Following a recent blog post from NBJ Editor Carlotta Mast that detailed strong 2008 sales in the supplement industry, NBJ received a number of inquires regarding supplement sales performance in the 4th quarter of 2008.

Though a complete analysis of supplement industry sales channels (natural/specialty retail, mass market and direct to consumer) is still in the works and will be published in NBJ’s Nutrition Industry Overview Issue soon, we have had a chance to look at a few data sources so far.

In particular, we’ve had a chance to look at calendar year 2008 and Q4 2008 data from Information Resources Inc., a leading provider of scanner-based retail sales and trending data in the mass market (food, drug, mass).

IRI data shows mixed results across the leading supplement products when one compares the first three quarters versus the final quarter of 2008.

Great News:

Multivitamin sales were up 3.4% in Q1-3 and up 4% in Q4.

Calcium sales were up 4.8% in Q1-3 and up 7.7% in Q4.

Vitamin A&D were up 91.9% in Q1-3 and up 97.6% in Q4.

Good News

Total herbal supplement sales were up 7.4% in Q1-3, but up only 6.2% in Q4.

Total non-herbal or specialty supplement sales were up 14.3% in Q1-3, but in Q4 only up 11.6%.

Glucosamine & chondroitins were up 5.3% in Q1-3 and up only 0.3% in Q4.

EFAs were up 28.5% in Q1-3 and up only 25.7% in Q4.

Bad News:

Most supplements tracked by IRI showed softness in the 4th quarter of 2008. This tells us that the supplement industry is not immune to the effects of the sour economy. Consumers may be turning to dietary supplements and self-care efforts in lieu of rushing to the doctor, but as a rising tide lifts all boats, a falling tide moves them just the same.

2009 will be a year to closely track supplement industry trends and Nutrition Business Journal will be there to report on every subtlety and nuance in the market. Stay tuned to The NBJ Blog for more on the supplement industry as 2009 unfolds.

-Patrick

If you are a subscriber to Nutrition Business Journal, you can now access all of the 2008 Nutrition Industry Overview online at nutritionbusinessjournal.com. No need to sort through your over flowing mailbox, search your desk and interrogate your co-workers for your copy of NBJ. Just go to nutritionbusinessjournal.com.

To see all the articles, go to the current issue page. Here you will see the entire overview issue laid out in an expanded table of contents view. From here you can link to every article if you are signed in as an NBJ subscriber.

If you do not know your NBJ subscriber username and password, call Rachel Dederich, NBJ’s Subscriber Services Coordinator, at 303.998.9263.

-Patrick

You may or may not know that New Hope (NBJ’s parent company) and Supermarket News launched a trade show June 18-19, 2008 called Healthy Foods International Expo.

As part of the education program, Nutrition Business Journal presented on the findings of a series of surveys of consumers, conventional retailers and conventional food manufacturers regarding their beliefs about healthy foods. The presentation was entitled New Insights into the Motivations, Attitudes and Behaviors of U.S. Grocery Consumers.

The presentation drew over 100 attendees and two breakouts on retailers and manufacturers were well attended as well. No matter how much credit we give them, conventional retailers and manufacturers of healthy foods still don’t completely get it. They have alot to learn, which made it all the more important that we were there to impart some of our industry knowledge to them over two days.

The show, though a launch, was perfectly produced and went off without a hitch (at least from my perspective). Attendance was a bit sparse, but understandably so in this economy, setting the stage for growth down the road. Approximately 100 exhibitors presented their latest healthy foods offerings to conventional retailer buyers and executives who pounded the floor.

While in the Dallas Convention Center, I took a few videos to show you what the show really looked like. Please excuse the fogginess of the video - my camera didn’t handle the humid climate so well.

This video is of the rush to get on the show floor when it opened Wednesday at 12 noon so you can get an idea of what the show looked like.

This video is of the crowd gathered to hear Samuel Fromartz, author of Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew, give the keynote address Wednesday evening after the show floor closed

This video is from celebrity& author Devin Alexander

To learn more about NBJ’s research on the healthy foods market, go to NBJ’s Healthy, Lesser-Evil and Functional Foods channel, where all of NBJ’s information on these categories is aggregated.

Enjoy.

-Patrick

NBTY, a well known acquirer of distressed brands and businesses in the U.S. supplement industry, has acquired the assets of Leiner Health Products, a bankrupt private label manufacturer of vitamins and other dietary supplements.

NBTY announced that it has paid $371 million for the assets and the assumption of certain liabilities, but the price of the deal can move $110 million north or south of $371 million, based on the amount of working capital on Leiner’s balance sheet at closing. NBTY said it hopes to close the deal no later than September 2008. North Castle Partners and Golden Gate Capital recapitalized Leiner in 2004 for $650 million. Prior to that, North Castle Partners had been the sole investor in Leiner. NBJ estimated Leiner’s 2006 supplement sales at $550 million.

Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Carson, Calif., Leiner Health Products is a leading manufacturer of store brand vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements (VMS), as measured by retail sales, and supplies the food, drug, mass merchant and warehouse club (FDMC) retail market. Leiner provides the FDMC retailers with over 2,000 products to help its customers create and market high-quality store brands at low prices. It is also the largest supplier of VMS to the U.S. military. Leiner markets its own brand of vitamins under YourLife. In 2007, Leiner distributed more than 21 billion doses that help offer consumers high quality, affordable choices to improve their health and wellness.

NBTY is a leading global vertically integrated manufacturer, marketer and distributor of a broad line of high-quality, value-priced nutritional supplements in the United States and throughout the world. Under a number of NBTY and third party brands, the Company offers over 22,000 products, including products marketed by the Company’s Nature’s Bounty, Vitamin World, Puritan’s Pride, Holland & Barrett, Rexall, Sundown, MET-Rx, Worldwide Sport Nutrition, American Health, GNC, DeTuinen, LeNaturiste, SISU, Solgar, Good ‘n’ Natural, Home Health and Ester-C brands.

I would like to introduce you to the new website for Nutrition Business Journal - www.nutritionbusinessjournal.com.

Alot has changed in the world of web design since we first launched NBJ’s website in 1998, so you will notice MANY changes in the look, feel and efficiency of the new nutritionbusinessjournal.com.

NBJ’s mission has always been to deliver strategic business information, analysis and market data to those in or interested in the nutrition industry to fuel better business decisions and promote healthier lifestyles. The new nutritionbusinessjournal.com is our new way of delivering on this mission.

I welcome your feedback and suggestions, via this blog or via my email prea@nutritionbusiness.com

Enjoy!

-Patrick