The Diet Market: Our Specialty - For 23 Years!

Recession Buster Special: Buy 2 chapters and get another one FREE (equal or lesser value)

These market reports contain analyses, forecasts, and custom surveys not available elsewhere.

We also look at the non-traditional retail segments and channels that are not tracked yet account for billions in sales: infomercials, multi-level marketing companies, mail order, and Internet sales.

Marketdata is the ONLY market research firm to regularly track ALL 10 Segments of the U.S. weight loss industry: commercial chains like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, medical weight loss programs based in hospitals, clinics, and MD offices, diet drugs, diet soft drinks, diet foods/entrees, diet books, exercise videos, artificial sweeteners, diet plans offered by health clubs, and meal replacements like Slim-Fast, OTC diet pills and appetite suppressants, weight loss surgeries, dieter demographics, franchising, "cyberdieting" (web-based diet companies/programs,) and more.

We know the most about this market because we were the first to analyze and define this huge market in 1989. Our market research material was used as background for 1990 Congressional hearings and has been quoted extensively in all national periodicals.  We speak to reporters, writers and analysts every week of the year, and have more "inside" contacts than anyone. That’s how we’re able to obtain hard-to-find information via phone interviews, company press releases, etc. Most competitors in this market are private firms, with no annual reports, 10Ks or financial press releases. Incredibly, there is NO national weight loss trade association, annual convention, or trade journal covering the industry!

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Services & Market Research Reports Available...

Consulting & Custom Research

Don't see the information you need in our off-the-shelf reports?

No problem. We have the resources to obtain hard to find information, via our extensive database of competitor and market information. We can perform...

• Market potential studies for specific states, regions or cities.

• Market potential studies for a specific weight loss product or service.

• Competitor analyses.

• Obtain UFOC Franchise documents.

• Conduct mail or telephone surveys.

• Review of weight loss business plans.

• Help building and designing your weight loss website.

Fees: $150/hr. for custom research at our offices.        FREE Project Proposals

Need to pick our brains about a weight loss company, the market, or your new venture?

Teleconference calls... John LaRosa holds teleconference calls where he'll answer the questions of your staff or group in real time and follow up by email, for $250/hr., pro-rated for actual time spent on the call. Just let us know what topics you want to discuss ahead of time and we'll arrange for a mutually convenient time.

Dieter Leads (email addresses of opt-ins)

Dieter Leads: We sell Emails of dieters who registered and completed a 40-question online survey at our 8-year old website: BestDietForMe.com. Leads are  90% female, U.S. residents. Can be sorted by: date of lead, state, major city, age, BMI, diet budget, etc. Price: 15 cents each (regular leads) and 25 cents each (double opt-in diet food delivery or weight loss surgery leads). Can be used more than once--not one-time rental. New leads collected DAILY--approximately 300-400 per week. Delivered same day via Excel spreadsheet. Call us for details. 35,000+ leads for last 2 years.

Click here for more info:  http://www.bestdietforme.com/bdfmsalesleads.htm

BestDietForMe.com Advertising - This website is a major, 8-year old, award-winning, weight loss portal, with 2,000+ pages of unique content, articles, program/company reviews, and a unique and unbiased free online diet quiz/matching service (The Diet Wizard) - operated for 8 years by Marketdata. Advertise on the Internet's most comprehensive weight loss portal and a leading traffic diet website.

• Pay Per Click Advertising
• Banner Advertising

Diet Business Watch.com Online Newsletter  (FREE)

Marketdata Enterprises, Inc. has launched  a new weekly online newsletter covering news, company developments, market research, forecasts and discussions related to the weight loss market. The weight loss “industry has NO formal trade association, nor does it have a trade journal to call its own.  This will fill the void.

According to Marketdata’s President, John LaRosa:  “Today, those competing in the dynamic and competitive weight loss market have to search on their own for important news and competitor developments in a haphazard way. There is no place they can go to find this information—including new market surveys from the Census, CDC, and private research firms, covering ALL 10 weight loss market segments. Until now. The website www.DietBusinessWatch.com newsletter was created by Marketdata to fill the void and provide a one-stop destination for the latest news of interest to diet companies, entrepreneurs, investors, start-ups, franchisees, industry analysts and more. It also provides a forum to speak directly to John LaRosa, America’s leading diet business consultant.”

