Vitamin Supplement Supplier Articles & Resources

Still, it is a business no longer driven by the next big blockbuster ingredient. These days, it is a game of basic blocking and tack in for retailers, most of whom have turned their attention from last-minute product cut-ins to the challenge of SKU optimization, by and large maintaining the in-line spatial commitments they have made to the category, but massaging the mix to weed out underperformers and maximize turns.

Certainly, reducing proliferation in the category is a touchy subject among suppliers. And even though it is the fate of many of their own product lines that are being decided upon right now, those with whom Drug Store News checked in for this story have suggested that, in the long run, this will help grow the category. Some are running their own lines across the chopping block in an effort make the retailers' decisions a little easier.

"We've really begun in the last year to accelerate the pace and become more critical of [our own] items," one supplier, who asked not to be identified, told Drug Store News. "Do we need 85 multivitamin [SKUs]? Can we get by with fewer?" The company is ruthlessly eliminating underperformers and duplicate items across all of its labels. "We're telling the retailer that this is the time that you have to take a critical look at your mix," he said, adding that retailers consider shifting space to accommodate high-volume pieces of the business, increasing facings in segments such as glucosamine-chondroitin.

Another supplier, also speaking anonymously, agreed. "Retailers are cutting back on herbs because of the decline [overall] ... [and] moving that space over to women's health, which is a hot segment right now."

Indeed, it appears that retailers are holding the line on total space commitments to the category. In a mid-March visit to a San Diego-area Longs Drug Store, the chain was still showing about 30 feet of natural health, in facing twin 15-foot runs opposite each other.

At Walgreens, a company spokeswoman confirmed that the chain has not cut space from its basic inline presentation. However, it seems the chain most likely has cut back on how much of its promotional space it might dedicate to merchandising natural health and dietary supplements. Walgreens recently pulled its Nutrition Center--which features 51 products marketed directly against GNC offerings--inline with the rest of its core dietary supplement offering and away from the endcap opposite pharmacy formerly devoted to that initiative.

In recent years, this space had been used for marketing hot new supplement-related initiatives. For instance, prior to the Nutrition Center initiative, Walgreens used that space to promote joint/bone health-specific supplements. However, in a recent visit to a northern New Jersey-area Walgreens, Drug Store News observed this space being used to showcase a wide-sweeping range of more traditional OTC items, including blood pressure monitoring systems and first aid wet-dry items, such as alcohol and Epsom salts.

Educating the consumer at the point of purchase remains a hot-button merchandising priority for many retailers. Both Walgreens and CVS placed pamphlets provided by key vendors that highlight usage and benefit information for select product segments. One supplier, Pharmavite, also had invested in an on-shelf coupon dispenser and a pamphlet/shelf-talker education program at both chains for its Nature Made and Nature's Resource.

Similarly, at Target, a flip-card shelf talker sponsored by Wyeth Consumer's Centrum brand educates consumers on the benefits of supplementation.

Current sales trends in dietary supplements aside, this is a category, suppliers argue, that is far too strategically important from a gross-margin perspective for retailers to turn their backs on. "This category has ... the highest margins of the top 10 [HBA] categories," one supplier explained. "The average margin in [health and beauty aids] is 29 percent; the average margin in this category is 37 per cent.

"We call the vitamin category the Rodney Dangerfield of HBAs," he quipped. Still, retailers should respect the contributions the category makes to the overall front-store, despite the current downturn in the business.

Scorecard: supplements

Category $ sales % $ sales %
 F/D/M change drug change

Total multivitamins $ % $ %
Total letter vitamins 
Total minerals 
Total herbal 
Total non-herbal 

Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended Feb. 3

(*)food/drug/mass excluding Wal-Mart

Dollar sales in millions