Lumina Intelligence has found that with an average review score of 4.4 out of 5, branched-chain amino acids receive the highest post-purchase ratings from online consumers of any product type in sports nutrition. 
 
Additionally, with an average of 800 reviews per product, BCAAs rank only just behind protein powders in online engagement. Other traditionally core sports nutrition categories like pre-workout supplements and nitric oxide boosters gained much less user engagement.
 
These findings in the report “BCAAs: An ace in sports nutrition’s 6-pack?” are based on data captured by Lumina Intelligence’s Sports Nutrition arm in 2018 across 20 countries and six product categories: protein powder, creatine, pre-workout blends, protein bars, nitric oxide boosters, and BCAAs.
 
The report looks at data from 121 brand owners, 126 distinct brands, 208 distinct brand variants and 255k customer reviews in the BCAA product category. 
 
Pinpointing online consumer sentiment to specific attributes such as product category, formulation and labeling can help businesses predict upcoming trends and improve product search visibility.
 
In an increasingly digital world, online reviews are becoming more valuable and not just because today’s consumers often base their purchasing decisions on reviews. Online retailers like Amazon, as well as Google itself, use review numbers and scores, amongst other factors, to determine how to rank products in searches.
 
Other key findings from the report include:

• 65% of the BCAA market uses a 2:1:1 ratio in their products.
• China currently makes up 55% of all reviews in sports nutrition globally, and companies should seek to capitalize on the speed of growth of online retailers in China.
• The biggest distinctive brand for reviews with China is CPT (Beijing Competitor Sports Science & Tech. Co., Ltd.), outside its Optimum Nutrition, with Scivation catching up behind.

Lumina Market Analyst Tom Morgan commented, “Sports nutrition is going through some exciting changes at the moment, especially in the online space as consumers are taking sports supplements, and are just implementing them as functional foods in their daily lives. They are diversifying, personalizing, and telling industry what they want, in reviews, social media, and searches. It’s now though, that industry has the tools to listen.”