise

The gummy delivery form of vitamins is the single-largest source of growth for the vitamins, minerals and supplements category, having realized a 29% rate of growth, which translates to $125 million in annualized sales growth.

(For the full category review, including sales data, click here.)

“Within the gummy delivery form, 65% of the sales are now represented by the adult life stage products, and only 35% are children-based,” Doug Jones, Pharmavite spokesman, shared with DSN. “While adult gummy sales have increased 51% for that 52-week period, children’s gummy sales are flat versus a year ago.”

It’s that opportunity to ramp up sales in adult gummy vitamins that has Church & Dwight significantly bullish on the category. The company last month announced plans to expand its gummy vitamin production capacity through the addition of a new production line to be constructed at its manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania. Construction began in 2013, and the line is scheduled to be operational in the first quarter of 2015.

“Our gummy vitamin sales are growing at a 20% rate to approximately $300 million in annual net sales in 2013,” James Craigie, chairman and CEO told analysts in December. “We believe the future prospects of the gummy vitamin category are strong, as more adults switch from traditional vitamin pills to gummy vitamins.”

Pharmavite recently increased its presence in the gummy vitamin space with the introduction of three gummy products — Nature Made Adult Gummies Multi+Omega-3; Immune Complex with Zinc; and Energy B12.