The trend towards healthier products and lifestyles has been gathering pace for some time; and next to mindfulness, exercise and eating well, people are increasingly turning to vitamins, minerals and supplements (VMS) to take a more holistic approach to their wellbeing.
Improving people’s health, confidence and wellbeing through brands that are powered by purpose and innovation has always been a priority for Unilever. And as part of our Compass strategy, we have identified Health & Wellbeing as a key growth space of the future. We spoke to Jostein Solheim – CEO, Health & Wellbeing – to find out more about it.
What does the Health & Wellbeing landscape look like?
The category has gone through a fundamental shift, moving from a problem/solution industry dominated by pharmaceutical companies to one offering proactive solutions for immunity and mental, physical and emotional health.
There are four main trends driving category growth. The first is consumers who are shaping the category – digitally minded Millennials and Gen Zers who no longer see health as the absence of illness and disease but as a lifestyle goal to pursue. The second is that products are becoming more about benefit-led personalisation rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. The third is the overlapping of what once used to be separate categories: VMS, beauty, personal care and foods. And lastly, the rise of the conscious consumer and the rapid shift to digital is really encouraging a sense of community and lifestyle.
How big is this business for Unilever?
This is a huge opportunity. Turnover for Health & Wellbeing is already more than €1 billion, with over 50% USG each year since 2019. And since 40% of the business is online, we can drive economies of scale in our digitally focused marketing model and expand each brand’s in-store presence – a real strength of Unilever’s.
With the global market estimated to be worth more than €160 billion, our focus is on the US, China and Europe – geographies where the industry is sizable and growing. Vitamins and dietary supplements, which constitute about two-thirds of the market, and functional hydration fit best with our strategy.
With our portfolio of insurgent brands, our focus is on market development and playing in high-growth benefit spaces that are ripe for disruption.
What manufacturers are in our portfolio?
We have now a spread of fast-growing, science-driven manufacturers which might be reinventing the business.
Liquid I.V. is a purposeful hydration emblem that has disrupted the marketplace and is the No.1 powdered hydration emblem in the United States.
OLLY, the No. 1 Gummy Diet emblem in the United States, makes nutrients and dietary supplements that ship ‘actual deal’ advantages. The brainchild of Eric Ryan, OLLY is on a project to make caring for your self ‘really pleasant’.
SmartyPants Nutrients is a pacesetter within the business relating to transparency round science and elements and is the No.1 multivitamins emblem and No.1 gummies emblem on Amazon. SmartyPants Nutrients has equipped life-changing vitamins to over 27 million girls and kids all over the world by way of its ten-year partnership with the Diet Angels charity.
Onnit, very best identified for its Alpha Mind product, is the No.2 nootropics/mind dietary supplements emblem in the United States. Onnit dietary supplements lend a hand optimise the human physique and are constructed on the most productive vitamins and scientifically confirmed elements.
Nutrafol is the No.1 dermatologist-recommended hair progress complement emblem in the United States and gives a spread of clinically examined, physician-formulated merchandise designed to lend a hand thinning hair and hair well being for men and women at more than a few levels of their lives.
Equilibra, an Italian corporate based in 1987, has at all times been devoted to those that wish to maintain their wellbeing and attractiveness in a herbal approach, combining high quality and innovation.
Welly is bringing happiness and simplicity to therapeutic with their disruption within the first support class. Their fresh enlargement with over the counter Welly medication and nutritional dietary supplements comprises the types Ache & Fever, Cough & Chilly, Digestive, Sleep, Hypersensitivity, and Temper.
What used to be the pondering in the back of our acquisition of Nutrafol?
Nutrafol strengthens our portfolio in a brand new advantage area for us, whilst enjoying on the high-growth intersection of VMS, attractiveness and hair, which is the place our experience can in point of fact upload worth. In contrast to conventional hair progress merchandise that concentrate on a unmarried purpose, Nutrafol takes a whole-body method that makes use of medical-grade nutraceutical elements to focus on the more than one root reasons of hair loss and hair issues, together with hormones, rigidity, way of life, metabolism, vitamin and growing older.
Unilever’s topical hair science capacity and Nutrafol’s credentials in hair wellness from inside are an excellent aggregate.
When purchasing VMS merchandise, what do other people search for?
Now not best is science vital; being clear may be vital for customers. Nutrafol, as an example, has medical research to end up efficacy, and transparency is on the middle of SmartyPants.
We all know other people need purpose-driven manufacturers and that’s on the core of our providing. As an example, Liquid I.V.’s give-back programme has donated 25 million servings of hydrating merchandise and OLLY helps psychological wellness in colleges during the JED Basis, a US non-profit organisation.
And in spite of everything, social evidence and endorsement. Persons are on-line, researching and in search of proof at the science, critiques, suggestions and knowledgeable critiques. The facility of being a digitally led emblem is the facility to teach in a posh class. ONNIT is a brilliant instance with its Instagram tribe nearing 1,000,000 fans.
What does the long run cling?
It’s anticipated that almost all class progress will likely be pushed via gummies and powders, which is 80% of our present US industry.
In the following couple of years, we wish Well being & Wellbeing to make an much more subject material contribution to Unilever’s general industry via natural progress in the United States, global enlargement in China and Europe, and new M&A alternatives.
We see a endured focal point on benefit-led areas, equivalent to sleep and rigidity, purposeful hydration, attractiveness from inside, youngsters’ well being and nootropics. All of which we’re uniquely positioned to do smartly in.
