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Focus On: Sports Nutrition by Daniel Selwood

Publishing: 19 September

Advertising deadline: 4 September

Download the synopsis

Submissions deadline: 3 September

The story

What’s next for sports nutrition? Before Covid-19, the category was increasingly mainstream in the mults, and growing in value. Then lockdown and the closure of gyms led to a fall in sales for snacks and shakes –although protein powders were still popular. Now gyms and leisure centres are reopening, and the government wants the nation to lose weight. How is business picking up for sports nutrition brands? And how are they prepared for a post pandemic world?

Key themes

Looking ahead: what’s the future of sports nutrition? Will sales ever return to pre-virus levels? How are suppliers planning to revive their successes? Are they banking on people returning to gyms en masse, or are they anticipating home workouts to stay in vogue? What products are they focusing on? And what sort of audience: fitness fanatics or everyday people managing their health and/or weight? Is there room for both?

Back story: what was the pre-pandemic story for sports nutrition? What brands and products were in greatest demand? How did this change during lockdown in terms of sales, items in demand and supermarkets’ ranging?

Ingredients: what trendy ingredients do Brits want in their sports nutrition? Pea protein? Rice protein? Fibre? Zinc? And what do they not want? Sugar is obviously a no-no, but what are others?

Whole food: sports nutrition has traditionally comprised the like of gels, powders and shakes. Will that continue to be the case –and why? Or will, as some commentators predict, will people switch from such ‘technical’ products to more ‘holistic’ ones, such as peanut butter, cereal bars and other ‘regular’ food? How are brands prepared for such a shift?

Shopper Intelligence: how do Brits shop supermarkets’ sports nutrition segment?

Innovations: we identify four news sports nutrition products or product ranges that have not appeared in The Grocer before, including launch date, rsp and a hi-res picture.

Kantar: using Kantar commentary, the reasons behind the rise and fall of the relevant sectors.

Nielsen: using Nielsen commentary, the reasons behind the rise and fall of the leading brands.

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