GNC and Walmart in 'Exclusive' Tie-up in Stores and Online
Retail Dive | June 7, 2021
GNC announced "an exclusive agreement with Walmart" to sell a selection of its products. Men's and women's vitamins and nutritional products are available through more than 4,000 Walmart stores and online; the supplements retailer also plans to add sports nutrition and weight management products to the mix.
"The future of the wellness industry has a place for everyone, and GNC is making a healthy lifestyle more accessible than ever by delivering quality products to consumers via Walmart's expansive network of stores," Burris said in a statement.
That is likely very important for GNC, which is at a large enough scale that it needs to expand its market to grow, according to Matt Sargent, principal at consultancy Sargent Up North. The health and wellness market is already enormous, and growing, especially after the pandemic, according to Sargent. "The key to this space, the nutritional space in general and supplements, wellness, is the discoverability." Customers might be inclined to try a known product like GNC if they find it on the shelves of a retailer they already trust, he said.