While it may be cause for celebration to see double digit sales increases for immunity supplements as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the globe, there are some behind-the-scenes implications that can limit growth if they aren’t handled properly. When it comes to immunity supplement trends, there are three key considerations to keep in mind:
- One – the loss of seasonality;
- Two – shorter product life cycles; and
- Three – the need for a collaboration partner to help deal with One and Two.
Seasonality
The loss of seasonality is due primarily to a consumer shift away from retail brick-and-mortar shopping to online shopping. This was already happening before the pandemic lockdowns were put into effect, but the pandemic has accelerated the trend and has possibly made it permanent. With a diminishing ability to rely on traditional retail shelf sets and planogram calendars, marketers now need to consider effective ways to catch the eyeballs of Internet shoppers who may not even know they’re looking for immunity supplements.
Shorter Product Lifecycles
The online shopping shift is leading to shorter product life cycles, as consumers are looking for ‘new’ news much more often. And because online shopping happens all day, every day, catching consumers’ attention becomes harder and harder. Marketers need to be vigilant about keeping up with new ingredient trends, and they must be able to understand the relative strength of the science underlying benefit claims. To do that effectively, it pays to have a collaboration partner who knows the landscape, and who can share the burden of sourcing and vetting new science-backed ingredients for immunity supplements.
Finding an Immunity Supplement Partner
And that is where Vitaquest really shines. The company has built a strong reputation over 40 years as a reliable collaboration partner. Rick Handel, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations, points out that up to 30% of Vitaquest’s product mix is new each year. That statistic highlights the comprehensive and agile supplement formulation, development, and manufacturing support that Vitaquest provides to its customers, helping them to drive innovation and marketability in new products, updates of existing products, and line extensions.
Vitaquest’s encyclopedic knowledge of ingredients attracts customers, but it also attracts vendors of exciting new science-based ingredients. These innovative suppliers bring their best ideas to Vitaquest, knowing that the company’s formulation expertise and broad-based customer base can help to deliver their proprietary ingredients to a global audience in every distribution channel.
So, if you’re a marketer looking for a collaboration partner to help you handle the implications of the boom in immunity supplements, contact Rick to discuss how Vitaquest can put their expertise to work for you.
