Brands looking to enter the category should use energy, libido and prostate support as strategic entry points, according to experts who presented at the recent Men’s Health Market Momentum webinar, hosted by NutraIngredients.
Afif Ghannoum, CEO of CPG Radar, explained that men’s health consumers are not best defined by age or gender brackets, but the category is fragmented by motivation (energy, dignity, independence, performance), with at least 21 distinct consumer profiles identified by CPG Radar.
“Traditionally we talk about consumer personas a lot of times by demographics, like men 18 to 35, that sort of thing, but when you really dive in and look at the consumers, they really are motivated by significantly different things depending on who the consumer is and what they’re doing in their life. And so I’m going to anchor that around three key areas in men’s wellness: Energy, libido, and urinary/prostate,” he said.
Energy is no longer about stimulation, but about overall life performance and steady, crash-free vitality, he said. Libido is now a proxy for confidence, hormonal balance, and daily wellbeing, not just sexual performance, while urinary/prostate health is focused on absence of pain and symptom relief, helping men “feel normal again”.
Mark Butera, VP of merchandising – GMM, GNC, noted a transformation in the category from a relatively narrow offering five years ago that focused a lot on testosterone, muscle size and athletic performance, to a more holistic category today.
“Guys are starting to think about energy and sleep, whether it’s focus, strength and stress. It’s really how they feel every day versus that specific outcome they were looking for,” he said.
The male supplement user has become less reactive and more proactive, added Butera, with the focus less on fixing something and more about staying at their best for longer. And that explains the growth GNC has seen in energy and sleep, he said.
“We’ve seen multivitamins get back to a really steady growth specifically when they’re targeted for specific needs. It’s really become a base product for a men’s health routine,” said Butera.
Simple systems for the win
Ghannoum noted that highly recognizable ingredients for men’s health like saw palmetto are saturated, and that differentiation increasingly comes from how ingredients are combined and contextualized, not which one is used.
Saw Palmetto is classically a prostate support ingredient, where it was combined with ingredients like zinc or ashwagandha. In recent years, it started to be included in products positioned for vitality and is often combined with things like biotin, pumpkin seed.
“And now we’re seeing it being engineered into more sophisticated hormonal multi stacks with other things like boron and vitamin D3,” he said. “That is a marker of what’s happening with a number of ingredients in this category, which are shifting from a hero ingredient category to engineered systems category.”
Butera said that, if were building a men’s health supplement brand from scratch, he would focus on systems and simplification.
“It wouldn’t just be a testosterone product, or a prostate product, but how these all fit together for long term health,” he said. “And I’d really lean in heavily on daily foundation health and how that supports longevity. Men need to find the simple solutions that really work for them.
GNC has taken this approach with its Vita Paks, which combine different ingredients and different benefits that speak to men about where they are in their lives
“The biggest opportunity is making it really simple for men to choose what they need to buy,” he said. “When it gets really complicated you lose men in that category. It’s got to be very simple. There’s a lot of products and brands out there, and anyone that can really connect those dots into a daily system are the ones that are going to win,” said Butera.
Avoiding regulatory challenges
Amber Littlejohn, limited partner at Holon Law Partners, told attendees that men’s health products are booming, with lots of coverage in popular culture and on social media around biohacking or looksmaxxing or athletes now using performance, nutrition and supplement products.
“The market is evolving, the marketing channels are evolving, and with that comes new regulatory challenges,” she said.
While FDA and FTC enforcement activity is mixed, private litigation, such as class actions and false advertising claims, is increasing, she added.
Outlining her risk mitigation best practices, Littlejohn recommended brands institute ongoing label review and claim substantiation combined with stability and shelf-life testing and supply chain vigilance (especially with foreign manufacturers).
“After decades in this industry, I have come to understand that compliance and risk exist on a spectrum,” she said. “Wherever you have drawn that line, I truly hope that you have drawn it at a place that is both safe and lawful. But even within that spectrum, there are many options and levels of compliance. So, make sure that where you have determined your risk sweet spot to be that is still appropriate under the current conditions.”
Actionable insights
The Men’s Health Market Momentum webinar, hosted by NutraIngredients and featuring Afif Ghannoum, Mark Butera and Amber Littlejohn, is available to watch on-demand. The free webinar (registration required) can be accessed HERE.
