The Analyst’s Take: Children’s supplement growth remains strong

As the song goes, “The kids are alright,” but supplement demand and growth continue to increase in the children’s health category, driven by increasingly diversified needs. Unlike almost every other condition, the record year for growth in children’s health supplements was not in 2020, but came in 2021 with 18.5% growth. That growth normalized last year to 6.9%, but in a market where other general health categories, including men’s and women’s health, were a fraction of that.

Multivitamin growth trends have consistently driven the children’s health market as they make up over 70% of sales, and that is where the largest growth was in 2021, driving the record spike. Concerns around COVID-19 and children’s immune health were obvious trends, but the future of the market looks to be driven by further conditions and specialty categories. Probiotics, for example, jumped to 16.7% in kids’ health last year and are expected to remain in double-digit growth this year.

Though the combined direct-to-consumer channels (e-commerce, MLM/network marketing, practitioner and mail order/DRTV/radio) make up the largest percentage of the market from a channels perspective, the story this year was in mass market. Similar to the industry as a whole, mass market had the highest growth, but the jump was even higher, reaching 16.1% and gaining 3 points of market share.

COVID-19 certainly opened the door of opportunity in the kids’ health market, and that demand is not expected to slow. What will likely shift in the market is the diversity of these health demands, including sleep, stress and brain health.

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