US consumers trust big brand supplements the most, BrandSpark survey reveals

25-May-2018 - Last updated on 25-May-2018 at 16:11 GMT

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While there is a romantic air around buying from small businesses or startups, it’s the big name supplement brands that ranked as ‘Most Trusted’ by BrandSpark Insight, a market research and consultancy firm.

Its ‘Most Trusted Awards’ winners belong to categories found in every corner of a grocery store other than the fresh produce sections—from air fresheners to butter to cat litter and, of course, dietary supplements.

There were five categories concerning supplements. This year’s winners from this space, announced on Wednesday, were Centrum for ‘Adult Vitamin,’ Metamucil for fiber supplement, Osteo Bi-Flex for joint care supplements, Nature Made for nutritional supplement, and Culturelle for probiotic supplement.

What they have in common? They are all owned by CPG and pharmaceutical giants, like Pfizer, NBTY, and Procter & Gamble, and commonly found in mass-market retail channels.

“The giant brands are often likely to have built a strong history of positive consumer experiences. These brands are also good at telling their brand story and staying top-of-mind with Americans,” Philip Scrutton, VP of consumer and shopper insights at Toronto-based BrandSpark International, told NutraIngredients-USA.

Mass retailers and major drug chains a primary source for supplements

The award is given solely based on results from an invite-only survey of 15,000 American shoppers through ‘top-of-mind, unaided responses,’ for categories in which they purchase, Scrutton explained.

“The large national sample is controlled to be representative by age, gender, census region, and income. Identifying the channels that Americans are shopping across consumer categories is an important part of the study, and falls out naturally from the national sample,” he said.

“Mass retailers like Walmart and Target, and the major drug store chains, are the primary OTC channels for the average American, but the specialty channels have grown,” he added.

“For OTC health and wellness, 6% of American told us they regularly shop at natural health stores and 7% at health and nutrition stores.”

Looking at BrandSpark’s survey results, Scrutton said that nutritional supplements are important to American consumers, “with 66% reporting using of multivitamin supplements in the past three months, 45% mineral supplements, 34% essential fatty acid, and 22% herbal supplements.”

He added that half of the health and wellness shoppers said that consumer-voted credentials like BrandSpark Most Trusted have positive influence on the products they choose.

Relevance for supplement industry?

Founded in 2001 by its president and CEO Robert Levy, the annually awarded BrandSpark ‘Most Trusted’ seal can be found prominently on the packaging and websites of products like Tide detergent, Eggland’s Best eggs, and so forth.

Scrutton argued that the seal can play a role in swaying purchase decisions.

“Claims like ‘clinically-tested’ are still very important for OTC products including supplements as assurance of safety and efficacy, and the Most Trusted credential builds confidence in efficacy further as it confirms that many consumers are having positive experiences with the brand,” he said.

“We’ve seen that brand trust is very important in OTC where efficacy is very important, but not always easy for consumers to compare directly between competing products.”