The Publication For The Grocery Trade

Bringing Sports Nutrition To The Mass Market

EAS is one of the world's leading names in sports nutrition, with a wide range of drinks, bars, powders and supplements. These products provide complete nutrition for everyone from high-profile elite athletes to health conscious consumers who, in fact, represent the vast majority of usage around the world. As healthy living and reversing the obesity trend move up the priority list for UK consumers, EAS is committed to helping UK multiple grocers get their fixtures in shape to grab the potential profit opportunity. Martin Watson, EAS Business Development Manager, with responsibility for the multiple grocery sector, spoke to The Grocery Trader. The Grocery Trader - First of all, Martin, what does 'sports nutrition' cover in this context? For the retail mass market, we prefer to define the category as 'sports and active lifestyle nutrition.' These products are for everyday active people, not just athletes, and cover drinks, bars, snacks, powders and supplements. GT - What are the benefits of these products? They are all highly nutritious. The bars and shakes are snack meal replacements, offering alternatives to confectionery, crisps and so on. They're particularly suitable for active people and people like sales reps who spend much of the working day in the car and can't easily enjoy healthy snacks. Our powders and supplements are for sports people and very active individuals. GT - Can you lose weight with these products? Yes, but only if you take exercise! There's no magic pill anywhere in the world which will help you lose weight if you just sit there and do nothing. GT - If you're not using up the 'fuel' they contain through sport, will these products make you gain weight? You won't gain weight directly from these products. They all contain around 200 calories, with a balance of vitamins, minerals and protein. GT - I can understand these products helping your body, but how do they help your mental state? You're referring there to EAS' slogan 'change your mind, change your body.' Some of our products do literally affect your mind, because they act as appetite suppressants. But generally with our products, you must change your thinking at the outset to get fit, and stay focused on doing so. GT - How big is the sports nutrition market around the world and in the UK? In the UK it's worth £400 million. There are no worldwide figures available, but combined US and Europe sales are approximately £2 billion and enjoying double-digit growth. GT - Is the UK grocery market ready for these products? Absolutely, but achieving retailer acceptance can be difficult, because supermarket space is at a premium. When retailers decide to move into this category, they should dedicate a full bay of space and make a go of it. To do sports nutrition properly you need a full range of introductory products - weight gainers, bars, snacks and supplements. GT - At present what proportion of sports nutrition sales go through UK multiple grocery outlets, as opposed to health stores, pharmacy, independent gyms and health clubs? On our experience, I wouldn't say more than 10% at present, but if Boots and one more of the supermarkets came on board that would change the picture instantly. GT - What food regulations govern these products? Bars, snacks and powders are subject to the standard food regulations, and don't carry VAT. Supplements are subject to the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority, which approves all on-pack claims. On our packs we've tried to brand products by saying exactly what they are, using straightforward terms like “Cholesterol Control.” GT - Who owns EAS? At the beginning of 2005 we were bought by Abbott/Ross Laboratories, which is based in the US. It's a $20 billion pharmaceutical company, located in Illinois. GT - How big is EAS in the USA, and here? It's a $400 million business in the US. Here it's currently worth £6 million. GT - When did EAS first launch in the UK? EAS first launched here in 1998. GT - What is your role in the company now? I'm Business Development Manager for the mass market. GT - What are your key products for grocery outlets these days? Our biggest sellers in grocery are the bars and shakes, Creatine, protein powder, weight gaining powder and fat burning supplements. GT - What is Creatine? Creatine monohydrate is probably the most widely used nutritional supplement in the athletic community, and seems to have universal success in promoting gains in size and strength through improving muscle energetics. Extensive scientific research over the last two decades supports claims such as increased gains in muscle size and strength, improvement in body composition and athletic performance, increased power output, and enhanced recovery from intense bouts of exercise. GT - What are your products' recommended retail prices? The bars are £1.49 for 60g; the shakes are £1.59 for 330ml Tetra, and the powders are £9.99 for Creatine (200g), protein powder (300g) and Weight gain (400g.) The fat-burning supplements are £9.99 for CLA and Everlean, both sold in 40 caps. They're all totally natural, not needing medical supervision. GT - Can you give us an idea of who in the UK is buying these products, and how they fit in to their lifestyles? The core consumers are ABC1s with plenty of disposable income, who are either slightly overweight or trying to get back into shape, rather than obese, plus regular cyclists, runners and amateur athletes. In age terms we cover everyone from teenagers who go to the gym or play sport, through active middle-aged people, to pensioners who go on long walks at weekends. GT - We last spoke a year ago. What's been happening since then in your business? Last year we had two ranges, AdvantEdge and Body-for-LIFE. The decision was made that AdvantEdge didn't fully communicate the product benefits, unlike the name Body-for-LIFE, which tells you exactly what you're getting plus you have the block branding power of the red Body-for-LIFE livery. Hence our mainstream consumer range is moving to Body-for-LIFE. We're also establishing Body-for-LIFE as a 'whole wellness' brand, covering