Thorne Enters Consumer Market With Sports Nutrition Supplements
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Thorne Research markets supplements through health care practitioners exclusively, and previously has not offered sports nutrition products, but the firm puts the same emphasis on ingredient purity and quality manufacturing in the supplements its Thorne Performance business is selling online.
Nutritional supplement firm [Thorne Research Inc.] enters the direct-to-consumer market with the launch of its Thorne Performance business, which will market sports nutrition products, the firm announced Sept. 19.
While Thorne Research markets supplement lines sold exclusively through health care practitioners and has not offered sports nutrition products previously, the firm says it emphasizes ingredient purity and quality manufacturing in Thorne Performance supplements available online.
“We came up with this line largely because we don’t think that there’s been a lot of emphasis on some of the purity aspects of the products, which is the strength of Thorne,” said Thorne Research CEO Paul Jacobson.
The line includes Restore for gut health, Rebound for inflammation, Q-Charge for cellular energy, Prevail for muscle building, Modulate for immunity, Elevate for energy and Catalyte for preventing dehydration. Prices vary from $12.99 for 12 servings of an Elevate energy shot, Thorne’s first liquid product, to $62.90 for 16 ounces of Prevail.
In the sports nutrition space, “we don’t think that there’s been a lot of emphasis on some of the purity aspects of the products, which is the strength of Thorne.” – CEO Paul Jacobson.
In addition to emphasizing its ingredient and manufacturing quality, Thorne Performance seeks differentiation from other sports product lines by providing online assessments and nutrition tracking programs, and plans to introduce a wider range of sports nutritionals and support resources.
Sandpoint, Idaho-based Thorne Research picked a veteran of sports marketing, David Aronne, as Thorne Performance general manager. Aronne’s experience includes work at EFXUSA, a maker of wristbands, necklaces, insoles and clothing with holographic performance technology designed to enhance performance.
Thorne Research developed the products with Cincinnati-based consulting firm Integrative Health Resources LLC. Work on the line began more than 18 months ago after customers buying Thorne Research supplements from health care providers said that other brands’ sports nutrition supplements they bought in stores or online were causing stomach problems, the firm says.
Thorne Performance products do not contain caffeine or synthetic ingredients, which are common in other sports supplements and which can cause digestion problems, Jacobson said in an interview.
He said the firm decided to diversify with online sales after realizing the number of sports medicine doctors is not large enough to drive sufficient sales of the products. Thorne Performance will reach out to athletic associations and trade groups to push the products and will use social media selectively in groups and communities for endurance athletics.
Carlos Barroso, president of CJB and Associates, a research and development consulting firm specializing in consumer goods, said Thorne Research is banking on its experience with health providers to drive sales of the Thorne Performance line and likely will market heavily to nutritionists and trainers.
But he added that Thorne Performance will have to differentiate itself in a market crowded with manufacturers large and small providing a frequently expanding variety of sports nutrition products and other supplements sold by nationwide, regional and local chains and specialty shops as well as online retailers.
Barroso said like other supplement firms, Thorne Performance’s success depends on having a patented, protected ingredient “with clinical proof of a clear advantage,” and on a distribution and marketing advantage. “Those are all the things that make you successful,” he said in an interview.
Thorne Performance enters a growing market. Sports nutrition supplement sales reached $2.9 billion in 2008 and are expected to reach $3.5 billion by 2013, according to business information aggregator Growth and Markets Research.
In analysis of a broader market, Partnership Capital Growth, a financial advisory firm in the health and sustainable living spaces, reported that sales in the sports nutrition and weight loss category grew 46% from $17.6 billion in 2006 to $25.7 billion in 2011 (Also see "Protein, Migrating Ingredients Help Sports Category Build Muscle" - Pink Sheet, 6 Aug, 2012.).
Thorne Research, which does not plan to make its other supplement products available directly to consumers, introduced its sports product line soon after launching OncoQOL supplements to support patients undergoing cancer treatment, the firm’s first product targeted for a specific health condition (Also see "Supplement Firms Develop Health Care Provider Channel" - Pink Sheet, 10 Sep, 2012.).