Prediction of Biggest Sports Nutrition Trends in 2020
The sports nutrition industry is changing with tireless speed. The challenge for brands is not only keeping up with it, but also understanding which market changes best align and provide actionable opportunity within its current strategy.
The sports nutrition category is one of the most exciting, fast-moving, and highest growth markets in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.
Due to the fragmented competitive landscape that is mostly filled with “long tail” brands, the sports nutrition industry is constantly diversifying with new entrants looking to capitalize on small niches within the market. This creates a unique set-up where fads (or trends) in new product development and brand and/or sales channel strategy can quickly stir consumer interest for a number of years. That being said, trends (or fads) in the sports nutrition industry can move through life cycle phases rapidly and show flattening growth faster than more mature CPG categories.
The key is staying informed on market trends and highlight which ones will;
- align best to benefit with current strategies
- have the longest runway left in life cycle for potential benefit
TLC’s “Don’t go chasing waterfalls” famous song can be applied in the sports nutrition industry. It’s an important consideration because as tempting as chasing hot trends are, constant pivots can extract brand equity. Additionally, trying to time the life cycle of the trend could prove problematic and risky.
So, will the hottest sports nutrition trends of 2019, that I highlighted last year, leak into 2020 or will the first year of the new decade bring a completely new game board for brands to maneuver through?
Do you want to know how well I predicted last year’s Top 5 Biggest Sports Nutrition Trends? Make sure to watch my accompanying YouTube video below!
For those that would like the “cliff notes” version of my performance on predicting last year’s top sports nutrition trend…
Scorecard reads = 3/5 correct, 1/5 early, 1/5 Trump hates Bezos
While recapping last year was a fun “trip down memory lane”, I want to shift into what I see as the biggest trends in the sports nutrition industry in 2020.
(Note: The definition of a trend is rooted in its multi-year staying power, so I’m not stating that last year’s predicted trends aren’t going to continue or even strengthen, but I wanted to exclude the 3 correct predictions to make this article more interesting.)
#1 — Sustainability Finally Starts to Hit Sports Nutrition
There are times when the fast-moving sports nutrition market influences the broader CPG market (ie. functional product innovation), but then there are times when it severely lags huge transformational trends like sustainability. Can you name even a handful of sports nutrition or supplement brands that have any strong sustainability practices? I struggle and I am deep into the industry at a level that few can match. That is unfortunate because sustainability shouldn’t be hard to support as a human.
This idea of “we” over “me” is tough in business, especially if you operate in an industry that hasn’t shown signs of evolution yet. I think that starts to change in 2020. There will be deeper conversations surrounding the sustainable aspects with packaging improvements, raw material sourcing and choices, manufacturing processes and corporate responsibility to name a few.
Why do I believe this? The “We” mentality is starting to drive major spending power. CPG brands fully supporting sustainability (or adopting further sustainability practices) have become massive business globally with a projected $150 billion of sustainable products purchased by 2021. Customers across broader CPG categories have spoken globally that they are willing to pay a premium for this trend. Finally, in an industry starving for attributes to battle against commodification…this not only good for the world, but also is potentially beneficial differentiation strategy.
#2 — Personalization & Customization
Last year, I had one trend that I believed I was early on, so obviously I had to include it into this year’s top trends, right?
Was there progress in personalized nutrition? Yes, but not nearly close enough to disruption-level innovation. Will the industry get to that disruption point next year? Probably not, but I am going to leave this on the list because I think its important to not lose sight of it’s potential widespread disruption to not only sports nutrition, but the multiple different verticals. To get to what I describe in this video, it is going to take many fragmented and diverse mega-partners to come together to make this happen. Will it happen ever? Yes, mainly because I believe human nature will always lead us to pushing our bodies/minds to the limits.
