The Energy Bar Industry

Energy Bar Overview

The energy bar market grew from a grass roots effort focused on the consumer base of performance athletes. These athletes usually obtained products at competitive events that were geared towards the everyday consumer. The build up of this market is attributed to PowerBar, but there was significant contribution from others.

PowerBar and the Market

PowerBar began as a company seeking to create a performance-enhancing food that marathoners could consume during an energy-draining race. Initially, the product was marketed and distributed at bike shops and events where running and biking were the competition medium. As this new category began to expand, new entrants began to enter the market. These new entrants began to segment the food bar market into several categories. The primary consumers of the food bar market can be separated into three major segments: energy bars, sports bars, and weight loss bars.

In the US, the food bar market is dominated by several companies: PowerBar, Balance Bar, Luna, MetRx, and Clif Bar. Each of these is representative of one of the three major segments in the bar market.

In terms of similarities, the food bar industry as a whole seems to be targeting demographic rather than their target segment. Marketers are focusing more of their dollars into packaging their products to appeal to women. This can be seen by the focus on flavors such as Chocolate Covered Strawberry (Cytodyne's Xenadrine Bar), Almond Bliss (Nature's Plus Especially Yours Bar), and Chai Tea (Clif Bar's Luna Bar).

While some companies in the food bar industry are more a focus on women, they are able to differentiate by the type of women they market to base on the segment each company focuses on (i.e. sports, energy, and weight loss). Women in each category have specific needs that need to be met. For example, an energy bar would appeal to a woman who is a busy executive on the go and has limited time to stop for a meal. Whereas a woman who is concern about maintaining her shape would be the focus of weight loss bars.

PowerBar and Its Competitors Market View

PowerBar looked at the market from an energy perspective of creating a bar that focused primarily on men. However, this limited view allowed them to miss the concept of creating bars focused on women. Their close competitor, Clif Bar, built a solid brand for itself. However, Clif Bar recognized that the market was heavily focused on males and was missing the opportunity to bring women into category. Clif Bar had major success with the launch of Luna Bar.

Luna Bar saw that women were not being properly targeted and marketed. Luna positioned itself as being created "by women for women" to address their needs. Luna's recognized that women have interest driven by several needs and interests. These needs and interest will directly influence their purchasing behaviors.

Balance Bar paired its approach to go hand in hand with the Zone Diet. The Zone Diet focused on reduced carbohydrates by balancing them with protein and unsaturated fats. Balance Bar focused more on the fact that consumers were interested in more than energy from carbohydrates, but more of a balanced approach to nutrients.

MetRx, which greatly influenced the sports protein bar market, became popular with members of the bodybuilding industry and then with consumers outside of that industry. MetRx helped drive the market for protein bars. In addition, MetRx marketed the awareness for the need of high protein supplementation for weekend athletes in addition to current market of bodybuilders and serious athletes. Rapid growth of this segment will continue as more consumers outside of the bodybuilding industry are made aware of the benefits of sports bars.

Innovation and Opportunities

One of the key opportunities for companies in the food bar industry is to focus on specific age groups and health conditions. Karen Holliday, marketing manager at Kerry Ingredients-Kerry Sweet Ingredients states "The over-50 crowd is one of the largest population segments and one of their health issues is arthritis". Also, she said "We've found chondroitin and glucosamine are a clinically proven formula that could easily be included in bars." In addition, the diabetic market has an incredible unmet need. Many individuals affected by Type 2 diabetes will start making different dietary choices and products with a low glycemic index will mean a lot to them.

Research indicates that mothers are the biggest single purchasers of energy bars. Companies can find a niche marketing bars that are appropriate for both the parents and children.

The energy bar market in European countries is underdeveloped.