Vitamins, Diet and Sports Nutrition

Sales of diet aids are rocketing across retail right now thanks in no small part to the 38% of Americans who made weight-related resolutions for 2017. Of course, it won’t last long. As many as 25% of New Year Resolutionists lose their conviction in the first week. And less than half will still be weight-loss focused at the mid-year mark.

Sports nutrition is a category beginning to emerge as a viable destination center within mass outlets, as evidenced by growth behind brands like Premier Nutrition. For the 52 weeks ended Oct. 30, Premier Nutrition generated $160.9 million in sales on 85% growth, according to IRI across total U.S. multi-outlet.

Nature’s Bounty launched a line of aromatherapy products under the Nature’s Origin banner. The line includes an essential oils kit designed to attract new shoppers, as well as a “Travel with Scents” that has four scents packaged in a branded tin and diffused in easy-to-carry inhalers. The lineup features three diffusers, including one that can be in continuous operation for up to eight hours and fill a room of up to 400 sq. ft. with the optimal scent. A second diffuser can be in continuous operation for up to four hours for a suggested room size of 50 sq. ft.

The minerals/supplements category saw year-over-year growth of 8%, with the one- and two-letter vitamins up 4%. Growth was led by Quincy Bioscience followed by private label in the minerals/supplements category (see Figure 1). Prevagen led drug channel growth in minerals and supplements, which nearly doubled in sales up 87%, while IBgard’s skyrocketed 306% year over year. Larger brands that contributed with double-digit growth were Nature’s Bounty, Culturelle and Align (see Figure 2).

A key trend captured by the 2016 TABS Analytics Vitamin and Minerals Supplements study is the continued decline in the number of heavy buyers (those who purchased more than three types of vitamins in a year). Heavy-buyer penetration peaked at 40% in 2012, but in 2016, heavy-buyer penetration dropped to 30%.

(Click here to view the full VMS Report.)

CHICAGO  — SPINS on Wednesday named Kelly Marion SVP customer experience.

LAS VEGAS  — Dave Challis, RB VP innovation, is bringing RB's Healthier Tomorrow Challenge to CES through Indiegogo in an effort to bring to bear RB's industry expertise, business connections and mentorship to the kind of technology innovators eager to create the next industry disruptor.

Perhaps because of their parents and grandparents, millennials are taking a shine to the use of dietary supplements as a strategy toward being healthier, according to the 2016 Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the Council for Responsible Nutrition. Overall, as many as 170 million U.S. adults, or 71% of the population, take dietary supplements.