Traceability is the new VMS buzzword

Sales of vitamins and supplements are generally 10 times greater across large retail chain outlets, including all major food, drug and mass retailers, as compared to specialty outlets. While sales through specialty channels are not nearly as great, the fact remains that the growth trends tracked through those channels, ranging from natural grocers to gourmet wellness stores, are great harbingers of what might soon be best-selling categories within mass outlets.

Drug Store News tapped into the data and expertise of SPINS — a provider of retail consumer insights, analytics reporting and consulting services for the natural, organic and specialty products industry — for its perspective of what’s happening in the specialty space today that could make a cross-over to mass outlets in the months to come. “A new thing we’re seeing is people want traceability,” Scott Dicker, SPINS nutrition researcher, told Drug Store News. “Amazon started this through Amazon Elements, which allows consumers to trace where ingredients are coming from and exactly how much [of that ingredient] is in different batches. A lot of companies are beginning to follow that trend.”

Another trend that’s percolating among specialty outlets that may make its transition to mass is the ketogenic diet, which is the latest low-carb dieting trend. “That may turn out to be a flash in the pan, but it’s going to be a big flash for conventional [outlets],” Dicker said, recalling the last time low-carb diet trends rocketed to the forefront of the American psyche before falling out of favor.

Hot categories that move from specialty to mass outlets may be caused by a trend that is sparked among a niche group that later catches fire among the masses, like a low-carb craze for example. But other elements of that transition can be credited to marketers getting savvy, Dicker said.

For example, before protein had become a hot commodity across mass outlets, it was a category that long enjoyed greater and greater growth from a small niche consumer base — professional or semiprofessional athletes and self-proclaimed gym rats. But now there is a significant consumer base that’s not included in the messaging that appeals to athletes and gym rats — the yoga mom.

“The sports nutrition consumer and the wellness product consumer [today] is blending together,” Dicker said. “It’s the ‘sportification’ of non-athletes,” he said. Previously, protein powders were positioned solely against young males as a way for them to bulk up before the big game. Now they’re targeting women with the same protein, repositioning the benefits so they’re more fitness-enthusiast friendly.

“A lot of wellness consumers are now buying a protein [ready to drink] or bar just as a healthy snack,” Dicker said. “They’re not necessarily using it for performance like core users are, they are expanding the category.”

And then there are categories that continue to generate escalating sales in both specialty outlets and mass retailers, with no end to that growth in sight. Take digestive aids and probiotics, for example, Dicker said. “Probiotics help with the absorption of nutrients,” he noted. It’s a trend that many sports nutrition enthusiasts are picking up on and could only be a matter of time before that benefit is touted at mass, as well.

(Click here to view the full Special Report: Weight management, sports nutrition and vitamin)