WATCH: How GSK sees vitamins and minerals increasingly segmenting into age, gender, life stage needs

In an exclusive interview with NutraIngredients-Asia, ​the company revealed insights on how health and nutrition needs are becoming more personalised along the lines of age, life stages, health conditions, and gender needs.

“Health is increasingly personalised and there is a desire to do what is right for me, rather than adopting the general solutions, so we have learnt that and that translated into Caltrate gender line that was launched successfully last year in China,”​ said Nitin Goel, APAC Lead, Consumer and Business Insights & Analytics at GSK.

The product is designed to meet the mobility and agility needs of both genders, with slightly different formulations.

For instance, while calcium and zinc are used in both formulations, the product for female consumers also contained iron, vitamin C and vitamin K1. As for the male consumers, the product contains vitamin B1, D, and magnesium.

“Traditionally, if you went back to Centrum's history, we talked about everything from A to Z, it was that general, trusted multivitamin and mineral solution, but we are finding now, is consumers want not only personalised health care, but they want specific health care for their specific conditions and needs,”​ Robert Johnson, Vice President, R&D Asia Pacific Markets, GSK said.

“The market is getting more segmented in multiple facets, it is getting segmented not only from the benefits point of view, and from an age point of view that's also true, as well as from a gender point of view. So, you are seeing segmentation after segmentation, which is almost narrowing down to a specific need for a specific individual, so that's the real big megatrend in the VMS category,”​ Johnson added.

The company also analysed how COVID-19 had changed consumer habits and how it has impacted recent product launches.

Specifically, consumers are asserting more control in their personal health care, with more seeking scientific-backed products for their immune health. 

In this case, the company had launched a pre/probiotic formula for immune health exclusively in China under the Centrum brand during February. 

To meet consumers’ growing interest in scientific evidence, the company, for example, also highlighted clinical evidence on how Caltrate’s joint and mobility product could exert benefits in 90 days.

Watch the video to find out more.