An Herb to Watch – Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is an herb that grows in India, Africa, and the Middle East, and is also known as Indian Ginseng. It is commonly used in the traditional Indian medicine practice called Ayurveda. It has a Sanskrit name – “ashwa” means horse, and “gandha” means small, as the root of the plant reportedly smells like a horse. Now more than ever, people are looking for herbal alternatives to narcotics and medication which may have more severe side effects, and are looking for a holistic and natural way to treat everyday symptoms.
What trends are we seeing with the Ashwagandha category and where is it headed?
The global Ayurvedic Medicine market size is expected to grow with a CAGR of 11.4% from 2020 to 2025. The global market is expected to reach $7.3B by 2025 according to MarketWatch. In 2020 the Amazon marketplace for Ashwagandha products also saw ongoing growth. Since 2018, the number of units sold has increased 45% and the total revenue for the category has increased by 41%. When we compare Q2 2020 to Q1 2020, we see an increase in revenue by 32%. The category then continued to grow in Q3 and saw a 19% QoQ growth in revenue as compared to Q2.
Additionally, if we look at the most used words in the title of products that companies used in the Ashwagandha category of the Amazon Marketplace, we can validate that consumers are looking for some of the specific alleged benefits of Ashwagandha. This means looking at every title that every company provides for its products, and finding the most used word in those titles across the category. The word ‘Stress’ was used 2,313 times, ‘Support’ 2,195 times, ‘Relief’ 1,963 times, ‘Anxiety’ 1,473 times, ‘Energy’ 1,029 times, and ‘Mood’ 1,105. This would indicate that companies are marketing the product as a way to treat anxiety, stress, lack of energy, and general mood improvement. Additionally, we continue to see that companies want to present their products as natural substitutes, with words like ‘Organic’ listed 3,257 times, ‘Natural’ 836 times, and ‘Pure’ 669 times.
The top 10 brands in the Amazon Marketplace for Ashwagandha products account for 62% of the category’s revenue. Not to mention, we see that these top brands continue to see upticks in revenue. Comparing Q2 to Q1, 9 out of 10 brands experienced growth. This trend went on in Q3, as 9 out of the 10 brands saw growth in revenue as compared to Q2. One significant stand out is Nature’s Bounty, which saw a 66% growth comparing Q2 to Q1 and an additional 134% increase when comparing Q3 to Q2. The top 20 ASINs accounted for almost 70% of the category’s revenue. The top 20 Asins is a competitive place to be, with no brand having clear dominance. The brands with the most ASINs in the top 20 are Physician’s Choice, Organic India, Gaia Herbs – with two ASINs each.
When it comes to delivery methods, consumers overwhelmingly prefer capsules. The revenue from capsules is more than 4 times the sum of revenue from all of the other delivery methods combined! It commanded 81% of the market share in Q3 2020. The next-highest was Tablets with 8% followed by Powder at 7% and Liquid at 4%. With that being said, each of the different delivery methods saw growth QoQ during 2020. Tablets have seen continued and steady growth in 2020; specifically in Q2 of 2020, it had the highest growth rate of the category with a 65% growth in revenue as compared to Q1. It was the second-fastest-growing delivery method in QoQ when comparing Q3 2020 to Q2 2020.
The data indicates that consumers have turned to the Amazon marketplace to purchase their Ashwagandha products, and we predict that this will not stop. The top-selling products, top brands, and even the full variety of delivery methods have experienced continued growth in 2020.
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