Topics & Features Include:

• Market News…  Marketdata analysts will glean from its extensive contacts and public sources the latest news items related to the weight loss market, which will form the core of the newsletter. Summaries and full articles or links to press releases and studies or websites will be provided. We will cover company and industry news. These articles will appear on the home page.
• John LaRosa’s Blog… John S. LaRosa, the nation’s leading diet market analysts since 1989, will post comments, opinions and forecasts about the weight loss market here. Check in for his latest comments. Provide feedback and respond, making for a lively discussion of diet market issues, problems, and more. Readers can check what’s on the mind of dieters, what they like and don’t like about diet products and companies. Get an early read on what they’re thinking.

              To get directly to the blog, go here:  http://blog.dietbusinesswatch.com

 

• Diet Market Press Releases… Want to get the major findings from Marketdata’s latest market studies? Find them here.
• Market Research Reports… Find out about Marketdata’s latest market research studies, and those of other publishers as well, with links to Tables of Contents and our secure online store for purchase.
• Public Firm Financials… There are only 5 publicly-owned weight loss companies, for which Annual Reports, 10K statements, and quarterly earnings reports are released: Weight Watchers, Medifast, eDiets.com, NutriSystem, and Herbalife. We will report the latest quarterly and yearly financial performance of these companies here.
• Diet Website Rankings… Marketdata will track the popularity of the top 25 diet websites, using data from sources such as Experian Hitwise, Alexa, Compete and Quantcast. See traffic patterns and seasonal variations here. Also: comments about Internet traffic, affiliate programs, monetizing traffic and more.
• Free Job Postings, Joint Ventures, Sales, Deals & Classifieds… Diet companies can post their job openings here for FREE, for positions located anywhere in the U.S. and abroad. If they are looking for partners or seek funding for ventures, or selling a franchise, these notices can also be posted -- Online diet market networking 24/7.
• Webcasts… Throughout the year, John LaRosa will be recording webcasts about various weight loss topics and posting them here and on YouTube. Other weight loss experts’ webcasts will also be included.

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Market Research Reports

 

 

New Diet e-book & Website Launched:  Book & Website - Only $1.99!  That's Right, Under 2 Bucks!

The CommonCent$Diet For The Busy Girl

John LaRosa, Marketdata's President and the former VP of Nutrition for eDiets.com, Susan Burke March, RD, have teamed up to co-author a brand new e-book. The CommonCent$Diet For The Busy Girl: Simple Do-it-Yourself Weight Loss, is a plan based on the use of 3 microwave "healthy" frozen entree meals per day, plus snacks, salads, etc. This is a 1400 calorie/day plan that is lower in sodium than the recommended daily allowance of 2200 mg.
 

Best of all for the frugal consumer, this is basically a ZERO COST, home-based program that IS sustainable long-term, using tasty brands such as Weight Watchers Smart Ones, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Amy's and Kashi. And, frozen entrees are portable, easily microwaved at work.
 

The only cost is $1.99 for the e-book, plus the cost of food a person would have to buy anyway--about $8/day for 3 frozen entrees. The typical American now spends $12/day on food eaten at home and away from home.

 

The book contains a 14-day regular and lower sodium meal plan.

In addition, purchasers of the e-book get free access to a supporting website: www.TheCommonCentsDiet.com, which contains, articles, videos, news, tips for online dieting, weight tracking tools, and a Blog by John LaRosa and Susan Burke March.

 

See the Press Release with more details here:

 

Common Cents Diet, Oct. 17 Press Release

 

Purchase the e-book at Amazon.com here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005VSJES0

 

 

 

 

Weight Loss Websites: A Marketing & Competitor Analysis

# FS36

January  2011  *  Pages: 171   * 42 Tables/Charts  *  Price: $1,495

Groundbreaking New Study - The Only Analysis That Exists

This fascinating and groundbreaking new Marketdata study examines the crowded $842 million weight loss websites market.  Research for this study was based on primary research involving an exhaustive analysis of the leading diet website metrics, both public and privately owned companies. 6-year trend data covering online dieter demographics and diet program preferences from 2005-2010 was analyzed—the BestDietForMe.com database proprietary to Marketdata.

Literally thousands of diet websites exist, yet most don’t make any money or profit. WeightWatchers.com and SparkPeople are the leaders, with the former taking in $196 million last year via 1 million paid subscribers. A variety of revenue generating models are used, but the trend seems to be toward free, advertiser-supported sites, rather than paid subscriptions. More review/information websites have appeared, taking their place among product-oriented sites that actually sell a diet program or products.

