Who Is Buying Health Supplements and Why?
Have you ever wondered how quickly the health supplement industry is growing? What about how many people use supplements? Why do people use supplements? Well we have answers to those questions and more!
The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) released it’s 2018 Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements results. This survey is a great way to stay in touch with what’s actually going on in the industry with a focus on consumers.
Let’s dive in and see what we can learn!
A Growing Number of Supplement Users
We know that the health supplement industry has been quickly growing but it’s amazing to see just how much it’s grown in less than 10 years. To see a 10 point increase
since 2009 seriously underlines the fast pace of our industry.
The most exciting part might just be that the growth doesn’t seem to be slowing. In fact more trends are emerging and more people are searching out supplements to help solve their health issues.
Despite the fact that the supplement industry has become crowded and very competitive there’s still opportunities in this still growing market. Companies like Care/of are innovating and driving more change within the industry despite being only a few years old.
In the end this kind of growth is exciting to see and promising sign of the bright future ahead of us. Consumers are seeking out supplements, make sure you’re giving them the product and experience they’re looking for.
Healthy Habits in Supplement Users
Which came first the chicken or the egg? It’s hard to know whether people with healthy habits take health supplements or people who take health supplements have healthy habits. You could argue either way (and many people have) but in the end what really matters is knowing your customer.
Supplement users have all-around healthier habits than non-supplement users. That’s not suggesting supplement users are perfect – afterall 70% of supplement users exercise, not 100% – but you can definitely see a clear picture of their mindset. This makes marketing much easier.
On the flipside if you’re looking to convert non-users it’s important to know what you’re up against. Non-supplement users aren’t as likely to have healthy habits compared to users. You could try to use this to your advantage though if you play your cards right. Maybe a supplement can be the one healthy habit in their life that’s easily achievable.
It’s up to you which niche you focus on and which niche you decide to ditch. Either way it’s important to know what a majority of your demographic is (or isn’t) doing to focus on their health, how to target them and what type of language to use.
Why You Shouldn’t Underestimate Multivitamins
Multivitamins are the top choice among all age groups of supplement users. Are you surprised? Multivitamins are the ultimate basic vitamin. It’s a blanket supplement that is a great general supplement that is useful for all ages no matter their health concerns and goals.
While multivitamins aren’t hot, trendy and fresh, they don’t have to be. Any supplement line could benefit from including a basic multivitamin. It doesn’t have to be fancy or push the envelope and most people probably don’t want that from their multi.
In fact the age group that you might think is looking for hot, trendy, and fresh supplements, 18-34, increased its use of multivitamins; Their use of a multivitamin has increased 8% from 2017.
Lesson? Don’t underestimate the multivitamin. It might seem drab and unimpressive on the surface but actually it’s the Godfather of all supplements. Don’t disrespect the multi!
Top Reasons Supplement Users Use Supplements
Finally, let’s take a look at the breakdown of the different reasons people take supplements. This piece of information can be another great guide for figuring out which niches you might want to back off of or move into next.
No matter the age group the top reason that people take supplements. This makes sense then why multivitamins would take the top spot year after year. While overall wellness might seem less sexy than say energy, hair, skin and nails and weight management it shouldn’t be ignored. The goal is figuring out how to successfully market overall wellness to appeal to that goal.
Aside from filling in nutrient gaps there aren’t any other reasons that are common between all three categories. This again illustrates the need to understand your demographic. For example one of the most common assumptions is that the 35-54 year old category cares a lot about weight loss. When you look at the data though weight management doesn’t even rank in their top six reasons.
The bottomline is that with this data in hand you can make sure that you’re marketing the right supplements to the right demographic for the right reasons. This info can be massively helpful so test it out and see what you find.
The Takeaway
The Council for Responsible Nutrition conducts a new Survey on Dietary Supplements every year. It’s a great way to stay on top of what’s going on in the industry from a macro level enabling even better micro level decisions.
At Quality Supplement Manufacturing we’re here to help you with all your supplement manufacturing needs. Whether that’s revving up your production to meet demand or switching gears break into a new market. We special in tablet and capsule manufacturing and can handle any formula you can throw at us.
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