Women dominate Australia’s vitamins, minerals & supplements market
New Roy Morgan data shows 8.24 million Australians aged 14+ (39%) buy vitamins, minerals or supplements in an average six months, up from 7.95 million four years ago. However, taking into account Australia’s population growth since 2016, the proportion of Australians buying these products has declined since 2016.
Women comprise the bulk of Australia’s vitamins, minerals or supplements market, with 4.88 million women (46%) buying these products compared to only 3.36 million men (33%). These trends hold up for women and men of all ages but are most pronounced for Australians aged 25 and over.
The peak buying age for vitamins, minerals or supplements is 35-64. At least 50% of women aged 35-49 or 50-64, and around 40% of men in both age groups, purchase these goods. In fact, men aged 35-49 are the only age group of men more likely to buy vitamins, minerals or supplements than the average population.
Chemist Warehouse is the top choice for people buying vitamins, minerals or supplements
Chemist Warehouse stands out as the first choice for people buying vitamins, minerals or supplements. Now over 45% of people buying these goods go to Chemist Warehouse, up from 39% four years ago.
This is nearly twice as many as go to all other chemists/pharmacies. Just over 23% of people who buy vitamins, minerals or supplements buy from any of Priceline/Priceline Pharmacy, TerryWhite Chemmart, My Chemist or other chemists/pharmacies, down from 27% four years ago.
Just over a quarter of people buying vitamins, minerals or supplements go to supermarkets (28%), and this figure is unchanged on four years ago. Of the supermarkets Woolworths (15%) is just in front of Coles (14%), while only 3% buy them at other supermarkets.
An additional 9% of people buying vitamins, minerals or supplements go to other outlets such as health food stores, service stations, convenience stores or department stores. Some people buying vitamins, minerals or supplements shopped at more than one of the outlets mentioned above.
These findings are from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 1,000 Australians each week and around 50,000 Australians per year.
Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan says:
Purchased vitamins in the last 6 months: Women vs men
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), April 2019 – March 2020, n=13,208. Base: Australians 14+.
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
