NBJ Data Corner: Sports supplements

Sports Nutrition has been a bright spot for the supplement industry for the first half of the decade, providing a nice reliable stream of double digit growth, despite occasional scandals like DMAA and a high level of suspicion of the sports supplement space among regulators. However, 2014 saw a sharp decline in growth with growth rates declining 5.1% to a still healthy, but not stellar 7.9% in 2014. Curiously, the largest decline in growth occurred in the mass market channel where sports nutrition product went from double-digit growth to decline in 2014. This could suggest that the core consumers for sports products are shopping in specialty stores like GNC, or even their local gym, while the less-dedicated customers.  Protein is the easiest path to building back momentum in the mass channel, but it may take creative thinking to broaden the appeal.