While regular OTC health product usage outperforms herbal OTC health product usage, women are more likely to use herbal OTC health products than men, opening opportunities within women’s health.
Due to inflation, price increases for OTC medication escalated in 2023. Despite generally being launched at higher price points, herbal OTC health products remained resilient during the cost-of-living crisis. In the 12 months to February 2024, 17% of herbal health users increased their usage compared to the previous year.
31% of OTC health consumers agree that herbal OTC health products are less effective than regular ones, explaining the greater usage of regular OTC health products to some extent.
Users’ strong focus on OTC health products’ effectiveness asks herbal health brands to step up efforts around efficacy to increase usage. 29% of herbal health consumers who consider herbal OTC health products less effective than regular ones find user ratings important. Hence, user ratings provide a more cost effective opportunity for brands to convince doubtful Germans than other avenues, such as clinical trials. Herbal brands can also reinforce their value by calling out highly concentrated ingredients or leveraging positive perceptions, such as sustainability, investing further into sustainable concepts, such as refills.
Key Issues Analysed in this Report
- The short-, medium- and long-term impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the natural health market
- The use and trend in use of regular and herbal OTC health products
- Choice factors for regular and herbal OTC health products
- Behaviours towards herbal and regular OTC health products
- Attitudes towards herbal and regular OTC health products, including a consumer segmentation
- Launch activity and innovation for natural health products
While Germans associate many positive aspects with herbal OTC health products, like safety and sustainability, brands need to tackle performance concerns with user ratings, clinical evidence and detailed ingredient concentrations.
Hannah Sandow, Health & Wellbeing Senior Analyst, Germany
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- The five-year outlook for natural health
- Market context
- Natural health products undergo strict approval processes
- Adapting to changing EU regulations is crucial
- Germans’ health put to the test
- Opportunities
- Address the mismatch between botanical claims and botanical usage to secure innovation
- Graph 1: % of users taking herbal OTC health products, botanical/herbal launches by sub-category, 2021-24
- Break through saturated herbal cold, cough and flu and sleep aid markets
- Push herbal innovation in niche markets
- Prove your value
- Convince cautious herbal health advocates with holistic sustainability credentials
- Graph 2: consumer segmentation based on attitudes towards herbal OTC health products, 2024
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MARKET DRIVERS
- Mintel’s approach to defining natural health
- The German economy
- 2024 is expected to be more challenging than initially predicted
- Graph 3: key economic data, in real terms, 2019-25
- The inflation rate is slowly bouncing back to more conventional levels
- Inflation is still the key factor affecting consumers’ finances…
- …confidence and expenditure
- Graph 4: financial confidence index, 2022-24
- The impact of the economy on natural health products
- The impact of the economy on the natural health market
- The impact of the economy on the natural health consumer
- Legal framework
- Understanding natural health product regulations in Germany
- Potential changes ahead for health claims surrounding botanicals
- Governmental support for homeopathy coming to an end
- Sustainability
- Straighten out green claims in line with the Green Claims Directive
- Integrate human and planetary health
- Diversify ingredient sources in response to environmental pressures
- Public health
- Germans’ health challenged amid multiple crises
- Graph 5: perception of general health for a person of ones’ age, 2021-24
- Acknowledge Germans’ mental health crisis
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Usage of regular and herbal OTC health products
- Regular OTC health products dominate over botanicals
- Regular OTC medication enjoys more-common usage
- Graph 6: usage of regular and herbal OTC health products, 2024
- Challenge the status-quo in pain relief with new herbal options
- Leverage the gut-immune link to break through a stagnating cough, cold and flu market
- Explore alternative medicine to align with Germans’ preference for botanical sleep aids
- Graph 7: attributes associated with selected types of sleep aids, 2023
- Explore alternative medicine to align with Germans’ preference for botanical sleep aids
- Herbals on par with regular supplements
- Graph 8: usage of regular and herbal OTC supplements, 2024
- Reassure supplement users with botanicals’ safety and long-term suitability
- Support financially struggling Germans with their mental wellbeing challenges
- Consumers show some confusion about which types of OTC health products they used
- Graph 9: types of OTC health products used, by user of health product, 2024
- Leverage clarity to embrace a lost upselling opportunity
- Change in usage of herbal OTC health products
- Herbal OTC market proved to be resilient amidst the cost-of-living crisis
- Embrace sustainability for a premium positioning
- Graph 10: change in herbal OTC health product usage in the last 12 months compared to the year before, by financial health, 2024
- Increased usage most prevalent in niche herbal segments
- Graph 11: herbal OTC product used by change in herbal OTC health product usage in the last 12 months, 2024
- Prepare for worsening allergy seasons
- Choice factors for regular and herbal OTC health products
- Ease of use crucial for both regular and herbal OTC health product users
- Graph 12: choice factors for regular and herbal OTC health products, 2024
- Find a balance between sustainability and convenience
- Highlight user ratings to convince sceptical consumers
- Behaviours towards natural and herbal OTC health products
- Germans display great demand for all-natural formulas
- Graph 13: behaviours towards regular and natural OTC health products, 2024
- Guide consumers with clearer labels
- Attract homeopathy users with alternative remedies
- Attitudes towards herbal OTC health products
- Germans’ curiosity towards herbal ingredients needs answers
- Graph 14: attitudes towards information about herbal OTC health products, net, 2024
- Invest in science communication to satisfy Germans’ hunger for more informaton
- Germans display widely positive attitudes towards herbal OTC health products
- Graph 15: attitudes towards herbal OTC health products, NET, 2024
- Embark on a new path for pain relief
- Leverage high concentration as a selling point
- Herbal health consumer typology
- German herbal health consumer typology
- Group 1: herbal health enthusiasts (22%)
- Graph 16: herbal health consumer group, by gender, 2024
- Target herbal health enthusiasts with women’s health products
- Group 2: cautious herbal health advocates (19%)
- Graph 17: herbal health consumer group, by generation, 2024
- Convince cautious herbal health advocates with holistic sustainability credentials
- Group 3: open herbal health sceptics (27%)
- Graph 18: herbal health consumer group, by generation, 2024
- Attract open herbal health sceptics with financial incentives
- Group 4: disengaged herbal health doubters (32%)
- Graph 19: herbal health consumer group, by generation, 2024
- Whet the appetite of the disengaged doubters
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LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATION
- Stable trend in herbal claims in new healthcare launches in Germany
- Room for growth in all-natural positioning
- Sleep aids boosting greatest share of botanical claims
- Graph 20: % of NPD with botanical/herbal claims by sub-category, 2023
- Mismatch between botanical claims and botanical usage
- Graph 21: % of users taking herbal OTC health products, botanical/herbal launches by sub-category, 2021-24
- Fill the whitespace of natural allergy remedies
- Explore avenues beyond melatonin for sleep health
- Botanical claims most frequent within stress and sleep supplements
- Graph 22: % of VMS NPD with botanical/herbal claims, by functional claim, 2019-23
- Adapt herbal supplements to Baby Boomers’ needs
- Botanicals stand out with eco-friendly claims
- Graph 23: ethical and environmentally friendly claims, by healthcare NPD with herbal/botanical claims, 2023
- Rethink how to stay ahead on sustainability claims
- Justify herbal health’s higher price point
- Address older demographics with private label offerings
- Graph 24: botanical/non-botanical healthcare NPD, by branded vs private label, 2023
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APPENDIX
- Appendix – products covered, abbreviations, consumer research methodology and language usage
- Products covered in this Report
- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
- A note on language
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