Joint Health Supplements: Price & Delivery Form Matter
The global joint health supplements market is expected to witness substantial growth, primarily driven by the steady increase in demand for dietary supplements from the geriatric population. In recent years, more consumers are turning to preventive measures to protect their joint health.
North America is the dominant regional market thus far, as the United States holds advantages with its advanced technology, pharmacy distribution channels, and medical facilities. The data from our ClearCut portal corroborates this market outlook:
The total revenue of the joint health supplements category on Amazon surged by 35% in Q2, followed by approximately 8% QoQ increases in Q3 and Q4 of 2020.
Joint health supplements are produced in a variety of delivery methods, from the more traditional capsules and tablets to less common patches and lozenges. Over the past 2 years, capsules and tablets led among all the available delivery methods and accounted for similar market shares of 43% and 41%, respectively. The performance pattern of these two delivery methods closely followed the overall category trends. Liquids, soft gels, and powders occupied the third to fifth highest market shares, all ranging around 5% to 6%. Liquids and soft gels showed more momentum for growth than powder. Specifically, liquids outperformed the category by 2x in the second half of 2020, while soft gels outperformed the category in the last quarter of 2020.
The list of top 10 brands for joint health supplements by revenue diverge from the top 10 brands by units sold. Move Free and Osteo Bi-Flex led as the first and second in both lists with market shares of 9% and 8%. Move Free underperformed the category in the first half of 2020, but it kept improving from a quarterly perspective; it bounced back starting in Q3 and outperformed the category by a margin of 8% in Q4. In contrast, Osteo Bi-Flex outperformed the category in the first half of 2020, especially in Q2 with a stunning 53% QoQ growth, yet its revenue immediately dwindled with its QoQ rate dropping to 2% in Q3, underperforming the category over the last two quarters of 2020. NOW Foods and Doctor’s Best generated the third and fifth highest revenue out of all brands; however, the former underperformed the category while the latter outperformed by a much more significant amount in 2020. Interestingly, these two brands switched positions on the top brand list based on units sold – Doctor’s Best sold the third-highest number of units as Now Foods came in as the fifth.
There are two further insights for joint health supplements gleaned from looking at the top brands in this category. First, tablets are a more favored and profitable delivery method than capsules among the top brands, which are Move Free, Doctor’s Best, and Puritan’s Pride. Move Free, the best-selling brand, generated nearly all its joint health supplement revenue from products in tablet form. Doctor’s Best, the only one out of the top 10 that outperformed the category throughout 2020, saw a major decrease of 16% in revenue from capsules along with a 3% increase from tablets. Doctor’s Best’s joint health supplement products in powder form also showed potential as its share of revenue jumped from 17% to 31% over the course of 12 months. Puritan’s Pride had a 5% decrease in revenue in capsules and a 5% increase in tablets, while the revenue share from soft gels remained essentially the same in 2020.
It also appeared that even though several brands with higher average prices had relatively high-ranking positions in the category, price might be a determining factor for a brand in this category to be successful, at least in 2020.
While the category’s average price was $25 in 2020, Instaflex, Garden of Life, and Cosamin had average prices up to $66. But looking at the brands that outperformed the category – Move Free was in close vicinity of the category average, and Doctor’s Best and Puritan’s Pride both had average prices between $14 to $17 per unit.
In closing, the Joint Health Supplements category is set to grow as demand is projected to increase in the foreseeable future. Tablets have more potential in being the most favored and profitable delivery method. Price might be a critical factor; thus, devising a pricing strategy might be beneficial for the involving brands.
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