calorie and cholesterol control. We're carrying out a major rebranding and NPD programme. GT - Back in 2005, if I remember, you were involved (in a strictly business sense, of course!) with Cindy Crawford. What was the story there? Cindy was the face of AdvantEdge in the US, and fronted our TV ads. Now AdvantEdge is no longer in the UK, Cindy is no longer representing us. GT - Is EAS linked to any more celebrities these days? We're not working with celebrities but in the US we work with a lot of pro athletes in football and baseball. Here we're linked with Everton FC, Colchester FC, the Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers rugby squads and the Scottish Rugby Union squads. We are also backing a number of Commonwealth hopefuls as part of our commitment to up-coming athletes, plus Britain's number one ladies cyclist Nicole Cooke and number one triathlete Tim Don. GT - How easy are these products to understand and use? It's much easier now - people know more about nutrition. Our high protein, low carb bars and shakes are very easy to understand, as snack replacements in between meals. EAS' philosophy is to eat little and often, keeping the blood sugar steady. If the body starves, when you eat again it stores food as fat. The way to lose weight is to have five or six meals per day. We also make it clear what our protein powder and weight gain products are for. GT - Do you offer consumers advice on which products are suitable for them, either on pack or on the web? Yes, we use both to provide advice. Our target audience understands the products we've bought to the marketplace and makes the effort to research them before they purchase. GT - I've heard a little about the Body-for-LIFE Challenge, that has been running in the UK for six years now. What is it, how does it work, and how does it enhance your product offering? The Body-for-LIFE Challenge is a 12-week programme. People make the decision to change their body and their lifestyle: on day one they take a photo of themselves, then follow the EAS philosophy and take another photo of themselves at the end. They also submit a detailed questionnaire. The Challenge runs every year, and closes at the end of September. Entrants can win a Porsche for a year, £5,000 in cash and a weekend away. Details are at www.bfl-uk.com. The Challenge is hugely popular in the US, with millions taking part. Here it attracts thousands of entries each year and certainly raises the profile of the brand. GT - Is EAS involved with this year's Commonwealth Games at all? Yes, we are, through our EAS HP purple range of specialist sports products, which covers meal replacements, supplements and powders aimed at elite athletes and serious bodybuilders. These products contain higher levels of protein and sell at a higher price, hence are not positioned at the mass retail market. GT - There's clearly a deep understanding of nutritional science underpinning your products. Who is the driving force behind their development, and where is this work done? When EAS was independent, we had our own R&D, which was researched rigorously. Now we're part of Abbott/Ross, it all happens at their Illinois HQ. All the hot products in sport/lifestyle nutrition originate in the US. GT - How are you promoting your products to UK consumers? We run comprehensive PR and advertising campaigns in women's, men's, health and fitness titles. Plus we run in-store promotions in major multiples like Tesco and Waitrose and are actively involved at sport, health and fitness consumer shows GT - The meal replacement bar market seems to have peaked overall - how is your part of it doing? We're doing very well - our part is still in growth. In the US we moved into Wal-Mart first, then Kellogg's followed: in the UK, cereal bars were there first. We predict high nutrition bars will become much prominent than they are now - our bars are seeing 15% volume growth in the last 12 months, but in real terms we've not even started. GT - Similarly, how are your low GI products faring? We've only got one 'low carb' product now, a Body-for-LIFE branded chocolate bar. We're focusing instead on our balanced nutrition products, which is where the consumer demand is showing distinct growth. GT - Talking about supermarkets, Co-ops and c-store chains now, what's your advice to retailers about featuring EAS Body-for-LIFE as part of their overall offer? They should look at a minimum of three shelves, with an introductory range of sports nutrition products, covering bars, shakes, supplements and powders. GT - What is consumer off-take of these products like in major supermarkets? Wherever these products are stocked, the market is ready to buy - that includes co-ops and C-stores. GT - Which EAS Body-for-LIFE products are the key sellers in this category? In turnover, Creatine is the bestseller, because of its RRP of £9.99, but in volume the key sellers are our bars, shakes, Creatine and fat burners. GT - Where and how should these products be presented in store - should they be block-merchandised as a complete range, or split up and sited with similar products ie drinks, bars and supplements? The full range should be block-merchandised in the Pharmacy sector, preferably next to Slimfast and other diet products. Bars and Shakes could also be dual sited with the sandwiches and takeaway lunchtime foods, with bars also near tills with the confectionery. GT - Which UK multiples are these products stocked in? They are currently in Tesco and Waitrose and Lloyds Pharmacy, but we're also talking to the other major grocery multiples and Pharmacy chains. GT - In grocery, how important to purchase is store staff's recommendation? It's not - hence products in grocery need to be entry level in price and nutrition value, with simplistic wording. These products are in the main aisle, not behind the counter. GT - Finally, where do you see the UK sports nutrition market and the EAS Body-for-LIFE range going from here? I see the Mass market moving into entry-level sports and active nutrition products, such as the Body-for-LIFE range, with the specialist, niche sports products staying in the independent retail trade. EAS Tel: 0870 350 3270 www.eas-uk.com