In November, two of our team, Helena and Charlotte headed off to Frankfurt to attend the Nutraingredients Sports Nutrition conference. With a wide range of speakers, it was great for us to keep our knowledge of the sector up to date, ensuring that we can help our brands keep at the forefront of sports nutrition.
One of the speakers, a research analyst at EuroMonitor displayed some impressive statistics about the sports nutrition industry and it’s increasing growth. The annual growth of the industry is reported at 13% in Western Europe, with the UK sports nutrition annual value sales being over triple of Germany’s ($831m vs $244m), the next highest in Europe (Euromonitor, 2016). A statistic that surprised both of us!
Reports were also showing that as the Sports Nutrition market becomes more saturated, it is likely for Sports Nutrition brands to increase their offering to “Weekend Warriors” and those who want to live a healthy, active lifestyle rather than just looking at performance. This was also supported by Nick Morgan, a consultant to the industry, who suggested there would be a surge in the number of products targeting those who are recreationally active. It is predicted that the popular products over the next year will be products containing superfoods, organic, or products which provide a health benefit as well as performance.
The other key trends likely to be seen in the future will be a continued interest in low calorie and low sugar products and more joint health products. It was estimated that 64.9% of the UK is overweight or obese in 2016. Due to this, the everyday person in the UK may look to reduce their sugar levels, resulting in low sugar products surging in the market. Similarly, by 2021 it is predicted that over 20% of the European population will be over 65. The aging population indicates joint health and products such as coenzyme Q10 which improve heart health will become increasingly popular.
If you would like to keep ahead of the trends, contact us at enquiries@opalbond.co.uk to see how we can help you develop and launch these products.