- Vitamins and Dietary Supplements

Clean Label Best Practices.....Thailand & Japan

The term “dietary supplement” describes a broad and diverse category of products that you eat or drink to support good health and supplement the diet.

Dietary ingredients can be one or a combination of any of the following:
•Vitamin
•Mineral
•Herb or other botanical
•Amino acid (the individual building blocks of a protein
•Concentrate, metabolite, constituent, or extract

Dietary supplements are widely available in health food stores, drug stores, grocery stores, fitness centers and online and they come in many forms including: 2 piece capsules, soft gels, tablets, bottles of liquid, powders and gummies.

What we aimed for.....

•We want  to understand what type of clean label information is important and resonating with consumers.

•We are looking to understand the competitive landscape of dietary supplements and food products that adhere to clean label principles

Focus area.....

•Brands
•Products
•Country of origin
•Product’s maximum & other claims
•Cost of the products
•Discounts & promotion activities related to products

Research flow.....

•We did a field research in both countries.
•Visited 6 stores in each country.
•Interviewed Storekeeper / Store Owner / Store Manager
•We prepared a questionnaire with the reference of data log sheet
•We tried to get information on maximum (50 above) products  in each store.
Followed PAPI methodology

Thailand

Japan

Target Audience

Clean Label Packaging

All the products in this research are clean labelled  having all types of claim in them like.....

General and specific claim –
•  Simple/Recognizable Ingredients
•  Short list of ingredients
•  Made with just 5 ingredients
•  We didn’t add 140 (or some number) of ingredients
•  Only the ingredients needed to be effective
• All-natural
• Organic
• Minimally-processed
• Non-GMO
• Plant-derived (may or may not pertain to clean)
• Chemical free
• Low Sodium, Low Sugar, Low trans-fat
• Low preservatives
• Made from nothing but real, whole foods
• Whole food cultured

Third party certification claim 
•  USDA Organic
•  Non-GMO Project Verified
•  NSF Certification
•  EWG Verified
•  Halal
•  Kosher
•  Informed Choice
•  Certified Vegan
•  Certified Gluten Free
•  Produced in FDA certified facilities
•  Made in a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Facility
•  Tested in ISO accredited labs
•  Every batch 3rd Party Lab Tested

Free From Claims
• No artificial additives
• Preservative free
• No chemical preservatives
• No artificial colours
• No artificial flavours
• Solvent-free
• Gluten Free, Allergen Free
• Sugar Free
• Soy free
• Dairy free
• Yeast free
• Egg Free
• Peanut, Tree nut free
• Fish, Shellfish free
• Salicylate free
• No Magnesium Stearate
• Hormone Free
• Vegetarian/Vegan
• Brand specific “Does not include” lists
• No synthetic fillers
• No unnecessary ingredients
• Does not contain chemical USP vitamins

Transparency Claims
• Cruelty Free
• Simple, effective, and backed by real science
• Every nutrient that goes into our vitamins is carefully chosen based on extensive research
• We believe in full transparency, so you know what you’re getting every time you buy and take a supplement
• This is confirmed and documented on a certificate of analysis that accompanies every lot of product produced.
• Certificate of Analysis available for every lot of Supplements purchased (scan able code on bottle)
 Organic solvent information disclosed on label

Traceability claims
• - We show exactly where the ingredients come from and why
• - We only partner with suppliers and manufacturers who can meet our stringent requirements for transparency, traceability, and documentation.
• - Our products are produced in facilities audited by the FDA and 3rd party certifiers, including NSF, who certify them to be fully compliant with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs)
• - Every product is made to meet our formulators specifications for identity, purity and potency to ensure they meet what their label claims and are free from contaminants.

Social Impact / Sustainability  claims -
•  Fair Trade
•  Certified B Corp
•  Vitamin Angels supporter (NGO fighting childhood malnutrition)
•  1 for 1 Partner
  Recyclability

Market Overview

Because of digitization in retail business , the future of dietary supplements is expected to drive the market growth in the future.

Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region in the dietary supplements market, major investment opportunities especially for herbal based products.

Modern consumers are well and self informed with sufficient knowledge about the effects of supplement products. This helps them in their purchasing decision creating a substantial bargaining power.

Hence only the clean label and clean label packaged products will able to survive and success in the market.

Demands of dietary and vitamin supplements is in boom and is future essential requirement because of today’s environmental status and limited and depreciating supply of natural and pure ingredients  for daily balance nourishing need.

Scope of New Players – Japan

•As consumers nowadays are increasingly concerned about how to improve their quality of life, instead of simply satisfying their basic health needs, the market for supplements that meet consumer demands for enhanced nutrition and wellness has boomed over the last several decades and is projected to show continuing growth
•In Japan, tonics is on a steady decline while demand for dietary supplements is rising. 

•Aging populations supports growth in Japan leads Vitamins Dietary Supplements value sales with almost half of the market and welcoming new player.

•Qualified dietary supplements approved by the Consumer Affairs Agency are allowed to be marketed as FOSHU, with a formal logo and claims on the product label indicating its dietary uses for promoting health. In addition, other forms of health food or functional food that meet FOSHU requirements can also be marketed as a FOSHU. 

Scope of New Players – Thailand

Thailand joined the World Health Organization (WHO) in raising public awareness of the potential effects of urbanization on the health of individuals and communities which focuses on the theme of Urbanization and Health.

With full political and policy support, it is expected that collaboration among key agencies will be established, which will result in a long-term action plan for better urban conditions and health.

Demanding more products derived from natural extract and more personalized products are a significantly growing trend.

selling online helps cut down on administrative costs, including the cost of running actual stores or managing supply chains, which are the major expenses for a business. Plus, efficient exploitation of innovation and technology can also help boost brand competitiveness.

Conclusion

This project  help us to understand the need and demand of Vitamins and dietary supplements  for the well being of health and its development in today’s hectic and stressed life style of  human  either men or women, child or adult, or aged.

All the brands and products we studied are comes under clean label but the fact is that most of them have not clean packaging