Brands Briefing: Why 2025 was the year of the gummy supplement

In addition to Grüns, this year has been marked by a number of supplement brands pivoting to gummies, or launching additional gummy-focused lines. One example is Plant People, which started with tinctures and capsules and transitioned to gummies and chews, and, in turn, found greater success in converting customers. Some critics and health professionals have argued that, while they’re tasty, gummy supplements don’t offer the vitamin and mineral potency of traditional pills and capsules. However, wellness brands say manufacturing technology has come a long way in allowing higher-dose injections in gummy supplements. And many supplement founders credit the format with helping them gain wider retail distribution this year.

In other words — don’t expect the gummy craze to slow down in 2026.

A format that lifts customer conversion 

There are two main factors that helped the gummy trend explode in 2025, said Bobby Bitton, co-founder of O Positiv Health, which makes gummy supplements for women.

“In the last five years, there has been an increased ability to innovate and get the ingredients you want in a gummy form,” said Bitton. O Positiv had tried launching a PMS gummy vitamin all the way back in 2018, but the gummy format was limited to that one product. “When we launched our business, we couldn’t find a manufacturer that was willing to put botanicals in gummy vitamins, only vitamins or minerals,” Bitton said.

The company focused on capsules due to their ability to hold a higher active dose. But in 2022, the company introduced more gummy versions of their popular products, including a menopause vitamin gummy and a prebiotic fiber gummy. 

It took years of error and trial, and a willing co-packer, to blend ingredients like chaste berry, dong quai and lemon balm in a gummy. “And now you see Ashwagandha in so many [functional] gummies,” Bitton said.

Additionally, with more backing from investors in the category, more consumers are able to discover gummies that cater to different wellness needs that go beyond multivitamins. “When you look at Target and Walmart, you see the high amount of gummies they’re adding on the shelves to cater to their customers,” Bitton said.

Bitton said the consumer’s increased interest in gummies is more evolutionary than an overnight success. “It’s an expansion of the form factor,” he added. He said the trend technically began decades ago with fruity chewable vitamins, which evolved into the two-a-day gummy model in the past decade. “Now what Grüns is doing is merging the gummy vitamins with snack packs to offer a much higher active load of ingredients,” Bitton said. 

Indeed, more brands are taking inspiration. Supplement brand Feel Goods, which mainly sells powder mixes, is considering adding a gummy line in 2026. As Feel Goods co-founder Brian Wong told Modern Retail, the success of brands like Grüns showed that consumers want more flexibility in their supplements, as drinking powder mixes isn’t always appealing or convenient. 

Results from O Positiv show just how powerful the format can be. For O Positiv’s menopause relief product, the brand launched with a capsule first and added a gummy version in 2022. “That boosted conversion rates on our website by 20% overnight,” Bitton said. The dual options have helped with incremental sales across the board, Bitton said. For example, Bitton noted that retail shoppers tend to reach for gummies because of their texture and flavor appeal. “But when a new customer comes in [online], it’s really a 50-50 split between gummies and capsules,” he said.

Both customers and retailers love it

Some wellness founders claim that the consistency in which people take gummies is arguably the biggest win for the format. One of them includes Sienna McCormick, co-founder of Create Wellness, which launched in 2022 with its creatine monohydrate gummy line. 

“The shift toward gummies is a simple equation: People actually take them,” McCormick said, due to more fun flavors and better texture when compared to capsules and powders. “Gummies help pull new users into categories like creatine, which they may have previously ignored. Since launching in 2022, McCormick said, “Create has grown fivefold annually, and we’re projecting 3X-4X growth in 2025 alone.” 

“Retailers also feel that lift in velocity, and that’s helped Create scale quickly as shoppers opt for formats that fit their real habits,” McCormick said. She pointed to the company expansion this year, including nationwide launches in Sprouts, The Vitamin Shoppe and Target, as a signal that retailers are hungry for more approachable creatine formats. “The gummy format has played a huge role in that trajectory,” she added.

Functional wellness brand Trip, known for its adaptogen beverage line, is betting on gummies to create more opportunities for consumption throughout the day. The company launched its line of calming gummies in 2024, which co-founder Olivia Ferdi said helped Trip evolve into a lifestyle brand. The Trip gummies launched in Target in October.

“Knowing that we could innovate around gummy flavors meant creating more occasions throughout the day for the Trip customers,” Ferdi said — for example, when a mom is on the go, or a nurse is working the night shift and doesn’t have time for a can of Trip. “They can have our gummies instead,” she said.

Ferdi also said that, through retail conversations and consumer insights, she finds that “gummies definitely feel like the next frontier.” This is also being reflected in the funding being raised, with Trip announcing a $40 million round in November.

With the success of its gummy variations, Bitton said O Positiv Health has a few new SKUs in the works for 2026. The company is preparing the launch of a Myo-inositol ovarian support soft chew in the first quarter, for example. “The texture is basically like a Starburst and can hold a much higher active load without affecting the efficacy of the product,” Bitton said. “And it’s in a one-serving size dose, so it’s also an enjoyable experience.” –Gabriela Barkho

Why a new ‘Goop for dogs’ startup is looking outside the pet-care aisle for retail distribution

Lil Luv Dog, a pet-care brand The New York Times deemed “Like Goop, but for dogs,” isn’t making a beeline for the pet-care aisle in the same way other brands might. Instead, the company, which launched this summer with a dry shampoo for dogs, is positioning itself as a lifestyle brand with a distribution strategy to match. It sells its products at salons like Crane, grocery stores like Pop Up Grocer, cafés like Community Goods, and fashion sites like Revolve and FWRD.

Lil Luv Dog, which also sells via its website, is geared toward a Gen-Z and millennial pet owner — someone who “is carrying their Rhode lip gloss and their Stanley cup, and is going to Erewhon,” co-founder Cara Santana Leto told Modern Retail.

“[Our shopper] is shopping for their dog like they’re shopping for themselves,” said Santana Leto, who created the brand with Stephanie Suganami. “We wanted to go where they’re already looking.” The company’s products retail for $26-$36. The business reports a 6.5% conversion rate on-site, with an average order value of $80. 

So far, the distribution strategy is working, Santana Leto said. Lil Luv Dog has become the No. 2 pet product at Pop Up Grocer since launching there in September. “What that tells me is that the consumer is looking for convenience,” Santana Leto said. “They’re looking for premium. They’re looking for solutions to problems.”

The brand is also following environmental tenets important to young consumers. Lil Luv Dog uses clean ingredients in less wasteful packaging like compostable wood pulp. Lil Luv Dog’s shampoo was the first pet-care product to be verified by the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group with product-safety databases. 

The company is gearing up for even more growth in 2026, after raising $1 million in funding last year. Next year, it will launch pet wipes, liquid shampoo, leave-in conditioner, balm and waste bags. –Julia Waldow

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• What’s gone wrong at Lululemon as the company’s CEO steps down. 
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