We’ve long had a history in this industry of unscrupulous and sometimes downright shady operators being able to blend in on store shelves and with consumers. These companies take advantage of clever marketing and positioning opportunities, as well as a lack of needed transparency. This makes it extremely difficult to...
Almost six years have passed since Amazon opened its first brick and mortar location in November, 2016. That store was a small bookstore, much like the beginnings of the online retailer itself. The physical footprint of that first Amazon Books was about 5,500 square feet, about a fifth of the...
While better than some sectors, as an industry, dietary supplements have never achieved total trust from all of our constituents, including consumers, media, and regulators. Some of this mistrust is warranted, but there’s no question that we get a bad rap. In December 2019, in this column, we introduced the concept of The Dietary...
A frequently under-appreciated fact about dietary supplements is the importance of proper care and handling through all stages of the supply chain—ingredient procurement to manufacturing to storage, to distribution and yes, you guessed it: sale. It’s not as critical with some product formats and types, but with others it’s essential...
Supplement sales are better than ever. The 2020 CRN Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements found that nearly three-quarters of Americans report taking dietary supplements. As sales increase, values-based shopping takes on a whole new importance. It’s been evident for some time that legacy brands benefit from consumer trust; their story...
A recent Op-Ed that appeared in Bloomberg Opinion suggested that FDA’s current caution and risk aversion tied to COVID-19 needed to extend immediately into dietary supplements. Not only is this piece misguided, it propagates numerous falsehoods that we, as the supplements industry, have been trying to debunk for decades. If...
Last month, we looked at the recently announced Amazon Quality Requirements, with many in industry agreeing that these initiatives being taken by Amazon are at least a step in the right direction, not only for Amazon, but for the market. From a "requirements" standpoint, they are still a long way...
At last it seems that Amazon has begun to listen to the consistent requests to drive greater accountability and responsibility for the dietary supplement industry. Trust Transparency Center itself first commented on this topic and need on January 1, 2018, and since then, scores of related articles, actions, and comments...
Supplement sales are better than ever. The 2020 CRN Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements found that nearly three-quarters of Americans report taking dietary supplements, and Nutrition Business Journal estimates that by 2023, supplement spend will be $1.4 billion higher than pre-COVID with 2020 sales having topped $50 Billion. Consumers are of course focused...
Reading a supplement label is complicated. There are so many parts, some mandated by law like a Supplements Facts panel, others just good practice. Frequently, hidden in the label is an increasingly important gem, an indication that the product contains a special, branded ingredient. What’s so important about that? ...
