NONFOODS
Health, Beauty & Wellness
Better Days PRE VENTIVE ME ASURES, SOCIAL MEDIA AND NOVEL FORMUL ATIONS HELP ENLIVEN THE NATUR AL OTC SEGMENT. By Barbara Sax
riven by consumers’ increased focus on preventive health and fueled by information on social media, the natural over-the-counter (OTC) market is taking a bite out of the traditional OTC category. While natural OTC products will never replace traditional OTC products, they represent an important growth opportunity — one that supermarket retailers can’t afford to ignore. Supermarkets have expanded their natural product selections significantly over the past two years. “The proving time these products used to have in specialty stores before entering FDM [food, drug and mass-market retailers] has decreased dramatically. In some cases, FDM stores are going directly to the natural product manufacturers to have custom products made for them, and we have recently designed custom products for large grocery chains,” says Dr. Cameron Moeller, a spokesman for Alpine, Utah-based American Biotech Labs. “These natural product lines are now proven sellers in FDM, and it has simplified the consumer’s shopping experience. The demand for natural products is only going to grow.” Boomers are seeking products that can proactively treat symptoms associated with aging, but Millennial consumers are the ones significantly driving category growth. “Younger consumers are not interested in treating symptoms — it’s all about prevention — and they are willing to pay a lot for products that help them do that,” notes Laura Mahecha, a health care analyst at Parsippany, N.J.-based Kline Market Research.
Key Takeaways While Baby Boomers seek natural products that can proactively treat conditions associated with aging, Millennial consumers — who wish to avoid such conditions altogether — are the ones significantly driving category growth. Many natural OTC products now focus on boosting immunity to prevent illness rather than on alleviating specific symptoms, with some manufacturers making use of recently developed combination products to do so. Along with immune-boosting supplements and cold/flu remedies, sleep aids and children’s products have lifted naturalsegment sales.
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