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OTC items link pharmacy’s health-andwellness initiatives to rest of supermarket
Section by Michael Johnsen
Over-the-counter health-and-wellness
items play a key role in bridging a supermarket retail pharmacy to the rest of the
food store. And with extensive outcomesbased medicines on the horizon, more
health-seeking consumers will look to
make that link between pharmacy and nutrition. “The big thing is that pharmacy is
promoting health and healthy-eating solutions across the entire store,” noted Ahold
USA SVP pharmacy, health and beauty care
Raymond McCall in a recent interview.
“Some of the goals we’re looking at are encouraging customers to live healthier lives,
positioning pharmacists as knowledgeable,
and promoting health and beauty.”
Tabulating all of the OTC categories
tracked by IRI, the OTC category totaled as
much as $7.9 billion in sales across U.S. food
outlets for the 52 weeks ended April 21.
Overarching trends impacting sales today
include an America that is actively attempting to improve overall health and wellness
through diet, a significantly stronger coughcold season than many had expected that is
being followed by a delayed allergy season,
and the fact that Johnson & Johnson and
Novartis should be coming back to market with a vengeance over the next 12 to 18
months with once-recalled products.
According to a recent Edelman in Health
survey, nearly 85% of Americans use OTC
medicines, with the highest use among
women (89%), African-Americans (88%),
Generation X and baby boomers (71% each).
As many as 69% of Americans reported
convenience was the primary driver behind their OTC purchase. More than half
said that OTC medications are effective for
many health issues (62%), are less expensive than prescription medicines (57%) and
empower them (58%) to treat minor health
issues themselves. According to the report,
36% of consumers avoided taking a sick
day last year because they were able to treat
with an OTC medicine.
1 • MAY 31, 2013
over-the-counter and natural supplement market*
Total = $7.93 billion
sleeping remedies
$98.9/1.2%
foot care
$130.9/1.7%
intimacy health 8
$103.3/1.3%
diagnostics 9
$82.6/1.0%
feminine care 10
$76.6/1.0%
smoking cessation
$63.7/0.8%
misc. health
remedies7
$211.8/2.7%
weight loss/
nutritional meal
replacements1
$1,857.2/23.4%
eye care/
ear care 6
$338.6/4.3%
first aid5
$411/5.2%
pain relief4
$900.2/11.4%
cough/cold/
allergy/sinus 2
$1,344.2/17%
digestives3
$1,108.7/14%
vitamins
$1,197.8/15.1%
*In millions; percent reflects share of total OTC/natural health segments
Source: IRI for the 52 weeks ended April 21 across total U.S. food outlets
1 Includes weight control/nutrition liquid/powder, weight control candy/tablets, energy shots and nutritional/intrinsic health value bars. 2
Includes hand sanitizer, chest rubs, humidifiers, cold/allergy/sinus liquids, cough drops, cough syrup, nasal products and cold/allergy/sinus
tablets. 3 Includes motion sickness, gastrointestinal tablets, gastrointestinal liquids and adult incontinence. 4 Includes external analgesic
rubs, internal analgesics and heat/ice packs. 5 Includes first aid tape/bandage/gauze, first aid kits, muscle/body support devices and first
aid treatment. 6 Includes ear care products and ear drops/treatments, as well as eye/contact lens care products. 7 Includes bed-wetting
remedies, diuretic liquids/powders, epsom salts, hemorrhoidal cream/ointment/spray, hemorrhoidal remedies, lice treatments, lip balm/cold
sore medication, thumb-sucking remedies and wart removers. 8 Includes contraceptives and personal lubricants. 9 Includes home health
care/kits, family planning. 10 Includes vaginal treatments, all other feminine hygiene/medical treatments.
table of contents
Weight loss/diet aid
2
Allergy, cough and cold
3
Vitamins, minerals and supplements
4
DrugStoreNews.com
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Desire for smaller waistlines means big demand
company’s 2013 first-quarter conference call.
