• by Les Luchter , September 30, 2024

Numerator’s new “Health Habits” report explores “three trends that brands and retailers can tap into for organic and sustainable growth in the future”: “the digestive boom,” a “return to simplicity" and “retail movement.”

The Digestive Boom

Numerator finds consumers “more focused on gut health than ever” with motion sickness, anti-diarrhea and laxative brands showing the strongest growth.

Travel is a key indicator for the first two categories, while laxatives are being driven by such factors as the use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs, which can lead to constipation.

Other brands benefiting from the digestion trend include prebiotic sodas, probiotic sodas and performance shakes, the report says.

Moving toward food-adjacent performance brands, Premier Protein and Coca-Cola’s Fairlife Core Power are the top growing ones, Numerator notes, due to their combination of “high-density protein with indulgent flavors in an easy-to-drink format.”

In particular, Core Power’s chocolate shake “has seen increased adoption at Walmart, Kroger, Costco and Target, and shares “strong brand loyalty” with Fairlife Milk.

Numerator said that Premier Protein’s new cinnamon roll flavor has already gained 1% household penetration thanks in part to its immunity messaging.

Return to Simplicity

“In the wake of the pandemic,” Numerator reports, health categories are still “normalizing” by “shifting away from immunity and occasion-based supplements.” Instead, consumers are opting “for specific vitamins and multivitamins to meet their needs at a lower cost." Indeed, Numerator reports, 57% of shoppers use vitamins as part of their daily routine.

In addition to immunity, supplements for mood support and hair/skin/nails also dropped in sales year-over-year, while digestive supplements and lettered vitamins (A, B, C, etc.) rose.

To increase sales of more specific remedies, Numerator says, brands “must either educate consumers on the unique benefits of occasion-based formulas or expand their offerings to include individual vitamins and multivitamins.” Olly, which features products named "Goodbye Stress" and "Chill Thinker Brainy Chews,"  was cited as an example of the former.

Even with higher prices in general, Numerator says consumers are not “trading down” to private label OTC brands, preferring to stay with such known names as Procter & Gamble’s Vicks, Reckitt’s Mucinex and Haleon’s Robitussin.

Numerator adds that 75% of people who have stopped buying private label cold, cough and flu brands at drug stores said they could get such products at better or equal prices elsewhere. Walgreens private label brands decreased the most, followed by CVS and Rite Aid.

Numerator suggests that marketers develop both campaigns and rapport with medical professionals, noting that shoppers under 34 are more than twice as likely as all respondents to report word of mouth as their most trusted information source.

Retail Movement

Consumers are increasingly moving from drugstores to online retailers for medications and personal health products as they “seek out convenience, lower prices and a better overall shopping experience,” Numerator reports.

Drugstores’ share of market decreased 1.9% from 2020 to 2024, mass retailers declined 0.7%, while club stores rose 1.1% and online retail 3.7%.

The online growth was directly attributed to Amazon, which accounted for 72.3% of it over the past year, with Walmart contributing 9.6%, Sam’s Club 5.9% and CVS 4.3%.

Numerator found that 39% of consumers who switched to online health purchases had previously purchased from drug stores, with 30% moving over from mass retailers, 18% from grocery stores and 5% from club stores.

Convenience was cited as the reason for shopping online by 29% of respondents, followed by lower prices (21%). This puts pressure on drugstores, which have cut down on price promotions, the report says.

The third biggest reason for shopping online? A desire to avoid shopping in-store (10%), with 30% of such consumers citing high prices, 23% poor product selection and 21% that they can’t find what they need, either because items are out of stock or they can’t locate them. A relatively new cause – “too many locked up items or categories” – was cited by 11%.

Health categories showing the greatest Amazon sales growth were bladder control pills (up 24.8%), vaginal dryness treatments (21.5%) and energy chews/gels (16.1%).

Big brands’ share of Amazon sales fell from 82.9% to 80.9% over the year, while small brands rose from 5.0% to 5.6% and medium brands from 12.1% to 13.5%.

Amazon’s growth in health brands has been greatly helped by its “subscribe and save” feature, which saw 18.6% year-over-year growth in spend per household.

Drawbacks cited by online shoppers, however, include shopping time (40%), less opportunity for coupons (34%) and complicated/difficult returns (14%), leading Numerator to declare that “opportunities to enhance the in-store experience” (for all brick-and mortar stores, but particularly drugstores), “is about expediting the shopping experience and reevaluating promotions.”

Numerator’s research, covering the 12 months ending March 31, 2024, surveyed more than 150,000 people.

During that time period, health products showed 6.4% sales increase, behind only beauty (14.1%) and ahead of grocery and household (both up 5.4%). All other categories (electronics, home & garden, tools and home improvement) showed declines.