The study covers: Status of the overall weight loss market, nature/structure of the online dieting market, types of diet websites, revenue models used, how sites obtain traffic (natural vs. purchased), rankings by Alexa, Compete and Quantcast, ad networks, affiliate programs, Google AdSense, online dieter demographics (sex, age, BMI, diet budget, preferred program location, preferred food, previous plans used, etc.), market size (2005-2009, 2010 & 2014 forecasts).  Effects of the recession and social media. Also covers methods to value a diet website for sale/acquisition (with a sample valuation) and management outlooks and opinions of market growth and the competition. Rankings/tables for 27 top diet websites: year founded, traffic rank, % from U.S., estimated revenues, sites linked to it, pay per click monthly budget, no. of page views, bounce %, time spent per visitor, % female traffic, whether site accepts ads or uses an affiliate program, has an email newsletter, community support, e-commerce store, more. A wealth of website data exists, if one knows where to look.

In-depth Competitor Profiles for (.com): 3fatchicks, 50millionpounds, Annecollins, Atkins, BestDietForMe, BiggestLoserClub, CalorieKing, CaloriesCount, ChaseFreedom, Dietwatch, Diet.com, DietsInReview, DukeDiet, Dottie’s Weight Loss Zone, eDiets, FreeDieting, Hungry-Girl, JillianMichaels, JennyCraig, Lindora, Medifast, MyAlli, NutriSystem, RevolutionHealth, SparkPeople, TheBestLife, WebMd weight loss clinic, WeightWatchers.

Table of contents

 

 Free Powerpoint presentation from April 5th 2011 Webinar: How to operate a successful weight loss website

 

  Purchase this 60 minute Webinar with audio discussion by John LaRosa

 

Unique Consumer Guide

#FS35
 

Regarding the Weight Loss Guide Below, one of our customers says:

 

" One of the best research reports I've ever read. Very informative, well written, and a good balance of fact and opinion. Well worth the investment. Thank you for delivering!"

      (Ross Bauer, nu-train.com, a NYC-based high end weight loss counseling center)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

How To Start & Run A Profitable Weight Loss Business 

   (Newly Updated and Expanded 2nd Edition!)

August  2010     Pages: 199     Price: $149

Simply The Most Detailed Blueprint Ever Written For Running A Successful Weight Loss Business !

 

NEW Information Included:

- Interview Results For 8 Successful Weight Loss Consultants, Center Owners, Book Authors,

    Top Managers & Franchisees At Commercial & Medical Diet Companies

- What online dieters want, their demographic profile, as of July 2010

- Mid-year 2010 Market Forecasts & Outlook

Many people want to get into the $59 billion U.S. weight loss business. But how? And what kind of business to start? How much will it cost, and which ventures will be most likely to succeed? How can you avoid the mistakes others in this business have made? Do you have the qualities and background to make it in weight loss?

This groundbreaking new guide by Marketdata covers it all, from soup to nuts. Written by Marketdata’s President, John LaRosa, MBA, a weight loss industry consultant with 20+ years experience tracking and analyzing the diet market, interviewing its top management, and objectively viewing the industry’s problems, fads, successes and failures—through past recessions and growth periods.

Written in an easy to read style, with commentary by John LaRosa, key recommendations, names, websites and phone numbers of companies to help you, and much more. Backed up by information from market research studies, government agencies, franchising groups, and owner/managers. Includes an outlook and forecast for specific segments of the diet market to 2012.

The Guide covers, in detail:
    -Capital and time required for each type of business
    -Case studies of specific diet companies
    -Typical income statements, likely profits/earnings, start-up costs
    -Dirty secrets about the inner workings of ad networks and affiliate programs.

Chapters (see Table of contents for more details)

• Do You Have What It Takes To Survive In This Business?

• Poor Management – The Single Biggest Cause of Failure

• The Importance of Advertising

• Multiple Channels of Distribution – Your Best Insurance Policy

• Brick & Mortar Commercial Weight Loss Centers

• Weight Loss Franchising: The advantages and drawbacks

• If You’re A Physician: Adding Weight Loss To Your Practice

• Multi-level Marketing: A Reality Check on Independent Distributors

• If You’re a Nutritionist or Dietitian

• Diet Websites: Setting one up from scratch, with an e-commerce store, profile of online dieters (by age, sex, diet budget, preferred diet program location, preferred food plan, past diet plans used, psychological needs, BMI, starting weight, etc.)

• Writing a Diet Book – Your Ticket To Fame?

• Diet Food Home Delivery Services

• Reference Directory of Weight Loss Information Sources

 

Why waste tens of thousands of dollars or more, and lots of time in the wrong weight loss venture?  Get this Guide first.

Show it to your attorney or financial backer or partner.

It’s ALL here in one place.

