By: Philip Brasor & Masako Tsubuku

Philip Brasor & Masako Tsubuku — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:51:26 +0000

Thanks for the note. We rechecked the articles where we got those numbers from and that is what they said. The figure of 600-700 million bottles of Lipovitan sold a year came from an Asahi Shimbun article about health drinks (http://digital.asahi.com/articles/TKY201208130606.html) and the figure of ¥121 billion annual sales for eiyo drinks came from a Fuji Keizai survey that was quoted by a number of publications. As you point out, if the number of bottles sold per year is multiplied by the ¥153 retail price, the sales amount is much more than 40 percent. It’s possible, of course, that Taiyo Pharmaceutical is inflating their numbers (Wikipedia says they sell more than 800 million bottles a year and have a 50 percent share), or it might be the vague definition of the word “shijo” (market), which is the word Fuji Keizai used. That might not stand for retail sales, but actually “shipping out” sales, meaning the amount the manufacturer makes when it ships the product. Then again, Taiyo also sells a large number of Lipovitan bottles overseas, especially in Southeast Asia, but we can’t find a breakdown of exactly how many bottles they sell outside of Japan.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 05:46:03 +0000

Think your market size or Lipovitan D sales numbers might be off. 700 million bottles of Lipovitan at 153 yen would already be over 100 billion yen.

Comments on: Vitamin drinks demonstrate their stamina in the market

By: Philip Brasor & Masako Tsubuku

By: Chris