Vitamins, Minerals and Alternative Remedies for Children

Many parents are concerned about their children’s nutrition. Processed foods lack many vitamins and minerals, and are filled with preservatives, while fresh fruits and vegetables can lack proper nutritional value because they are often picked too early or grown in poor soil. Children who don’t get all the nutrition they need from their diets can take specially formulated dietary supplements to help ensure they get enough vitamins and minerals, an essential component to proper physical development.
In addition, homeopathic medicines and herbal formulas for children can provide safe, natural and effective relief of symptoms associated with an array of conditions, including infections, allergies, tonsillitis and hyper-activity. Natural remedies can also work well for a wide range of disorders that eminently occur in children such as bed-wetting, infant’s colic, teething problems, earache, diaper rash, infantile eczema, congestion and fever.
Sales growth data suggests consumers are interested in safe supplementation and natural alternatives for children. All data cited below was provided by SPINSscan Natural and Conventional Channels, for the 52 weeks ending March 22, 2008, March 24, 2007 and March 25, 2006.
Children’s herbal formulas and homeopathic medicines have experienced annual compound growth of 43.4 percent and 36.0 percent, respectively, since 2006. For the combined channel, the growth of each segment has significantly outpaced its relative overall category growth. Combined channel sales of children’s herbal formulas increased by 19.6 percent, during the most recent 52-week period, versus an increase of only 5.7 percent for the overall category; and, sales of children’s homeopathic medicines increased by 13.6 percent, versus category growth of 5.8 percent.
Segment growth is driven by sales in the conventional food/drug/mass (FDM) channel, where 52-week sales of children’s herbal formulas increased by 53.4 percent and children’s homeopathic medicines increased by 16.0 percent. Comparatively, children’s vitamins and minerals, a segment with significantly higher and more developed sales, is growing at a slower rate, with compound annual growth of 6.6 percent and 52-week growth of 3.5 percent. However, despite slower growth, the children’s vitamins and minerals segment is outpacing overall segment growth of only 2.4 percent. Growth of the children’s vitamins and minerals segment is greater in the natural supermarket channel, where 52-week sales increased by 4.5 percent, versus an increase of 3.3 percent in the conventional FDM channel.

Echinacea, ginger and elderberry are the leading primary ingredients used in children’s herbal formulas and generate the highest sales volume in the combined channel, together representing 66 percent of total sales volume. The fastest growing ingredients, in the combined channel, include cinnamon, ginger and astragalus, with sales dollar increases of 128.4 percent, 114.4 percent and 29.6 percent, respectively. Chinese herbs, passion flower and bromelain experienced the most significant growth in the natural supermarket channel, while chamomile, cinnamon and valerian were the segment’s fastest growing ingredients in the conventional FDM channel.
Products sold through the natural supermarket channel feature 40+ primary ingredients, while the conventional FDM channel has a narrow selection of products that feature only 16 primary ingredients. In fact, the segment’s three fastest growing ingredients in the natural supermarket channel are currently not available as primary ingredients in products sold through the conventional FDM channel. High-growth ingredients are experiencing greater use, availability and popularity in part due to their many uses in treating a wide range of illnesses and ailments. For example, ginger is commonly used for treating abdominal pain caused by digestive disorders.
Multi-vitamin supplements contribute the majority of sales within children’s vitamins and minerals, with a 96 percent share of total dollar sales. Following multi-vitamin formulas, vitamin C (not including Ester-C) and calcium supplements are the top-volume generators within children’s vitamins and minerals in the combined channel. The fastest growing ingredients in the combined channel include cranberry supplements, probiotic supplements and vitamin C (not including Ester-C), with sales increases of 149.1 percent, 95.8 percent and 75.8 percent, respectively. Cranberry supplements, probiotic supplements and vitamin B complex experienced the most significant 52-week growth in the natural supermarket channel, while multi-minerals, probiotic supplements and vitamin C (not including Ester-C) were the segment’s fastest growing ingredients in the conventional FDM channel. Both probiotic and cranberry supplements are relatively new and undeveloped primary ingredients within the children’s segment, with combined channel 52-week dollar sales of only $204,700 and $154,200, respectively.
In addition to the 560 products SPINS categorizes as children’s vitamins and minerals, there are hundreds of other children’s supplements, which are classified in other categories across vitamins and supplements. The food supplement category alone contains more than 250 items marketed for children and there are dozens of others dispersed across many segments, including calcium and calcium formulas, vitamins A, D and K, carotenoids and antioxidant formulas, vitamin B and vitamin E.

The preferred form of children’s vitamins and minerals, herbal formulas and homeopathic medicines varies by segment. For the children’s vitamins and minerals segment, supplements sold in chewable form generate the most combined channel sales, with 83.4 percent of segment dollar share. Supplements in liquid form follow, with 8.5 percent of segment dollar share. In the children’s herbal formulas segment, formulas sold in liquid form generate the most combined channel volume, representing 41.5 percent of sales. Formulas in chewable form follow, with a 24.8 percent share of segment sales. Tablets, sprays, powders and capsules are currently exclusive segment forms to the natural supermarket channel. Children’s homeopathic medicines sold in tablet form generate the most volume, with a combined channel sales share of 64.9 percent. Total sales of homeopathic products in liquid form follow, comprising 29.4 percent of the segment’s dollar volume. Tinctures and sprays are currently exclusive segment forms to the natural supermarket channel.
As awareness continues to advance, growth will undoubtedly continue across these dynamic children’s segments. Primary ingredient trends will continue to progress and innovation will be seen in both flavors and forms.

Alison Tirone is a marketing consultant with Schaumburg, Ill.-based SPINS, a market research firm. SPINS is a leading provider of industry reporting and consulting services for the natural products sector, including retail measurement services, content-based reporting, consumer information and consulting services. Learn more at SPINS.com, or contact the company at (847) 908-1200.