Natural Products Sales Top $42 Billion in 2003

BOULDER, Colo.—American shoppers spent more than $42.8 billion on natural and organic products in 2003, according to research published in the 23rd Annual Market Overview in the June issue of The Natural Foods Merchandiser. The Natural Foods Merchandiser (www.naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com) is the leading trade magazine serving the natural and organic products industry and is read by more than 15,000 retailers, industry leaders and trend watchers each month.

As mainstream attention focused in 2003 on the many connections between diet and health, natural products sales increased 8.1 percent across all sales channels, including supermarkets, mass marketers, direct marketers and the Internet. Sales of organic products rose 19 percent in natural products stores in 2003.

Consumers expanded their organic and naturals purchases beyond the kitchen in 2003. Some of the healthiest gains were in organic personal care, up 81 percent, and organic pet products, up 31 percent. Organic fresh meat and seafood posted 51 percent gains in sales. Nutrition bars, now a billion-dollar category in naturals stores, rose 25 percent. Sales of specialty supplements, a category that includes such strong sellers as glucosamine and essential fatty acids, rose 13 percent in naturals stores last year.

In 2003, consumers were deluged by news reports that questioned the safety of their food or the wisdom of conventional American eating habits. "When stories hit about mad cow disease or trans fats, people look to natural and organic products for alternatives," said the publication's editor, Marty Traynor Spencer. "We saw gains in every channel of trade, from small independent vitamin and health food stores to the largest supermarket chains." Natural products sales rose 7.8 percent to more than $13.7 billion at supermarkets, discounters, drugstores and other mass market retailers.

Additional statistics and facts about one of the nation's fastest-growing consumer segments may be found in The Natural Foods Merchandiser's Market Overview. The Overview provides the most comprehensive and current data on retail sales of natural and organic foods, personal care products and supplements.

The Market Overview is produced jointly by The Natural Foods Merchandiser and its San Diego-based sister publication, Nutrition Business Journal, a leading source of market research and strategic business information for manufacturers and suppliers in the nutrition industry.

For more information about the data in The Natural Foods Merchandiser's Market Overview, call Editor Marty Traynor Spencer at (303) 998-9352. For information about research methodology, call Nutrition Business Journal Research Director Patrick Rea at (619) 295-7685, ext. 21. Please consider us your resource on the natural/organic industry.