Sales of vitamin supplements have skyrocketed in 2024 across major e-commerce retailers, with this surge attributable to the concept of “fruitflation,” whereby the rising cost of purchasing fruits made it unaffordable to buy fruits and consumers turned to vitamins instead.

According to data from SSG.com on Monday, sales of vitamin and nutritional supplements are up 75 percent from the beginning of 2024 until March 10th compared with the same period a year ago. This figure is nearly double the annual growth rate of 40 percent recorded for vitamin supplement sales in 2023.

SSG.com responded to the growing demand for health foods by opening a health food specialty store, ‘Biopublic,’ in November 2022. This store offers a wide range of health food brands, including those sold in large supermarkets and department stores, as well as popular items purchased directly from overseas online sites. Among the top-selling products are Korean health functional food products that allow consumers to consume vitamin C and vitamin D simultaneously.

The popularity of vitamin supplements extends to products purchased directly from overseas. On the U.S. Amazon page operated by 11Street, sales of vitamin supplements have increased by 12 percent from January to March 10th, 2024, compared to the same period last year. A popular item is a comprehensive multivitamin for senior women from a U.S. company, with a 200-day supply available in the 30,000 won ($22.5) range.

Platforms such as Wemakeprice have also reported an 80 percent increase in sales of vitamin supplements compared to a year ago, which is indicative of a general upward trend in the popularity of vitamins across e-commerce platforms.

The soaring sales of vitamin supplements can be attributed to increased interest in health management since the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent surge in fruit prices, with the demand for supplements rising as it becomes more challenging to obtain essential vitamins via fruits. The inflation rate for fruits surged by 40.6 percent in February 2024 compared to the same month a year ago and was higher than the overall consumer price index increase of 3.1 percent, according to Statistics Korea.

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]