“The Vitamin Shoppe is thrilled to become the exclusive retail partner of Women's Best in the US. This launch brings one of the fastest-growing, most digitally-savvy sports nutrition brands in the world to our lineup of premium health and wellness products,” said Sharon Leite, Chief Executive Officer of The Vitamin Shoppe, in a press release.
“Women's Best is the first company to carve out a strong position as a women's-focused brand in sports nutrition and will bring its innovative and inspiring message and products to our stores. This launch is a unique opportunity to further deliver on The Vitamin Shoppe's promise to help our customers become their best selves, however they define it.”
"Entering the US market with a bang"
The athletic female consumer has been named as an untapped opportunity in the sports nutrition category, with experts lamenting the ‘pink it and shrink it’ approach to products.
Data from Lumina Intelligence’s recently published women's sports nutrition market report of 4,000 sports nutrition products from 20 countries revealed that just 2.5% of products were targeted towards female consumers.
Speaking with NutraIngredients after the report’s release last month, Tom Morgan, senior market analyst at Lumina, said that when brands get female-focused sports nutrition right, the results can be very lucrative as there are a lot of women buying into this market. He pointed out that Lumina's research shows 43% of Twitter users talking about fitness supplements were female in 2019.
Morgan told us this morning: "Women's Best is the number one most reviewed women’s sports nutrition brand as of March 2019. They’ve been discussing breaking into the USA for a number of months now, conveyed through the website of their CEO David Kurzmann."
The company's social media audience is reported to include about 100 million fans across its owned and influencer channels. This allows the brand to reach over 1.3 billion people on social media per year.
Among the social media stars who work exclusively with Women's Best in the sports nutrition space are some of the most followed fitness personalities in the world, including Emily Skye (14M followers), Tammy Hembrow (11M), Ashley Nocera (4M), Brittne Jackson (2.4M), Krissy Cela (1.7M), and Hanna Oeberg (1.7M).
Morgan continued: "Considering their significant social media clout, they are expected to enter the US market with a bang. Crossing over between sports nutrition and sports fashion, they capitalize on the fitness/beauty crossover category – important as sports nutrition moves away from its traditional hardcore male dominated roots."
Product range
Founded in 2015 by David Kurzmann, Lukas Kurzmann, and Thomas Mark, the brand now boasts more than one million customers worldwide in over 150 countries. The company’s portfolio includes whey and vegan proteins, meal replacement shakes, pre-workout supplements, metabolism supplements, BCAAs, and collagen formulas.
Women's Best protein bars, protein bites and dietary fiber will launch within The Vitamin Shoppe later this year, according to a release.
Thomas Mark, co-CEO of Women's Best, commented: “We're excited to partner with The Vitamin Shoppe as our exclusive U.S. retail partner, as they reach a powerful demographic of wellness-focused customers who prefer to shop premium sports nutrition brands in a specialty environment.
“The majority of our social media reach is located in the US, so we look forward to making our products widely available to our fans in this market.”
