Part 1 · The concept
Categories say where a product sits. Foundations say how it was built to win.
A category groups products by the shelf they share. Inside a big category, brands are making very different bets on format, formulation and audience. Foundations separate those bets so each one can be measured for the brands that use it and for how fast it is growing.
One category
Digestive & Gut Health
Holds most of the biotics market, and on its own says little about it.
Three different bets inside it
A fibre gummy
The biotic itself
A sixteen-strain capsule for women
Built for someone
A greens powder with a prebiotic
A biotic added
Three properties of every Foundation
These hold in any market where Foundations are defined.
A kind of product, not a kind of brand
Every selling product in the market sits on exactly one Foundation. Nothing is double-counted and nothing is left out.
Something a brand uses
A brand uses a Foundation when it sells a product on it. Most small brands use one. Large brands use many.
A clear definition
Each Foundation has a plain-language definition, so anyone can see why a product belongs where it does.
A brand's mix of Foundations is its strategy
Because every product sits on one Foundation, a brand's units spread across them in a pattern. Some brands concentrate on a single approach; others spread across most of the market. Three examples from biotics:
Seed
Concentrated
87% of its biotic units sit on High-count probiotic blend.
Grüns
Single Foundation
Entirely Greens and superfoods with a biotic.
Garden of Life
Broad portfolio
Uses 16 of the 20 Foundations.
Part 2 · Applied to one market
The Biotics Foundations
The concept is general; each set is specific. A market's Foundations are written for how products in that market are actually built, so a different market would get a different set. The twenty below are the set for biotics: probiotics, prebiotic fibres, postbiotics, and products that carry one of them as a feature. Together they cover the whole biotics market.
20
Foundations in the biotics set
3
Families they group into
1
Foundation per selling product
Three families, twenty Foundations
The family says what role the biotic plays in the product. The Foundation says what kind of product it is.
Built for someone
The product is made for a specific person or need: children, women's health, or weight and metabolism, regardless of what is in the formula.
3 Foundations
Kids' biotics
Products made for children.
Women's health
Products whose biotic claims centre on vaginal and urinary health, women's wellness or pregnancy, or biotic products listed specifically for women.
Metabolic and weight management
Products positioned on weight management or blood sugar, leading on appetite, satiety or metabolism, or carrying Akkermansia.
A biotic added
The product is something else, such as a greens powder or a multivitamin, and carries a biotic as a feature.
8 Foundations
Digestive enzymes with a biotic
Gut health products built around three or more digestive enzymes, with at least as many enzymes as biotic ingredients.
Greens and superfoods with a biotic
Greens or superfood products with a biotic added, built on algae, vegetable or wholefood powders rather than vitamins and minerals.
Cleanse and detox with a biotic
Liver, cleanse or detox products with a biotic added.
Beauty and collagen with a biotic
Hair, skin and nails or collagen products with a biotic added, outside sports nutrition.
Sports nutrition with a biotic
Sports nutrition products with a biotic added.
Vitamins and minerals with a biotic
Multivitamins, or products with eight or more vitamins and minerals, with a biotic added.
Immune formula with a biotic
Immune health products with a biotic added.
Other biotic products
Products with a biotic added that fit no other Foundation, and probiotics that name no strain.
The biotic itself
The biotic is the product. These Foundations are told apart by what the biotic is: its type, its format, and how many strains it names.
9 Foundations
Postbiotic-led
A postbiotic on its own, with no probiotic or prebiotic.
Fibre gummies
A prebiotic fibre with no probiotic, in gummy form.
Prebiotic fibre
A prebiotic fibre with no probiotic, in any form other than a gummy.
Probiotic gummies
A probiotic in gummy form.
Yeast probiotic
A probiotic where every named strain is a Saccharomyces yeast.
Spore probiotic
A probiotic where every named strain is a Bacillus spore-former.
High-count probiotic blend
A probiotic blend naming ten or more strains.
Multi-strain probiotic
A probiotic naming three to nine strains.
Focused probiotic
A probiotic naming one or two strains.
What "a biotic added" means
A biotic counts as added, rather than being the product, when either of these is true:
- →The biotic ingredients are a quarter of the formula or less.
- →The product is positioned outside gut health, and its other ingredients are at least as many as its biotic ones.
A fibre or a probiotic with a few vitamins beside it is still the biotic itself.
What is reported for each Foundation
Every Foundation gets the same profile, with the whole market's figure shown beside each measure for comparison.
Size and growth
Brands, formulas, listings, units, dollars at listed prices, share of the market, and units growth.
Brands
The leading brands, each with its share of the Foundation and the share of its own biotic units that sit there, plus the brands rising fastest on it.
Profile
Who its reviews show it reaching, formats, biotic ingredients, trademarked biotics, what the biotic is paired with, benefit areas, sub-benefits, claim language, review topics and price per serving.
Examples
Its most common claims, word for word, and its best-selling products.
For each brand: how many Foundations it uses, and the share of its biotic units on each.