While the coronavirus pandemic has surely created many lasting shifts in consumer behavior, one of the most impactful in the supplement industry is the significant growth of e-commerce sales. E-commerce has, of course, already had significant momentum, boasting the strongest growth of any channel over the past decade. For context, brick-and-mortar growth in 2019 was 2.8% while e-commerce grew at nearly ten times that rate—26.5%. Still, online supplement sales are expected to grow a stunning 61.4% in 2020.

The growth this year is notable, but even more notable is the long-term impact of consumer sales shifting to e-commerce. Nutrition Business Journal expects that many consumers who discovered online platforms as a result of quarantine and stay-at-home orders in 2020 will remain loyal to this channel moving forward. As a result, online sales are projected to grow from $5 billion in 2019 to over $10 billion in 2022 and are expected to represent 19.6% of all supplement sales by 2023. This doubling (and another doubling after that) is not surprising to anyone paying attention; it just wasn't clear it would happen this fast. This movement will no doubt have a ripple effect across the industry and impact retailers, distributors and brands alike.

Learn more in NBJ's 2020 Supplement Business Report, the industry's go-to guide for data and insights on the supplement market.