 

Table of contents

 

Sample Chapter

 

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The U.S. Weight Loss & Diet Control Market (May 2011) - a 412 pp. market research study that’s the "bible" for this market (Price: $2,295, also sold by individual chapters) --11th Edition. Historical data to mid-1980s. Covers all ten weight loss market segments. In-depth competitor profiles with historical revenues.

 

The U.S. Weight Loss & Diet Control Market (11th Edition)

The Most Comprehensive Analysis of This Market Available!

Report # FS22

$2,295, May 2011, 412 pages, 160 Tables & Charts

This is a completely revised and updated analysis of of Marketdata’s best-selling biennial study about the $61 billion U.S. weight loss market. This is the most comprehensive investigation of the U.S. weight loss market published by anyone worldwide, covering… dollar value & growth rates of 10 major weight loss market segments (early 1980s to 2010, 2011 and 2014 forecasts), llatest market trends and developments, status reports and effect of the recession for: diet soft drinks, artificial sweeteners, health clubs, commercial diet center chains, mail order and multi-level marketing diet plans, OTC meal replacements and diet pills, diet websites, diet food home delivery services, medically supervised programs (weight loss surgery, MDs, RDs, and nutritionist-based diet plans, hospitals/clinic programs, Rx diet drugs, bariatrician plans, VLCD programs), retail meal replacements and diet pills, low-calorie entrees and low-carb foods.

Also included: Top 30 competitors ranking, 22-year revenue history of the market through past recessions, comprehensive dieter demographics, weight loss center franchising, and commercial centers’ national operating ratios.

Rankings/revenues of top 8 commercial chains, brand sales, and a Reference Directory of industry sources. New: results of latest surveys by the Calorie Control Council, Nutrition Business Journal, plus 110 dieter metrics/preferences from BestDietForMe.com online surveys (6-year data 2005-2010).

Contains 30+ in-depth updated competitor profiles with 2009-2010 financials for: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, eDiets.com, LA Weight Loss, Herbalife, Slim-Fast, Diet Center, Physicians Weight Loss, HMR, Optifast, Medifast, Lindora Clinics, Ballys, Curves, Atkins Nutritionals, Metabolic Research, Smart For Life, Medi-Weightloss, Centers for Medical Weight Loss, and many more.

Based on extensive primary & secondary research, management phone interviews, UFOCs and other documents.

 

Study available in print or digital format.

(Also sold by individual chapters)

View Table of Contents for this Report

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The U.S. Diet Food Home Delivery Market

May 2011 - a 166 pp. market research study covering this niche market  Price: $1,195

Report  #FS32

$1,195, May 2011, 166 pages, 61 Tables & charts

This new Marketdata study examines the $924 million diet food home delivery or “home meal replacement” market in the U.S.  This is a niche segment of the overall weight loss market appealing to the most affluent dieters, that has grown rapidly until the recession hit. Research for this study was based mainly on primary research involving custom Marketdata telephone surveys of company management.

Roughly 30 companies compete. Some ship food nationwide while others provide fresh daily delivery to local markets such as New York City and Los Angeles. Profit margins vary greatly.

The study covers: nature/structure of the market, key demand factors, pricing, distribution & franchising, how companies are formed and operate, profitability/expense ratios, customer mix and demographics, market size (2005-2010, 2011 & 2014 forecasts), management outlooks and opinions of market growth and the competition.

Also Included: Complete Status Report of the Total Weight Loss Market, with outlooks for commercial, medical and retail programs, 2009 & 2014 forecasts, latest dieter trends, major market developments of 2009-2010, 2008-2011 financials for the public diet companies, effects of the recession, ranking of top weight loss companies, 1989-2014 market size/growth history, and more.

29 Competitor Profiles for: NutriSystem, Jenny Direct, Medifast, Diet To Go, 5 Squares, BistroMD, Pur Foods, eDiets Meal Delivery, Chefs Diet, Freshology, Sunfare, Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating, HMR At Home, In The Zone, Personal Chef To Go, and more (address, program descriptions, prices, market outlooks, financials when available). 

Some Findings…

• The average monthly cost of a diet/healthy food home delivery plan is $723.

• Most companies held up well during the recession, and adapted/found new markets.

• We expect the market size to grow 3.7% in 2011 and 4.5%/year to 2014.

• Most local daily fresh food services serve the LA and NYC markets and don’t generate sales higher than $2-5 million, but some are as high as $30 million.

• Some services have been around 20+ years but the market took off in 2002-2003.

• 60-70% of customers are female, and clients usually stay on plan 8-12 weeks.

• Potential clients range from the elderly to college students, working Moms, time-pressed executives, celebrities, and yuppies looking for convenience.
   

