Personal trainers driving NPD: Japanese gyms to sell protein powder for women developed by instructors
Under the brand name THE BOUTÉ, the chocolate-flavoured protein powder will be is exclusively available in gym centres from this month. Involving about 300 out of 530 personal trainers from Japan’s Personal Trainer Research Institute, the product development took 14 months, with the goal of “creating Japan’s best protein.”
This is the first product developed by the institute and was launched by Leverage, a Japanese firm that runs an array of sports-related business, including the management of more than 900 gyms, where it matches gym-goers with the right trainers, and a media platform that talks about sports and fitness.
Company’s spokeswoman Yumina Kawamata explained that personal trainers were crucial in NPD of sports nutrition, because they best understood consumer needs..
“They decided what nutrients to include. They know exactly what do the consumers need because they spend a lot of time with them and they themselves are also very particular about nutrition science,” Kawamata told NutraIngredients-Asia.
Detailing the product ingredient list, she said three types of protein – whey, soy, and egg white.. This is to ensure the replenishment of protein over an extended period of time, because the body absorbs them at different rates.
To aid protein digestion, papaya enzyme is used while lactobacillus is added for improving the intestinal environment.
On top of it, HMB for muscle synthesis and even tripeptide collagen for anti-aging and skin beauty were included, hence, the product tagline “all-in-one protein for women”.
Other functional ingredients include copper, iron, and vitamin B6, added for nutrition supply.
Income for gym trainers
On the reason for coming out with the product, Kawamata said that the move was meant to develop the fitness industry and provide additional income for the gym trainers.
“We are not selling it directly to the customers. We only sell it to personal trainers and gym owners so they can sell it to their customers as a distributer.
“We launched the product to improve the status of personal trainers. Most of them only have one income source, which is the lesson fee from their clients. We wanted to help them to have more income sources and develop the fitness industry,” she explained.
