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Jenny Craig last month re-hired actress Kirstie Alley as their spokesperson. The actress stars in an ad breaking  in which she pleads with Jenny to let her “come home” so she can enjoy “yummy food” and lose 20 to 30 pounds. The spot marks the beginning of a new campaign featuring Ms. Alley’s “renewed weight […]

Multi-level marketing has long been used as a distribution channel to sell weight loss products. But lately, it has become more popular, as there are now at least two dozen companies selling diet products in the U.S. this way. Herbalife has become the #2 diet company by sales, by selling $717 million worth of weight

Marketdata Commentary: John LaRosa I’ve been hearing and seeing the word “disrupt” a lot lately in business conversations. It seems to be the new buzzword that everyone is using, to describe how their new start-up is going to shake up the market and put companies like Weight Watchers out of business. Truth be told, there

Ms. Alley initially found success with Jenny Craig in 2004, when she lost 75 lbs. on the program. She maintained her 145-lb. figure for three years, but once she left the company in 2007, her discipline, and weight, fluctuated. For a while, she was touting her own diet plan, organic Liaison. She returned to Jenny

A Nov. 2013 article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has the information that Marketdata analysts and many others in the weight loss field have been looking for–how effective are all these free and low-cost weight loss apps that DIY dieters are now using?. We all know that these apps have proliferated in number.

March 10, 2014 – Medifast announced that it will expand its international presence by launching in Canada in 1Q14. Initially, this expansion will take place through Medifast Direct, the company’s e-commerce sales channel, and Medifast Medical Providers, a network of health care providers who, where available, will offer Medifast’s program and products. At launch, the

“We made consistent progress on our strategic initiatives in 2013 to better position Medifast for long-term profitable growth,” commented Michael C. MacDonald, Medifast’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “In the fourth quarter our team managed the business well generating strong operational efficiencies that resulted in a 480 basis point improvement in operating margin. Looking ahead,

Q4 2013: Revenues of $69.9 million, an increase of 12% from revenues of $62.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012; Year 2013: Revenues of $358.1 million, a decrease of 10% from 2012, although revenues were up 8% in the second half of 2013 versus the same period last year; Adjusted EBITDA of $31.6 million,

Q4 Results Revenues of $366.1 million in the quarter, down 11.0% versus the prior year, with total paid weeks down 8.5%. Fourth quarter 2013 meeting revenues for the North American meetings business (NACO) were down 15.0% versus the prior year, driven by a lower active base at the start of the quarter and lower enrollments.

Marketdata has been talking about the entry of national drugstore chains into the weight loss market, via their in-store mini-clinics for some time now. First up was CVS with their Take Care Clinics. Now, a smaller chain, RediClinics has launched. Can Walgreens and other chains be far behind? Wellness Layers, a leading provider of health