Cyanotech Corporation (CYAN): Marketing Mix Analysis [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking for a clear, no-fluff breakdown of Cyanotech Corporation's marketing mix, and honestly, the numbers from fiscal year 2025 tell a compelling story about their current strategy. As someone who's spent two decades in the trenches analyzing these plays, I can tell you the 4Ps reveal a company leaning hard on its flagship BioAstin, which drove 65% of the $24.2 million in net sales last year, even as they saw their gross profit margin improve to 28.4% due to production efficiencies. Still, the Place strategy shows a defintely high concentration risk, with just two customers accounting for 41% of total revenue in FY2025. Dive below to see exactly how their Product focus, distribution choices, promotional shifts, and pricing actions map out the near-term opportunity and risk for Cyanotech Corporation.

Cyanotech Corporation (CYAN) - Marketing Mix: Product

Cyanotech Corporation offers premium microalgae-based dietary supplements, which are naturally farmed at their expansive 96-acre Kona, Hawaii facility. The company controls the entire process, from pond to powder, leveraging patented and proprietary technology to ensure high quality. Fiscal year 2025 saw total net sales reach $24,215,000, marking a 5.0% increase compared to fiscal 2024. The product portfolio is anchored by two primary, high-value nutritional ingredients.

The core of the offering is centered on the flagship products, which drive the majority of the revenue stream. You see a clear concentration in the top two product lines, which is typical for a specialized nutraceutical firm like Cyanotech Corporation.

The remaining revenue comes from a small but growing segment dedicated to providing specialized services. Contract extraction and R&D services accounted for roughly 4% of fiscal 2025 net sales. This suggests a strategic diversification effort beyond just finished goods.

The physical offerings themselves come in various formats to meet different consumer preferences. The company focuses on delivering these functional nutrients in forms that are easy to integrate into daily routines. Here's a look at the presentation of the Spirulina line, for example:

• Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica® is available in powder format.
• Tablets are a standard offering for Spirulina.
• New gummies were introduced in 2024 for Spirulina.
• BioAstin® Hawaiian Astaxanthin is available in gelcap formats, such as 4mg or 12mg doses.

BioAstin® Natural Astaxanthin offers superior antioxidant activity, supporting skin, eye, and joint health, plus recovery from exercise. Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica® is a highly absorbable source of protein, essential amino acids, iron, and beta carotene. The company emphasizes that all products are produced from microalgae grown at their 96-acre facility in Kona, Hawaii.

Cyanotech Corporation (CYAN) - Marketing Mix: Place

You're looking at how Cyanotech Corporation gets its specialized microalgae products into the hands of its customers. The Place strategy here is clearly split, which is key to understanding their distribution risk and opportunity. They operate a dual channel distribution model, separating their packaged consumer goods, sold under the Nutrex Hawaii brand, from the bulk ingredients sold directly to other manufacturers.

For the consumer-facing side, the packaged products are made accessible direct-to-consumer via their dedicated online store, nutrex-hawaii.com. This direct route helps capture higher margin sales and build brand equity. Beyond the digital shelf, you'll find that Nutrex Hawaii packaged consumer products also move through natural product distributors and retailers within the United States, giving them a physical presence where consumers shop for supplements.

The bulk ingredient sales channel is where the significant growth momentum was found in the last full fiscal year. This segment, which involves selling raw astaxanthin and spirulina to dietary supplement, health food, and cosmetic manufacturers, drove the overall top-line increase. Here's a quick look at how that growth materialized in fiscal year 2025:

Still, this heavy reliance on the bulk ingredient channel introduces a concentration risk you need to watch closely. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, the numbers show that two customers alone accounted for a substantial portion of the total revenue. This is a critical factor when assessing distribution stability.

The concentration risk is quantified by looking at the largest buyers relative to the total net sales of $24,215,000 for fiscal 2025. Specifically, the distribution structure showed this dependency:

• One customer accounted for 31% of total net sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025.
• A second customer accounted for 10% of total net sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025.
• The combined impact of these two customers was 41% of total net sales in fiscal 2025.

The company is actively working to deepen channel expansion, including focusing on key e-commerce relationships, to balance this concentration.

Cyanotech Corporation (CYAN) - Marketing Mix: Promotion

The promotional activities for Cyanotech Corporation are tightly linked to reinforcing the premium nature of its Hawaiian-farmed microalgae products. The strategic focus is on driving awareness of their Hawaiian-farmed microalgae and its quality. This message is central to conveying the value proposition of BioAstin® Hawaiian Astaxanthin® and Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica®.