This isn’t the first time Nutrisystem has tried to crack the retail code with
its weight-loss offering — the company launched a retail product across
more than 2,000 Kroger shelves last year that generated somewhat less fanfare. “Kroger itself was not a bad channel for us to be in. ... The issue is that
we won some market in Kroger with the wrong product,” Zier said, noting
Nutrisystem is performing better with its weight-loss product as opposed
to its maintenance program in retail.
However, every category featuring diet aids is up pretty significantly,
suggesting that getting thin continues to be a hot pursuit. Ready-to-drink
shakes — which have been revitalized with Unilever’s Slim Fast portfolio
— was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top five “easiest”
diets in 2012. Sales of diet-aid tablets actually would have been higher in the
past year; however, a supply issue around the ingredient orlistat took the
No. 1 diet-aid Alli off the market for a period of time.
As many as 35.7% of adults are classified “obese,” according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Age differences in obesity prevalence
varies between men and women. The prevalence of obesity among older
women is higher as compared with younger women, but there is no difference by age in obesity prevalence among men.
The common perception of dieting is gravitating from fleeting New
Year’s resolutions and springtime dieting before beach season toward
making better lifestyle choices overall. And while not good news for snack
cakes, that is one driver behind such meal-replacement options as bars and
ready-to-drink shakes — two categories that sell particularly well as part of
the typical food shopping trip.
That may explain Nutrisystem’s recent expansion of a weight-loss
kit, initially introduced through Walmart. “Because of our initial success
[at Walmart], we’ve now expanded … and expect to continue to expand
throughout 2013,” Dawn Zier, president and CEO, told analysts during the
weight loss/diet aid
Multi-Outlet*
% Chg
Food
RTD meal-replacement
shakes
$2,494.9
11.0%
$865.6
Meal-replacement bars
1,767.2
14.6
851.9
17.3
Energy shots
420.1
0.5
95.7
9.0
Weight-loss tablet
472.6
14.2
44.0
1.9
$5,154.8
NA
$1,857.2
NA
Total**
% Chg
7.7%
* Supermarkets, drug stores, mass market retailers, military commissaries, and select club
and dollar retail chains
** Includes weight control/nutrition liquid/powder, weight control candy/tablets and
energy shots
Source: IRI for the 52 weeks ended April 21 across total U.S. multi-outlet and food outlets,
in millions
DRUG†
$0.6B
11.5%
FOOD†
$1.9B
36.0%
OTHER†
$2.7B
52.5%
2 • MAY 31, 2013
† Percent reflects total
share of category
DrugStoreNews.com
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Allergies slip into summer with extended season
The booming 2012-2013 cough-cold season may have left retailers
with an overabundance of stock in cold and allergy remedies. Supermarkets who had to beef up their cold-and-flu remedy supplies in the
latter half of the season may not need to order as heavily over the summer as they may have in the past. A late start to the allergy season also
is reducing the need for cough-cold stock.
“Last quarter … was a very strong cough-cold season, probably the
strongest in the last 10 years,” Matthew Mannelly, Prestige Brands CEO
and president, told analysts. Because of the heavy orders this past quarter, summertime orders and potential orders for the second half of the
cough-cold season, next year may not be as robust.
That heavy position in cold and allergy inventory may extend into
allergy season.
“This is a late-developing allergy season,” explained Scott Hanslip,
director of sales for IMS Consumer Health, to Drug Store News. Through
the beginning of May, incidence of allergy was down 12.6%. “[And]
certain pockets are way off where they should be,” Hanslip added.
North Central allergy incidence was down 28% for the spring season,
for example.
But the same weather conditions that have delayed allergy incidence may be setting the stage for a stronger and extended spring
allergy season, noted the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. “Severe weather patterns can bring higher temperatures, higher pollen levels and increased exposure to outdoor mold, resulting
in spring allergies that can peak stronger and last longer,” stated
Bill Berger, spokesman for the Allergy and Asthma Associates of
Southern California.