In the meantime, I think there is still value in the short-term strategies and tactics around personalization and customization. I expect more sports nutrition brands to do these three things in 2020:
- Further create and target products to segmented customer bases (ie. Keto)
- Add technology layers that capture more customer information to add value to consumers (ie. personalized product suggestions based on search or purchasing patterns)
- Use their direct-to-consumer in a way that differs from other retail experiences (ie. custom variety boxes)
Those will all help the consumer perception of more personalization and customization, which I think will create more momentum for larger shifts in the next several years.
#3 — RTD Beverages (Mostly Energy Drinks) Get Smarter
The “performance” sub-category of energy drinks (aka The Bang Energy Effect) has started to heavily influence product development in the energy drink and functional beverage market. Bang Energy was hardly the first beverage product to use nutraceutical additives, but they almost alone changed the market. The 100s or 1000s of nutraceutical “sword welding” beverage brands before Bang Energy were always too small to make a truly impactful change in the market.
In 2020, I believe you will see more usage of nootropic ingredients, adaptogens, botanicals and herbal ingredients in a variety of RTD beverages. While these will be most widely used in energy drinks, look at companies like REBBL, Recess, or LifeAid, as examples of how diverse this trend can get.
Drivers of this trend = current performance energy drinkers looking to advance functionality expectation in product, biohackers (Note: not the crazy Silicon Valley bleeding edge folks, but the general consumer interest in getting higher brain functionality/performance), and e-sports/gamer movement
Limiting factor of this trend = Taste. If a beverage product doesn’t taste good, it will be dead in the water. If you disagree, I will meet you at this year’s Expo West in March and point out dozens of “dead in the water” beverage innovation that couldn’t get off the ground because they didn’t realize taste is more important than functionality/innovation.
#4 — Economical & Premium “Positioning Split” Widens
This is a trend that I talked a ton about with industry professionals over the year through various communication mediums, but hadn’t shared much publicly in content. Every time I bring it up, I get more concerned about how many in the industry are not playing attention to this market separation. I believe this will be the year that sports nutrition brands will have to pick a side in the market.
Economical = operate on scale or transactional efficacy
Premium = focus on connecting with customers through building well-defined valuable relationships or offer technological advancements that improve customer’s lives
Any brand strategy in the middle or isn’t easily deciphered by consumers within a quick assessment will start to become non-existent and you will see a competitive landscape that isn’t worth doing business in long-term.
In my opinion, today’s consumers are looking for either the cheapest basic products, that they will likely find on Amazon through a non-branded search term, or they are looking to build a valuable direct relationship with a brand that touches them on some type of personal level. The “spots” for those premium brands in a consumer’s wallet will be less than a handful. As the market continues to be noisier, it creates an environment where consumers become more likely to default to “easy” non-branded searches on marketplaces like Amazon.
#5 — Convenient Nutrition 2.0
Over the last several years, I have shared a lot of insights on the convenient nutrition category. While those “1.0” product categories of protein bars, RTD protein beverages, and conventional energy drinks, will continue to see years of above-average CAGR, it will get extremely competitive as manufacturing and distribution barriers to entry erode.
I believe that the best forward looking “sports nutrition” brands (in quotes for a reason — see below), that are looking for a large-retail “blue oceans”, will see an opportunity.
- Convenience = consumers have self-reported to be “busier” than ever
- “Better for You” Swaps = consumers want similarly great tasting food and beverages, but would like them to be healthier and provide more functionality compared to conventional products
- Reactive Retail Response = retailers start to swap merchandising to evolve with consumer demand
You add up all of that and you get “Convenient Nutrition 2.0”
This is where I might confuse you if you have not expanded from the traditional categorical definitions of “sports nutrition.” While I am not calling all “better for you” functional food and beverage brands “sports nutrition”, I do still think sports nutrition brands can broaden offerings into “better for you” functional food and beverage (ie. Quest Nutrition and RXBAR). The “sports nutrition” brands that have platform creating power, I would be leaning in hard on merchandising areas like fresh, frozen, breakfast, and sweet/savory snacks. Who wants to become the next M&A target? This is your fastest path to that reality.
