Top Sports Nutrition Supplement Trends You Shouldn’t Ignore
It’s no secret that there’s money to be made in selling sports nutrition supplements. Unfortunately there are many entrepreneurs new to the industry who don’t understand what it takes to be successful.
Finding success depends on a combination of factors including reviews, price and formula. Keep reading to find out what you need to know to successfully sell sports nutrition supplements.
The Importance of Reviews
In our digital, ecommerce world we all know how important reviews are. Selling sports nutrition supplements without reviews can be an uphill battle. In fact, Lumina
Intelligence recently published a report highlighting exactly that.
“Lumina found the whole sports nutrition category which included plant and animal-based protein powders, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), probiotics, creatine and pre-workout blends had gathered some 2.5 million reviews in 20 countries, growing 15% in the six months between September 2018 and March 2019. In that period growth
in the Asia-Pacific was even more robust at 25%.”
Reviews help us to measure and understand the growth of the industry. In addition we can also use the growth in reviews and the reviews themselves to gauge the growth and success of your own and other brands.
While it is difficult to generate reviews especially when your brand is just starting out it has to be a key focus of your marketing efforts. Afterall, without reviews, you could have the best supplements in the world and nobody would know or care!
Something to keep in mind though is experimenting with ways of generating legitimate reviews. Fake and paid reviews can leave you worse off by leading marketplaces to punish you and customers to mistrust you.
Pricing Your Supplements to Sell
You’ve probably heard the advice not to sell yourself short but in the sports nutrition industry price is a huge factor in making sales. While you shouldn’t sell yourself short it’s also important to price your products to sell.
“One of the drivers of sports nutrition popularity is price – most ingredients like proteins, caffeine and creatine are relatively low-cost compared to the likes of omega-3s or some vitamins. This is the case for category stalwart, protein powders, which typically cost between $0.6 and $0.8 per serving, although premium offerings push the category average up to $1.32.”
Low-price, more reviews is the norm. This benefits brands in the direct-to-consumer category because they can cut out the middleman and cut costs even more.
One way to entice customers to pay a higher price is with a clean label. Popular clean label claims include ‘no banned substances,’ ‘no artificial sweeteners,’ and ‘no GMOs’ or ‘non-GMO.’ These types of clean label claims can also help to drive reviews as well.
In fact, “One fifth of all sports nutrition products now make at least one clean label claim, and these products are reviewed twice as often as those without clean label claims.”
Top Sports Nutrition Ingredient Trends
Creating your sports nutrition supplements has become about more than using the best ingredients on the market. You need to focus on ingredients that can help you garner good reviews while keeping your price low.
Here are some trends you need to consider when developing your next formula.
Protein Powder
There are two main trends that are driving protein powder sales at the moment. First, plant-based protein is on the rise. Second, animal proteins, like whey, aren’t going anywhere.
According to Nutra Ingredients, “In Q3 2018 blends accounted for 10% of the market, with plant proteins at about 15% and animal proteins at 75% revealing whey protein will not lose its crown any time soon.”
Pre-Workout Supplements
Many athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike have come to rely on and love pre-workout supplements. Pre-workout gives them the immediate boost in mental and physical stimulation they need to make the most out of a gym session or get the leg up they need in competition.
Top pre-workout formulas are driven by caffeine, creatine and BCAAs, which can be found in 75% of pre-workout formulas. Keep in mind that this is a supplement category that gives you the opportunity to get a little more creative with your ingredients list.
Nutra Ingredients states that, “At the same time it has the widest ingredient palette of any sports nutrition category with a large selection of amino acids present and north of 50 botanical extract (61% contain botanicals like green tea and ginseng).”
Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)
BCAAs have been around since the 1970s. Back then they had a much smaller base of enthusiasts compared to today. But thanks to this devoted base of enthusiasts BCAAs has grown to be the highest rated sports nutrition category.
Some of the most popular brands choose to follow the 2:1:1 ratio of leucine, isoleucine and valine BCAAs. This ratio is also backed by research with the goal of muscle building in mind. Another category to keep in mind is essential amino acids or EAAs as they grow in popularity and demand.
The Takeaway
Creating a supplement that sells isn’t just about creating the best and the baddest formula anymore. You also have to consider price and reviews into your decision making. When you create a strategy that prioritizes reviews, price and formula you’re well on your way to success.
At Quality Supplement Manufacturing we can help you with all your sports nutrition supplement manufacturing needs! We specialize in tablets, capsules and powders and we can help you get the job done in no time thanks to our years of industry experience.