View Table of Contents for this Report

 

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New Market Study…

 

Online Dieter Research - Quarterly Report

1st Quarter 2012

Report #ODR 29           April 2012           Pages: 81             Tables: 49               Price  $595

                                                                                                 (1 year subscription, 4 reports: $2,195)

Based On Daily Visitors Completing

The BestDietForMe.com Survey

Report Description

Marketdata Enterprises (the leading analyst of the weight loss market since 1989) operates a website: BestDietForMe.com. This site is now one of the leading weight loss information and analysis portals on the Internet. BestDietForMe essentially is a real-time data collection vehicle to monitor national online dieter behavior, daily. A total of  2,193 people were included in the 4th quarter 2011 sample--people that filled out an in-depth 40-question online survey. Comparative data for the 4th quarter of 2011 and 1st quarter of 2011 are included in this report.

Each quarter, Marketdata compiles and analyzes the responses of this sample, producing a wealth of statistics that are compared to previous quarters. The service was begun with the 1^st quarter 2005. Companies seeking to measure shifting online dieter preferences for types of weight loss programs, food/exercise/budget/support & motivation and other preferences, will find these reports extremely helpful in tracking fickle dieter behavior. The service is applicable to: providers of weight loss programs/products, health clubs, ad agencies & PR firms with weight loss clients, diet website operators, low-cal food & beverage/diet food mfrs., hospitals & surgeons with weight loss programs—any company trying to reach dieters online.

Statistical tables are supplemented by in-depth analyses and commentary, based on Marketdata’s ongoing research and 23-year knowledge of the weight loss market.

MetricsTracked

Each quarterly report will track 112 measures, including the following:

• gender

• age (5 categories)

• BMI (body mass index (separately for 5 categories, 18.5-40+)

• Percent opting in for special offers from diet companies

• Percent leaving first name

• Pregnant or nursing percentage

• Medical conditions, percent indicating at least one

• Their diet budget (separately for 6 categories: under $250 to $3,000+)

• Preferred weight loss program location (separately for 8 locations: home, weight loss center,  hospital, worksite, health club, healthcare pro’s office, residential facility, celebrity program)

• Interest in weight loss (bariatric) surgery – percent

• Interest in home delivery of diet food – percent

• Preferred diet counselor format (separately for: self-directed, 1-to-1, small group, large group)

• Type food plan desired (separately for: grocery store food, pre-packaged diet co. food, meal replacements, liquid supplements)

• Percent interested only in diet plans with pre-planned daily menus

• Percent with special food needs, allergies, food sensitivities

• Readiness to begin a diet program (immediately-6 months)

• Previous types of diet plans used (percent by 18 types)

• Exercise preferences (separately for: online coaching, personal trainer, on-site classes, etc.)

• Psychological support needs: percent identified by BestDietForMe.com analysis as needing… emotional eating support, stimulus control, social eating skills support

Also Included…

• Discussion and analysis of the online dieting market: nature, market size.

• Full year 2011 performance, financials and company developments, for: eDiets, Medifast, NutriSystem, and Weight Watchers.

• ·2012 diet Market Forecasts & Trends: Revised no. of American dieters, new season begins, latest rankings of top diets for 2012 by U.S. News & World Report, ComScore diet website rankings, search activity, 2011 sales of top commercial companies, in-depth analysis of recent diet website traffic decline - possible reasons, table of monthly visitors February this year vs. last for top diet sites.

  Diet Websites Market – Study’s major findings of market size, 6-year trend data of online dieter demographics, top competitors’ revenues, ranking of top 27 diet website by traffic

• Complete May 2011 Status Report of the TOTAL weight loss market, by segment, 2006-2010 growth for: commercial chains, medical programs, diet food home delivery, retail meal replacements, diet entrees, OTC diet pills, diet drugs, weight loss surgery, diet websites, more.

Discussion of major weight loss market developments: effects of the recession—segments most likely to benefit/lose, trends in diet program marketing/advertising,  2011  “diet season” progress, dieter demographics—no. of dieters by type program/method, top diet trends for 2011, 2014 Forecasts, Nature and size of online dieting market, evolution, changes, is online dieting effective? 

• Latest Alexa rankings of the top diet websites (Oct. 2011, Jan. & April 2012 traffic)

• Forecasts and early identification of key trends. Diet company costs per client acquisition.

• Tables: the entire U.S. weight loss market and its 10 segments, with 2006-2010 sales,

• Table: Top 8 commercial chains’ revenues for 2006-2010

• Reference Directory of Weight Loss Industry Information Sources.

Note: This report does not contain state or city data.

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