Achieving growth in an uncertain marketplace with a data-driven approach

In a world characterised by uncertainty, identifying potential opportunities in your market has never been more critical – or challenging Eric, vice president of business insights at New Hope Network, explains how businesses can better use data to successfully navigate the supplements market

Post-pandemic, the world has been upended by war, a cost-of-living crisis, and the looming threat of recession. Such uncertainty inevitably impacts consumer behaviour, resulting in market volatility. How can businesses make strategic decisions in such a context?

Eric Pierce, New Hope Network

“I want to give people as much certainty as I can in understanding the relative position of markets in the global dietary supplement environment,” explains Pierce.

“[The US] is the largest dietary supplement market globally, and what we are seeing in the US market will likely reflect some of the challenges being faced elsewhere.”

Growth in an uncertain world

Pierce’s key focus at Vitafoods Europe was to look at how businesses can more effectively use these growth and dollar sales numbers to really identify where growth opportunities exist. To do this, Pierce introduced a more nuanced way of working with data.

“Looking at growth and dollar sales tells you a lot about a market’s potential, but it shouldn’t be the primary way you make a final decision,” he says. “For example, businesses should take into consideration how population size influences dollar sales.

“China might seem like a super-attractive dietary supplements market, but if you take into account dollar sales per capita, it might appear to be a relatively inefficient market to enter.”

Alternatively, countries like Japan - smaller markets with a denser concentration of consumers – might be better choice. To make this judgement though, a more holistic approach to data is needed.

“I’m interested, really, in changing the way we look at growth,” says Pierce. “If we take into account metrics like population, GDP and health spending alongside dollar sales, what does this tell us? This is about taking a new approach to identifying where growth lies.”

New ways of using market data

Pierce draws his data primarily from two key reports – the Nutrition Business Journal’s Global Supplement Business Report, published in October 2022, and a special report providing a Supplement Market Economy Update, published in January 2023. The Global Supplement Report analyses sales and growth across 22 countries and regions, while the Special Report provides a mid-year update on the sector.

“The Nutrition Business Journal publishes a monthly journal, designed to help senior leaders in the dietary supplement industry keep an eye on where the industry is going,” says Pierce. “We also publish upwards of 12 reports a year with a deep focus on the US market, and a global report published annually.”

Pierce wants to move beyond presenting facts and figures, by introducing new approaches to using this data. By doing so, he hopes to provide business professionals with the tools they need to really move their businesses forward, in an increasingly uncertain world.

“[It] is really about a new way of thinking, and giving businesses a more nuanced way of thinking about pursuing growth,” he says.