The company has been making organizational changes to support this focus. You'll note that Cyanotech Corporation hired a Head of Sales to strengthen its eCommerce footprint and optimize the Company's marketing efforts and improve its retail strategy. This move is designed to build on strategic initiatives aimed at deeper channel expansion. For instance, Ms. Brand started as Vice President of Sales in May 2025, after joining in December 2024 as Head of Retail Sales.

Financially, the efforts to optimize spending are evident in the reported figures for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. Selling and marketing expenses decreased in fiscal 2025, reflecting lower online selling fees and advertising spend. Here's a quick look at the line item comparison for the first nine months of fiscal 2025 compared to the prior year:

Overall, operating expenses decreased by $1.2 million, or 10.9%, in fiscal year 2025 compared to fiscal year 2024, which included these reductions in selling and marketing costs. This disciplined approach to spending supports the overall financial progress, as net sales for the full fiscal year 2025 reached $24,215,000.

The company is actively promoting its algae-based products, emphasizing the pristine Hawaii sourcing. The CEO confirmed in June 2025 that the priority continues to be driving awareness of their naturally farmed microalgae from their farm in Kona, Hawaii. This promotion is directed toward products where Astaxanthin represented approximately 65% of net sales in fiscal year 2025, and Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica® represented approximately 32% of net sales for the same period. The momentum from these efforts appears to be carrying into the next fiscal period, as net sales for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 (ended September 30, 2025) were $6,976,000, an increase of 19.3% year-over-year.

Key elements of the ongoing promotional communication include:

• Emphasizing the superior antioxidant properties of BioAstin®.
• Highlighting the company's mission to fulfill whole health through Hawaiian microalgae.
• Focusing on expanding market awareness and retail channel growth.
• Promoting new product formats, such as gummies, to complement existing lines.

Cyanotech Corporation (CYAN) - Marketing Mix: Price

When you look at Cyanotech Corporation's pricing strategy, you see a clear tension between maintaining competitive pricing in the bulk ingredient market and extracting higher value from branded consumer products. This dynamic directly influences how much money customers pay for their spirulina and astaxanthin.

Let's review the baseline from the last full fiscal year. Fiscal 2025 net sales reached $24.2 million, a 5% increase year-over-year. That top-line growth was supported by margin improvements, which is where pricing levers start to show up. Fiscal 2025 gross profit margin improved to 28.4%, up 2.6 percentage points due to production efficiencies. That's a solid step forward in profitability just from operational changes.

The strategy clearly shifted into a more aggressive pricing posture in the current period. Price increases were implemented on Nutrex-branded products earlier in fiscal 2026 to expand margins. Honestly, this is a classic move when you see operational efficiencies stabilize-you pass some of those savings along while also capturing more value from your established consumer brand.

The bulk sales segment, which saw massive growth, likely operates on a volume-based, competitive pricing structure. We know this segment is moving a lot of product, as Astaxanthin bulk sales jumped 142.6% in Q2 FY2026 compared to the prior year, and bulk Spirulina sales grew 16.3% in that same quarter. To be fair, the bulk market has been described as 'increasingly price sensitive' in the past, so volume is king there, but the branded product pricing is clearly different.

Operational excellence and disciplined cost control are key to sustaining the improved 34.3% gross margin seen in Q2 FY2026. That margin is significantly higher than the 25.3% seen in Q2 FY2025, showing that the combination of efficiency and the aforementioned price adjustments is working. Here's the quick math on that margin performance:

You can see the pricing power translating directly into the bottom line when you compare the recent quarters. The company is clearly segmenting its pricing approach based on the channel and product type. For the consumer, this means paying a premium for the finished Nutrex goods, while ingredient buyers are likely negotiating based on global commodity prices.

The pricing strategy is supported by distinct performance metrics across the sales mix, which you should track closely:

• Nutrex-branded product sales are the focus for margin expansion.
• Bulk Astaxanthin sales increased 142.6% in Q2 FY2026.
• Bulk Spirulina sales increased 16.3% in Q2 FY2026.
• Packaged product sales declined 12% in Q1 FY2026 year-over-year.
• Contract Extraction revenue dropped significantly, down 85.2% in Q2 FY2026.

The strategy seems to be: use cost control to protect the floor on bulk pricing, and use brand equity to lift the ceiling on packaged pricing. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.