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The State of Supplements: Slowing growth but market's foundation is solid

Nutrition Business Journal and SPINS' presentation at Natural Products Expo West featured data highlighting a changing market in the post-pandemic era.

Rick Polito, Editor-in-chief, Nutrition Business Journal

March 29, 2023

2 Min Read
dietary supplements include tablets, capsules and powders
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The State of Supplements session at Natural Products Expo West has long been a must-see for retailers, brands and ingredient suppliers and the 2023 edition delivered an intriguing mix of data and trends suggesting new direction for the market. These are some of the key takeaways:

Hitting the brakes. Few industries were immune from the pandemic, but the supplement industry has had a particularly wild ride over the last several years. That ride has slowed down, however, at least in sales growth. After posting a best-ever 14.5% gain in 2020, the market by NBJ estimates slowed to 1.7% in 2022.

On a healthy track. In consumer research for NBJ’s Supplement Market Economy Update, respondents expressed concern about inflation but only 9% said they expected cost increases would have a significant impact on their supplement use. In contrast, 50% predicted no impact and 23% foresaw minor impact.

Brick and mortar far from dead. NBJ has been watching slowing sales growth in e-commerce over the last year across multiple categories, but the way SPINS Market Insights Director Scott Dicker presented the phenomenon was intriguing. Comparing findings from SPINS before Expo East 2022 and Expo West, Dicker revealed that e-commerce contributed 15% to growth in dietary supplements in the months leading up to Expo East 2022 but only 8% leading up to Expo West 2023.

 

Trading down, not out. NBJ’s consumer research suggests that while consumers will be looking for bargains, most are not giving up on supplements. They were far more likely to say they will switch to lower-priced products or buy store-brand supplements. Only 23% said they would stop taking supplements.

Stressful conditions. NBJ consumer research into conditions reveals that many consumers want relief from stress. The top three conditions consumers said they are experiencing are stress, trouble sleeping and anxiety. A full 41% said they felt stress while only 15% complained of general health or cardiovascular concerns.

NBJ Supplements Market Update reportThis updated research is covered in NBJ’s Supplement Market Economy Update, which is available for pre-orders now. Research in the report includes not only updated market sizing forecasts, but results from industry and consumer surveys conducted late last year as well.

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About the Author

Rick Polito

Editor-in-chief, Nutrition Business Journal

As Nutrition Business Journal's editor-in-chief, Rick Polito writes about the trends, deals and developments in the natural nutrition industry, looking for the little companies coming up and the big money coming in. An award-winning journalist, Polito knows that facts and figures never give the complete context and that the story of this industry has always been about people.

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