Active ingredients are the main components of a supplement - designed to cause a desired effect(s) on the body. Some supplements contain several actives to achieve multiple health benefits. Going one step further, companies also introduce branded actives to elevate a supplement's quality and price.
You'd expect gummy categories to utilise similar amounts of branded actives regardless of geography, right? Interestingly, there are some key differences between the European and North American markets.
How does the use of branded actives differ between Europe and North America?
Firstly, branded active use is much greater in the US and Canadian markets than the European market, with nine categories compared to four categories utilising branded actives respectively.
In Europe, the greatest use of branded actives appear in Brain & Energy gummies (3.1%), compared with the US and Canada, where branded active use in Brain & Energy gummies is the second most frequently utilised but still at a higher level than Europe - 5.38%)
In the US and Canada, it's the Female gummies category that utilises the most branded actives (6.67%). Interestingly, no brands are using branded actives in the European female category.
What about the remaining gummies categories?
Across Europe, there is little to no penetration in the use of branded actives. Apart from Brain & Energy, the only categories utilising are Plant Extract (1.39%), Gut (0.97%) and Immunity & Vitamin C (0.89%).
Unlike Europe, branded active use in gummies is much greater across the US and Canadian markets - however it still remains in the developmental stage. Beauty & Collagen (2.5%), Sleep (1.46%), CBD (1.45%) and Plant Extract (1.42%) gummies are the categories utilising branded actives - followed by Gut, VMS and Immunity & Vitamin C gummies.
So, why do we see these patterns?
One explanation is that gummies as a format are still in the early developmental stage and as brands are experimenting in this market - the inclusion of branded actives may be too much of a risk as brands are becoming established.
But, why are we seeing such a difference in branded active use across the two markets? It may simply be due to the fact that there are more gummy products in the US and Canada than in Europe, so there's a larger pool of brands with the ability to experiment with branded actives. What do you think?
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