IRI: Overall Supplement Sales Slightly Up

For fiscal 2001, the sales-tracking organization Information Resources Inc. (IRI), reported that sales for herbs and vitamins were down, while minerals, nonherbals and weight control products were up in the supermarket, drugstore and mass merchandising channels (excluding Wal-Mart). Taking into consideration all categories, the market was up .8 percent in sales in fiscal 2001, ended Jan. 6, over fiscal 2000.

Highlights from the report include the following:

Herbs

-Herbal products were down 21 percent to $337.2 million.

-The biggest sales increases were seen in black cohosh root (up 106 percent to $9.6 million), multiherbs (up 68 percent to $6.3 million) and milk thistle (up 12.8 percent to $7.0 million).

-The herbs with some of the biggest sales decreases included St. John's wort (down 40.5 percent to $24.1 million), Ginkgo biloba (down 35.3 percent to $46.1 million) and ginseng (down 32.8 percent to $30.9 million).

-Herbal brands in the Top 10 that posted growth were Estroven (up 32.6 percent to $11.0 million) and Sundown (up 7.8 percent to $7.6 million).

Minerals

-The total sales for minerals were up .8 percent to $375.7 million.

-The mineral categories that saw increases were multiminerals (up 26.7 percent to $5.2 million), iron (up 4.6 percent to $50.3 millon) and calcium (up 1.4 percent to $265.4 million).

-Of the top 15 brands, those that showed growth included Citracal (up 5.7 percent to $33.2 million) and Nature Made (up 6.7 percent to $26.2 million).

Nonherbals

-Total sales for nonherbal products were up 7.9 percent to $470.5 million.

-Winners for the category included flaxseed products (up 46.4 percent to $8.7 million), fish oil/fatty acid products (up 21.2 percent to $13.6 million), co-enzymes and CoQ10 products (up 12.6 percent to $31.8 million) and acidophilus products (up 10.7 percent to $10.6 million).

-Products that saw a loss in sales included those made from bee pollen (down 28.4 percent to $1 million) and gelatin (down 12.3 percent to $14.1 million).

-Included in the Top 15 nonherbal brands were Nature's Bounty (up 10.4 percent to $26.3 million in sales) and Sundown (up 8.1 percent to $18.2 million).

Vitamins

-Total letter vitamins were down 9.1 percent to $498.6 million while total multivitamins were up .1 percent to $640.2 million.

-In the Top 10 of vitamin vendors, the private label category dominated sales ($484 million), while Pharmavite came in third ($168.7 million), Rexall Sundown in sixth ($50.4 million), Nature's Bounty in eighth ($42.3 million) and Leiner Health Products in tenth ($34.4 million).

-Of the Top 10 vitamin brands, Nature Made was second in sales ($153.2 million), Sundown was sixth ($39.5 million) and Os Cal was eighth ($33.1 million). Private label vitamins led the pack with $484.2 million in sales.

-The only letter vitamins that sales posted growth were vitamin B (up .5 percent to $63 million) and vitamin K (up 31.9 percent to $14,290).

-In the multivitamin category and subcategory, the biggest increase was seen in antioxidants (up 19.1 percent to $13.9 million) followed by adult multivitamins (up 1.1 percent to $520.7 million).

Weight Control Products

-For the liquid/powder category, sales were up 14.8 percent to $954.2 million.

-Slim Fast products reigned, with a 41.4-percent share of the market.

-The majority of the Top 10 vendors in the category experienced increased sales. Those in the Top 10 included Atkins Nutritionals (up 138.6 percent to $11.0 million), Twinlab (down 10 percent to $10.7 million) and Naturade (up 46.9 percent to $7.3 million).

-In terms of weight control candy/tablets, Metabolife International held the largest market share of 41.7 percent, translated into $138.5 million in sales. Included in the Top 10 vendors for this subcategory included Twinlab (up 38.3 percent to $28 million) and Nature's Bounty (up 567.2 percent to $6.5 million).

-The Top 10 brands in candy/tablets included Metabolife's 356, Metab O Lite and Metab O Lite Plus, as well as Twinlab's Ripped Fuel, Diet Fuel and Metabolift.

For more information on this report, visit www.infores.com.