Fresh off their victory as Fitness Informant's 2019 Breakout Brand of the Year, Alpha Lion has announced they are partnering with Bodybuilding.com to become the exclusive online retailer of the brand. The deal with Bodybuilding.com will give the brand visibility to more than 20 million unique visitors each month to their online store.
The move by Alpha Lion was not a selfish one, but one that can help support their cause of helping those in need. This partnership will undoubtedly help Alpha Lion hit their 2020 goal of providing lifesaving vitamin A supplements to 1,000,000 at-risk youth by the end of year. Through its partnerships with Vitamin Angels and Bodybuilding.com, Alpha Lion will donate a year’s supply of vitamin A to one child for every order placed with the major retailer.
Alpha Lion's co-founder Jordan Fares had the following to say:
We could not be more pumped for our loyal customers that we consider family, as they are now able to order directly from Bodybuilding.com —giving them greater access to the Alpha Lion product range. As we grow, giving our customers greater accessibility and transparency is key. With this partnership, we are doing both and it’s a huge step forward for everyone involved. Plus, we'll be able to make greater strides in our humanitarian efforts, which is the ultimate goal.
The exclusive deal with Bodybuilding.com will result in several changes for Alpha Lion. The first major change will be Bodybuilding.com will be the only online website allowed to retail the brand's products, other than AlphaLion.com. Alpha Lion is not currently sold on Amazon, but Bodybuilding.com does have a relationship with Amazon to where the brand could find its way onto Amazon. The second change will occur in Alpha Lion's formulas.
Bodybuilding.com requires all of their retailers to have fully compliant supplements. Any ingredient that is illegal/banned, considered a health risk or does not fall under the Bodybuilding.com compliance guidelines are not allowed in products sold on Bodybuilding.com. The brand must update their formulas to reflect 100% compliance.
Two of Alpha Lion's popular products will undergo formula changes. Alpha Lion Superhuman Pre-Workout and Cheetah Burn Thermo fat burner will be reformulated for Bodybuilding.com. Both of these products have been reformulated to remove non-compliant ingredients and will now carry the Informed Choice badge.
Current formulas of Alpha Lion's products will continue to be sold on Alpha Lion's website until they are sold out or until early December.
Alpha Lion has confirmed that there will be exclusive formulas of their popular products for their brick and mortar locations, however those formulas will also be 100% compliant.
Bodybuilding.com remains the largest online retailer for sports nutrition supplements outside of Amazon doing $226 million in sales in 2018. Exclusive partnerships with Bodybuilding.com has helped several brands become highly successful including Kaged Muscle Supplements and EVL Nutrition.
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Fitness Informant's POV
We knew this announcement was coming when we made the final voting in the 2019 Breakout Brand of the Year Award. Candidly, this announcement helped the brand in their quest to become the Breakout Brand of the Year. Part of that criteria is distribution, and partnering with one of the largest online retailers only expands their footprint and brand recognition. On top of that, the brand is moving more towards a health-focused approach, which benefits us on our fitness journeys.
Regarding the product reformulations, the brand will have to pull DMHA and Isopropylnorsynephrine from their products. This is why you see that Superhuman Pre-Workout and Cheetah Burn Thermo have undergone formula changes. These ingredients are not compliant according to Bodybuilding.com. In fact, several brands received warning letters on DMHA earlier in 2019. The move by Alpha Lion to move away from non-compliant ingredients should NOT be seen as a negative, because had they not done this it would have eventually caught up with the brand and got them into trouble.
Alpha Lion made the decision to remove these ingredients for the betterment of the brand, but more-so for the betterment of the consumer. The industry continues to evolve and improve with ingredient creation to the point where these non-compliant stimulants are no longer needed. We have have been informed on the new labels from Alpha Lion, and they are actually MORE expensive than the current formulas on the market today. This is a testament to the brand's commitment to consumer-first innovation.
We have seen many comments online from consumers who are unhappy with this move. From a supplement expert who's been doing this a long time and have done a lot of research on ingredients, DMHA does not make or break a product. There's not one ingredient that should make you do a 180 on a brand. I like DMHA, but I am confident that it will be replaced with a formula that honors the integrity of the brand. Alpha Lion is being a responsible brand to itself, to ensure they can be around the next 5-10 years, and to you, the consumer, to ensure that you are getting the best health-focused products on the market.
