Mass market still most shopped channel

More vitamins, minerals and supplements were sold online so far in 2016 than have been sold through a Walmart store, TABS Analytics reported earlier this year. According to the TABS Analytics analysis, $2 billion in VMS products were sold online vs. $1.7 billion at Walmart, $1.3 billion at Costco and $1.2 billion at CVS Pharmacy.

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Amazon continued to lead all online sites with a 35% share of all online domain occasions. Online sales of supplement products are attracting more attention, as other pure-play online retailers have gained ground against brick-and-mortar stores in the past year.



Yet, mass market is still the most shopped channel for VMS with 65% of consumers shopping in it exclusively, while only 14% of all consumers shop exclusively at non-mass channels.



There are also fewer heavy VMS buyers, the report noted.



“The softness we’re seeing in the VMS market compared to previous years is directly linked to the decline in heavy buyers,” suggested Kurt Jetta, president of TABS Analytics. “This has been isolated to the mass market as specialty and online have held their heavy buyers and picked up volume as a result. The bigger heavy buyer declines are occurring with women and younger buyers between the ages of 18 to 54 years. Since heavy buyers respond well to category innovation and retailer promotions, these two areas should be a primary focus for manufacturers and retailers going forward.”



The study, which is now in its seventh consecutive year, was conducted in April 2016 by Caravan, part of ORC International, and surveyed 1,017 geographically and demographically dispersed adult consumers between the ages of 18 and 75 years.