Hydration category gains popularity for active lifestyles and beyond

During ‘The Modern Sports Nutrition Consumer’ panel at the Sports and Active Nutrition Summit​ in San Diego, one key trend that our experts highlighted was hydration. Traditionally seen as a product for athletes, hydration is making its way into a variety of categories as brands position the offering beyond sports nutrition.

“Hydration is one of those categories that for a long time, was really focused on a handful of brands. Over the last couple years, we’ve seen tons of entries from a brand and product standpoint into that space focus on not just hydration in the sense of sports nutrition, but hydration in the sense of a multitude of end uses and benefits that are associated with being well-hydrated. So it's really grown exponentially in terms of the number of brands, the number of products and the end-use benefits of those products related to hydration and what they're targeted to solve for,” explained Ken Huntly, Senior Director of Merchandising, GNC.

The active nutrition market now captures a wide range of consumer demographics, and Huntly said hydration is resonating with multiple groups by spilling over to categories such as beauty.

“The other areas we’re seeing hydration really go into is things like skin health, you know, the beauty space as it relates to hydration and the effects that proper hydration has on your skin. And it's not just about replenishing your electrolytes after a hard day at the gym or a hard day on the field–it's really broaching a lot of different categories and spaces within a consumer’s lifestyle,” said Huntly.