SPORTS NUTRITION IN EUROPE

A general overview of brands, products, retailers and events of the German and European market for sports nutrition products.

Jeff Stone

Eurosports Consulting

(Profile on LinkedIn)

These are the logos of the most popular sports nutrition products in the running and cycling industry. Most are unknown in the US. PowerBar was a US pioneer, moving into Europe around 1990, a time when drink powders were the norm, such as stalwarts Enervit and Isostar.

While not as bad as in the US, there is flood of nutrition bars coming on the market, with new brands appearing seemingly daily. The low-tech production and packaging aspect of bars permit ease of entry into the market. The 20 brands included on this page are the most popular, but there could easily be another dozen shown here.

Pictured here: Ultra Sport, Dextro Energy, Squeezy, PowerBar, Sponser, SiS, Born, Penco, Isostar, Maxim, Seeberger, Dr. Munzinger, Enervit, Vitargo, Nutrixxion, Carboo4u, Xenofit. High 5, Oatsnack and Multipower.

Powder drink mix is more popular in Europe than the US. While sports nutrition started with bars in US, in Europe it was drink-powder based, starting with pioneers Enervit and Isostar. A much higher % of shelf space is dedicated to powder in Europe than the US. Examples here of High 5, PowerBar, Xenofit, Ultra Sports, Nutrixxion, Squeezy, Multipower, Maxim, Sponser, Enervit, Hammer, SiS, Isostar and High5.

Gels are still very popular, but are very much a love them or hate them thing. The most popular brands, shown here in are Ultra Sport, Xenofit, Dextro Energy, Sponser. Squeezy, Enervit, Multipower, Maxim, Nutrixxon, PowerBar, Isostar SiS, Penco and Hammer.

The biggest trend in sports nutrition is the rush for a “chewable” product. The ease of use during sports, ability to adjust serving size and rate of intake, better “mouthfeel”, are some of the main aspects driving their acceptance among consumers.

There were at least 12 sports nutrition brands represented at Eurobike 2010, the most ever. PowerBar returned after a 5-year absence, evidence of the strong interest in the sector. There would have been more brands, but Eurobike is sold out; several brands had to take outdoor booths, while others sub-let space at other stands.

The leading sports retailers are dedicating more space to sports nutrition, recognizing the trend in this sector. Few sports retailers devote as much space as bike superstore Zweirad Stadler (Mannheim store above left), but some Karstadt stores have sizeable displays, (Karstadt Hamburg lower right). The only national running chain, Runners point, (Bonn store above right) is only selling two brands, PowerBar and now Ultra Sport, while the Arena Sport subsidiary of retail leader Kaufhof is heavily skewed to PowerBar, (Bonn store below left). Note the high % of drink-powder canisters in the displays.

Consumer events are vital to sell-through. There are well-organized events in Germany, such as the Bike Festival in Willingen, (above left), the Hamburg Marathon Expo (above right) and the mid-sized Freiburg Marathon, (below). The largest events by sport are the Berlin Marathon (Running), the Vattenfall Cyclassics (Cycling) and Hamburg Cityman (Triathlon sponsored by Dextro Energy), totaling over 100,000 participants.

German food laws are very strict; it is essential that US sports nutrition companies work closely with an established and very experienced food lab in order to bring the ingredients as well as the packaging into conformance. Here below is a typical lab analysis of a sports nutrition product. New laws have recently been passed and go into effect 2012.

SUMMARY

There is currently tremendous growth in the German sports nutrition market, which is dominated by PowerBar. After PowerBar, there are more than 20 other brands vying for the German market, which recorded sales of over $700M in 2008, (including drinks and supplements). It is very possible that sales exceeded $1B in Germany in 2010.

Access to the European market by US brands has to be made on a country-by-country basis, due to varying food laws between members of the European Community. Given the size of the German market, its influence on it’s nine border countries as well as being home to some of the most important trade shows and consumer sports events in Europe, Germany is the key to success in Europe and should be the focus of any US company seeking success in the European sports nutrition market.