June 19, 2012

Study finds 2% vitamin sales increase

An increase of 2% in vitamin sales had been found by TABS Group Annual Vitamin Study versus 2011, to US$12.2 billion.

According to a release, this is despite the percentage of US vitamin users in 2012 decreasing from 71% to 66%. In addition to trade-ups and price inflation, this development indicates most of the increased usage is emanating from current buyers purchasing more vitamins. The survey likewise shows a shift in where consumers are purchasing vitamins

The TABS study confirmed secondary users left the market while remaining users compensated by buying more. "In the five years of conducting this survey, this is the greatest upheaval. The continued shift of sales towards traditional channels accelerated and there were significant declines in the overall buyer base," said Kurt Jetta, TABS Group CEO.

While multivitamins remain most popular with 75% of category buyers purchasing, others include Fish Oil (43%), Calcium (33%), Vitamin C and D (both at 32%) and Vitamin B (23%). Buyer growth in Fish Oil and Vitamin D, two high growth areas in the past five years, has stopped. Only Vitamin B saw meaningful gains in 2012, 23% versus 20% in 2011. "Except for Vitamin B, there were no areas of growth in attracting additional buyers which has implications for manufacturers and retailers over the next 18-24 months. We project the category remains relatively flat, with growth coming from trading up existing customers," continued Jetta.

The survey revealed a shift from specialty retailers towards mainstream. Target, Walgreens, CVS and online sales were the big winners, with Wal-Mart apparently stabilising share, while catalogue and nutritional specialty retailers lost share.

Growth in the heavy buyers category was driven by women with a 36% increase from 2005, and the affluent (income US$75,000 +).

"Longer-term, we are bullish on the category and view this as a short-term blip created primarily from unfavourable press. Macro consumer trends (aging population, migration towards self-care, higher healthcare costs) point to solid gains over the next 10 years," said Jetta.