One thing was evident at this year’s State of Supplements session at Natural Products Expo West: There is a whole lot happening in the supplement industry. From exciting innovation to supply chain challenges, 2026 is shaping up to be a monumental year for the ever-evolving industry, keeping both manufacturers and retailers on their toes.
Nutrition Business Journal content and insights director Bill Giebler and market research analyst Erika Craft outlined the numbers that are shaping the industry today: what customers are buying, why they’re buying it and where they’re buying it. Overall, supplement industry growth in 2025 grew 5.5% to reach $72.9 billion in industry sales, said Craft. The data points to a few macro trends driving the growth, one being that consumers now view supplements less as a luxury and more as an essential for everyday health. They’re becoming part of many people’s daily routine.
The categories driving industry growth are sports nutrition, herbs and botanicals and specialty, with consumers preferring powder, liquid and chewable formats.
Social commerce heats up
So what channels are driving sales? Jack O’Leary, director of e-commerce strategic insights at NielsenIQ, explained that most supplement sales happen online today. TikTok Shop, which is the shoppable component of TikTok, is the emerging channel of the moment, comprising a meager 3% of the market but accelerating at 71.1% growth. Vitamins and supplements are the largest category on the platform.
What is the special sauce of social commerce? The influence of influencers, said O’Leary. Influencer marketing has gone through big changes and is now entering a phase of peer-to-peer influencing. Furthermore, TikTok and social media in general tend to be the birthplace of trends, so brands and retailers would be wise to look to the channel for what’s to come.
All the kids are doing it
Scott Dicker, senior director, head of research and insights at SPINS, shared the encouraging news that supplements are growing in every channel, not just social commerce. One of the biggest changes Dicker pointed out is that we’re now seeing consumers using personalization to make real-time adjustments to what they’re doing, due to the rise of wearables. This will have an impact on their diets and supplement usage.
According to SPINS, 15% of Gen Z and millennials are turning to AI tools for product learning, with 11% ranking AI chatbots among their top discovery methods. Furthermore, he noted that younger shoppers are embracing vitamins and supplements at a faster rate, which is great news for the industry, as it secures those customers for many years to come.
Trust, but verify
Across every presenter was a common theme: Trust has never been more important. Industry members hold differing opinions on the topic, but many agree that the industry continues to struggle with the stigma that there’s not enough science and not enough regulation.
Third-party verification are increasingly a priority for supplement consumers. “They’re looking for brands doing what they say they’re doing,” said Giebler, noting that more consumers said that verification was important in a recent NBJ consumer survey compared to last year.
The session’s panelists discussed how retailers are also working to be that source of trust. Christine Casey, category manager, VMS and Nutritionals with KeHE Distributors, emphasized that consumers still trust the retailers, “don’t mistake that!,” and Sharon Leite, CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe, reminded the audience’s retailers that they need to be great students right now—“and test and learn a lot”—to be able to be that trusted resource for consumers.
Purchase the State of Natural Market Insights for access to the recordings and slides from these 2026 Expo West presentations: The State of Natural and Organic and The State of Supplements. The package will be delivered between late March and September as assets become available. The package also includes two data-rich State of Natural Industry Snapshots and two Nutritional Capital Network Investment Trends Snapshots. To sign up for the $399 package, log in or create a free registration to NewHope.com, then click here to complete the purchase.
Registered attendees of Natural Products Expo West 2026 can watch the recording of this session on the Expo West app.
