The sports nutritional product market appears healthy, fueled by projected sports beverage sales of $7.4 billion in 2013, reflecting 6% growth, combined with projected sales of $2.6 billion for nutrition bars in 2013, reflecting double-digit growth, according to new research from Packaged Facts.
In a summary of its new report, The Sports Nutritionals Market in the U.S.: Sports Drinks and Nutrition Bars, the market research company notes that sales had dropped in recent years due to recession-battered consumers pulling back from a wide range of discretionary expenditures.
The company says by 2010, with a recovering economy and PepsiCo's revival of the Gatorade brand, the sports drink category experienced a rebound.
The market is powered by 77 million users of sports drinks and 28 million consumers of nutrition bars. Yet, there are vast demographic and attitudinal differences between those who are high-volume users of sports drinks and those who eat relatively large quantities of nutrition bars. For example, in the last 30 days, 55% of consumers who ate at least one nutrition bar were women. Female consumers of nutrition bars outnumber male counterparts 15.2 million to 12.4 million.
However in contrast, men account for 64% of high-volume users of sports drinks, with younger men most likely to purchase them.
The reports also covers the types of fitness activities these sports nutritional products consumers pursue, noting that individual pursuits rather than team sports are key to success in this retail sports nutrition market.
Nutritional powders, high-protein beverages and energy bars can help build a successful sports nutrition portfolio using the right ingredients and formulating techniques.
