In this Issue

What can retailers do to create a better proposition for the New General Market? Where are the opportunities? How can retailers and brands work together to cultivate New General Market consumers and foster their success? How can they innovate with purpose and meaning with the common goal of connecting with the New General Market consumer?

Protein bars have been flying off the shelves in mass outlets lately. Sales of nutritional bars were up 3.4% to $2.4 billion for the 52 weeks ended April 16, according to IRI across total U.S. multi-outlets.

Most brands still have a long way to go to live up to the promise of personalized, 1-to-1 relationships with customers that the Internet was supposed to facilitate, according to Evan Neufeld, VP of intelligence at benchmarking firm L2.

The Makeup Show NYC kicked off in May, with an address from director of artistry James Vincent. As a makeup artist with decades of experience working in every facet of the industry, Vincent offered a firsthand account of the trends that are fueling social media, driving sales and shaping product development.

Retailers and their suppliers are squandering opportunities to grow their businesses together strategically, a former Target executive told attendees at the third annual New General Market Summit, hosted by Drug Store News and Mack Elevation. “The discussion between retail and CPGs has been reduced to one issue only: How much money are you going to give me? How much cost reduction can we get?” said Daniel Duty, founder and CEO of Minneapolis-based Conlego Consulting.

The first time Method co-founders Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry tried to sell their eco-friendly cleaning products into Target, the then-buyer told them the products had a “snowball’s chance in hell.” At the New General Market Summit, co-hosted by Drug Store News and Mack Elevation in April, Ryan acknowledged that while lucky breaks may have played a role, there were three key elements in Method’s business strategy that took them from that first meeting to more than $100 million in Target sales in 2016.

The combined one- and two-letter vitamins and vitamin, herbal and mineral supplement categories saw an all outlet (total U.S.) growth of 3% for the last 12 months versus the year-ago period, yet the food channel delivered gains of 4% while the drug channel lagged at 2%. Key drivers in drug were VHMS (up 3.4%), followed by one- and two-letter vitamins (up 2.7%). In the food channel, multivitamins gained just 2%, while both VHMS and one- and two-letter vitamins increased 4% and 5%, respectively. (Figure 1)

One year after the project was formally announced, the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s Supplement OWL initiative became a reality this spring when the online product registry went live. A resource for regulators, retailers and the industry, the OWL is an industry-wide, self-regulatory initiative that will help create a rich and more complete picture of the marketplace, and can be accessed by anyone.