“There is a Zhigul, and there is a foreign car”: opinions on Russian protein
On our website in the “Analytics” section (https://icsnp.org/analytics/) there are already “reviews” of the sports food market, and in this article we will not plunge into market analysis or track the interest of buyers on a national or global scale. We’ll try to narrow our focus and just go to a sports nutrition store to get started.
One of the Shevsport Nutrition store employees told us what customers are most often interested in, so that we can find out their preferences using a local example (for which we are very grateful to him).
Here is a list of the sports nutrition brands that are always in the assortment of this outlet:
Optimum Nutrition, Maxler, Universal Nutrition, Scitec Nutrition, Ultimate Nutrition, Geon, Primecraft, Genetic Lab, Now, Be first, BSN, Qnt, Scivation, Quantum.
Top sellers are Optimum Nutrition and Maxler. They are, according to our consultant, buyers take most often. Most commonly sold flavors are chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.
Mostly D3, Omega-3 (and preferably in transparent packaging), collagen and amino acids for recovery (BCAA, arginine, citruline) are bought up. And protein bars are a product that will definitely be sold every day.
An interesting point, which I would like to understand in more detail – according to a store employee, protein from Russian manufacturers is taken less often. “People are less likely to trust domestic producers, because they do not have so much experience in sports nutrition when compared with Western counterparts. Buyers say this is the main reason. It’s just that everyone trusts the older brand, although in fact our quality is not worse, I think. ”
We spoke with buyers to get the top opinions and sentiments among their responses to why they DO NOT buy Russian-made protein. These were twenty buyers of the sports food no longer within the framework of one store: among them are passers-by, gym visitors and netizens. Everyone is over 18 years old.
Of the twenty people interviewed, nine answered that they drink Russian protein.
Here are the most common explanations for the reasons:
- “A lot of protein, it suits me and I drink”;
- “I take Russian protein at a higher price (I don’t recommend a cheap one, it can be poorly digested). If you compare it with Europe, then in terms of composition there is absolutely insignificant difference, and with the same cost, Europe is 10 servings less than Russia. I see no reason to overpay ”;
- “The price, quality and composition suit me, but the taste is absolutely not important to me. I just drink, I don’t think about it, so I don’t see any reason to choose something more expensive, Western according to the criteria of taste ”;
- “I initially bought Russian, I liked it. I’m used to it “;
- “Satisfied with the price and quality”;
Eleven people chose foreign brands. Some of the reasons for the respondents were repeated, and here is a small summary of the main ones:
- “According to Russian – here, rather, some kind of skepticism in relation to the development of the sports food industry in Russia. The choice “Russian / non-Russian” is not worth it – the choice is often “proven and effective / something else (cheaper)”;
- “Somewhere in 2012–2014, when I was training, I bought isotonic drugs and creatine made in Russia. The impression was bad: the product is very “dirty”, “rough”, inedible, or something. Specifically, I did not like the taste (it seemed terrible), poor solubility in water, and the product felt poorly absorbed. Since then, it is easier to play it safe and take a foreign analogue ”;
- “I haven’t bought Russian proteins, and I don’t understand them – it’s easier for me to overpay 20% and take the protein that I have always bought and in which I have always been confident. It is the most famous, many people buy it – and even if it is the influence of advertising, then I was convinced of the quality myself ”;
- “Let me give you a comparison example: there is a domestic “Zhigul”, and there is a foreign car. “Zhigul” can take you from point A to point B, and, perhaps, everything will be fine on the road. But the only question is how comfortable your trip will be. In my opinion, it works the same with proteins ”;
- “I bought Russian protein, but didn’t like the taste. Not critical, of course, but accepted it without pleasure, tried not to think about taste. And with the west, the difference in taste is indescribable. And the scoop was disappointing: it was such a long, uncomfortable measuring spoon, because of which I was all covered in this powder. Such, you know, like a long soft ruler. And it is heavy, this powder, and when the line outweighs, the powder can be spilled. And sometimes protein was poorly absorbed in terms of digestion .. In short, if you have 500 rubles of the budget reserve, it is better to take Europe. You will not be disappointed. “
It was a small local statistics of the opinions of the consumers of the sports food.
See you on the SuperFood pages in the following articles!
(The material was prepared by Alexandra Goryunova)