Gatorade ventures into gummies | Food Dive

Dive Brief:

• PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand is moving into gummies with its first dietary supplement as the brand aims to cover more times when an individual might use it. The company is releasing Gatorade Recovery Gummies and Gatorade Immune Support Gummies.
• In a statement, the company said the Gatorade Recovery Gummies support exercise recovery, and the Gatorade Immune Support Gummies contain vitamins and minerals that support a healthy immune system. Gatorade Gummies are available for $25.99 each and bundled together for $46.80.
• The gummies launch marks the latest in a series of new offerings for the Gatorade brand, which recently entered the energy drink category with its first caffeinated beverage called Fast Twitch.

Dive Insight:

While Gatorade has become a juggernaut brand with annual sales topping $6 billion and controlling more than 70% of the sports drink market by focusing on hydration, the brand is looking for other ways to meet the needs of the consumer.

For much of its existence, Gatorade has focused on hydration, but many consumers are looking for more than just quenching their thirst in the products they use. As individuals place a greater importance on their health, a trend that picked up momentum during the ongoing pandemic, they are looking for products to help them in that journey.

Gatorade’s branding is already closely tied to fitness and athletes, and expanding into gummies to target immunity and post-exercise recovery is a logical extension of catering to this demographic. Gatorade not only draws the consumer in while exercising with its sports drinks but keeps them once they are done with the gummies.

Gatorade could have easily put these product attributes into its beverages, but by embracing gummies the company is recognizing that people, and those exercising in particular, are on the go. Most people don’t want or have the ability to carry around multiple bottles of Gatorade. Gummies are lighter and more convenient.

Vitamin gummies, for example, are a fast-growing category. The global gummies market was valued at roughly $6 billion in 2020 and is expected to nearly climb to $10.6 billion by 2025, a compound annual growth rate of 12.5%, according to MarketsandMarkets.

In addition to the gummies, Gatorade recently debuted a smart water bottle to track and collect hydration data for a user. The bottle calculates a person’s beverage intake based on their profile and sport activity — further cementing Gatorade’s presence in the hydration space that is growing increasingly competitive.

While Gatorade is far and away the market leader, competitors like Coca-Cola’s BodyArmor are surging in popularity. This places the impetus on the decades-old PepsiCo brand to find ways to keep itself relevant with its core audience that turn to it for hydration while finding other ways to attract and retain other users.