Expectations are that allergy sales heading into the summer season
will swing positive, pushing category sales for that period as much as
5% over last year.
allergy, cough and cold
Multi-Outlet*
% Chg
Food
% Chg
Cold/allergy/sinus tablets
$4,042.3
4.2%
$757.8
4.7%
Cold/allergy/sinus liquids
1,064.5
18.0
225.7
15.0
Cough drops
659.7
9.6
170.2
7.8
Nasal products
673.8
-6.6
129.8
-6.5
Hand sanitizer
186.3
9.2
30.1
10.8
Chest rubs
88.1
11.3
19.6
10.8
Humidifiers
262.4
-5.1
11.0
5.0
$6,977.1
NA
$1,344.2
NA
Total**
* Supermarkets, drug stores, mass market retailers, military commissaries, and select club and
dollar retail chains
** Includes hand sanitizer, chest rubs, humidifiers, cold/allergy/sinus liquids, cough drops,
nasal products and cold/allergy/sinus tablets
Source: IRI for the 52 weeks ended April 21
across total U.S. multi-outlet and food outlets,
in millions
FOOD†
$1.3B
19.3%
DRUG†
$3.0B
43.2%
OTHER†
$2.6B
37.6%
3 • MAY 31, 2013
† Percent reflects total
share of category
DrugStoreNews.com
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VMS sees healthy sales with new diet focus
As many as 68% of American adults take nutritional or dietary supplements, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition. That ­— and the
fact that with health reform, health care will begin to evolve from a “sick
care” system to a “well care” system in the coming year — suggests big
growth is expected for the supplement category.
Vitamins, minerals and supplements are especially important for supermarket pharmacies that provide their consumers access to registered dietitians — health professionals who are keen on how to best balance the diet
for optimum nutrition. According to a recent survey by the Food Marketing
Institute, while 86% of food retailers employ dietitians in their corporate offices, one-third of stores now have a registered dietitian as well.
Wall Street certainly thinks sales of vitamins are going to pop if you look
at the spate of recent acquisitions by publicly traded healthcare companies.
Reckitt Benckiser picked up Schiff Nutrition, and with that, became a major player in joint health, omega-3 supplements and probiotics. Church &
Dwight recently acquired Avid Health for its gummy vitamin business.
“Changing demographics are impacting how people consume vitamins,
how they supplement their daily lives with supplements and balance their
diets with a lifestyle that they lead,” observed Rakesh Kapoor, Reckitt
Benckiser CEO and executive director on why Reckitt Benckiser bought into
supplements. “I went to a supermarket shelf just to look at what VMS was
there,” he said. “People want to live a healthier life. That’s what they want.”
C&D’s chief Jim Craigie summed it up best at a February analyst meeting: “Boy, are we excited about this. … The category has had a long-term
steady growth rate of 5% or better, and is only going to get better … as the
population ages and the population wants to be healthier.”
vitamins, minerals
and supplements
FOOD†
$1.2B
19.4%
Multi-Outlet*
DRUG
†
Mineral supplements
$2.2B
35.1%
OTHER†
$2.8B
45.5%
4 • MAY 31, 2013
† Percent reflects total
share of category
$3,111.4
% Chg
3.8%
Food
$554.4
% Chg
5.2%
Multivitamins
1,645.6
5.7
318.2
3.7
1 & 2 Letter vitamins
1,038.3
6.4
213.2
8.7
368.2
6.0
112.0
21.1
$6,163.5
NA
$1,197.8
NA
Liquid vitamins/minerals
Total
* Supermarkets, drug stores,
mass market retailers,
military commissaries, and
select club and dollar
retail chains
Source: IRI for the 52 weeks
ended April 21 across total
U.S. multi-outlet and food
outlets, in millions
DrugStoreNews.com