GU Announces 2009 Sales Data

Berkeley, CA–GU Energy Labs, in concert with the Leisure Trends Group, today announced strong 2009 sales results. According to Leisure Trends Group’s RetailTRAKâ„¢, GU leads or is coming on strong in just about every product category they serve across all distribution channels — run, bike and outdoor retail.

The energy food category (including bars, drinks, gels and chews) was a hot category in both outdoor and run specialty. According to RetailTRAK, energy food year-over-year revenues grew 19% in all core outdoor stores and 21% in running specialty stores.

GU brands led the charge in run and outdoor specialty, with increases of over 25%. Some highlights: Gu’s original line of gels is the #1-selling brand, while GU Roctane by itself is now the # 2 gel brand in run. The combined power of Roctane and original GU increased share to over 60% in outdoor and nearly 70% in run.

In run and outdoor, GU was the largest, as well as the fastest-growing, brand in the performance nutrition categories (gels, chews and drinks) by sales and margin dollars. Year-over-year bike data are not yet available through Leisure Trends reports, but with Independent Bike Dealers GU holds a similar leadership position.

“This is powerful data,” said GU Vice President of Sales and Marketing Christian Johnson, “We’re excited and very appreciative of our strong ties to athletes and retailers. We had boatloads of product news, but also sampled and promoted aggressively in an environment that turned out to be very hospitable to our offering. This year the running category was unreal. When you think about it, it’s very possibly the most approachable category from the point of view of the recession-era consumer.”

GU Energy Labs’ President, Brian Vaughan noted that the company’s investment in line extensions helped drive global revenue growth of nearly 50%, “Our gels have always commanded market share leadership, and that was enhanced considerably by our new Roctane line. In addition to gels, we went bigger and broader in 2009 appealing to more athletes with the introduction of Chomps Energy Chews and GU Brew Electrolyte and Recovery Drinks. From the casual day hiker to the elite IronMan Triathlete or big wall climber, we have a product that meets our consumers’ needs. Fueled by GU, we’ll continue to work our tails off to maintain sales leadership as the top energy food brand.”

About GU Energy Labs: GU Energy Gel, the original energy gel, was launched in 1994 in Berkeley, CA. To this day, GU remains the market share leader by a margin of more than 2 to 1, and it’s still the premium gel available to endurance athletes. GU, Roctane, Chomps and Brew are designed to provide athletes with scientifically-proven, performance-tested nutrition. For more information about GU, log onto www.GUenergy.com.

About Leisure Trends: Leisure Trends Group, Boulder Colorado, RetailTRAKâ„¢ is a point-of-sale (POS) retail sales tracking service. Reports are published monthly and represent the industry tracked including all brands, styles, price points, dollars sold, units sold, average selling prices, market share and (in specialty stores) margins, turns, inventory and sell-through.

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