Germany Purchase Journey for Health and Wellbeing Remedies: 2026
Purchase journeys for OTC health and wellbeing products in Germany are becoming increasingly fragmented, digital and interconnected.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Outlook for the purchase journey for health and wellbeing products
- Opportunities
- Prioritise channel strategy as journeys fragment
- Guide consumer choice across touchpoints
- Win women with prevention-led, stock-up and online strategies
- Graph 1: purchases of top OTC health and wellbeing products, by gender, 2026
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THE MARKET
- Consumers and the economic outlook
- Graph 2: growth rates of key economic indicators, in real terms, 2024-26
- Adapt to channel fragmentation as pharmacies compete with retail and online players
- AI will reshape discovery before it reshapes purchasing
- Brands face a noisier discovery landscape as wellness expands
- Capture older shoppers as Germany ages
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THE CONSUMER
- Purchases of OTC health and wellbeing remedies
- Health and wellbeing products form an essential part of household readiness and self-care
- Pain remedies and VMS lead purchases
- Graph 3: purchases of OTC health and wellbeing products, 2026
- Value-led stockpilers call for bundles, bigger packs and low-friction replenishment
- Purchase channels
- Physical retail still leads, but online is a core purchase channel
- Graph 4: purchase channels of OTC health and wellbeing remedies, 2026
- Omnichannel is essential as online influence grows
- Graph 5: purchase channels used in last 12 months, 2026
- Pharmacies need to go beyond trust to unlock growth
- Drive in-store discovery
- Tap into social commerce with targeted bets
- Retailer choice drivers and information behaviour
- Prices and ease of access drive retailer choice
- Use access as a conversion lever
- Prove value to win older OTC shoppers
- Graph 6: selected retailer choice factors, by generation, 2026
- Drive growth by guiding younger consumers to the right product choices
- Build trust by becoming a credible guide in a crowded information landscape
- Graph 7: usage and trustworthiness of selected information sources, 2026
- Focus on ingredient guidance to build trust and purchase confidence
- Prevention and longevity
- Shift from remedies to guided, holistic longevity journeys
- Centrum Vital+ positions longevity for older consumers
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PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING
- Private label now offers more than just low prices
- Graph 8: private label as a share of NPD, by category, 2021-26
- Retailers expand their offerings of in-store health services
- From symptom to solution: owning a compressed health journey
- Turn loneliness into a wellbeing touchpoint
- Pharmacies tap into localism to boost value
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APPENDIX
- Report scope
- The consumer
- Consumer research questions
- Consumer research methodology
- Repertoire analysis methodology
- TURF methodology
- How to read: TURF analysis
- Germany generation groups
- Abbreviations
- A note on language – Germany
Purchase journeys for OTC health and wellbeing products in Germany are becoming increasingly fragmented, digital and interconnected. Brands must therefore make channel strategy a top priority. Store-based channels remain central, with drugstores and pharmacies still leading purchases. Online influence is growing fast: most buyers already purchase both in-store and online, and 47% expect to shift further online.
As channel choice expands, brands and retailers need to help consumers navigate the category with greater confidence across touchpoints. 36% of buyers often struggle to find the right OTC health and wellbeing products, making consumer guidance a strong commercial lever for both brands and retailers. Tools that support decisions such as quizzes, product finders and AI can help build consumer confidence in choosing suitable products, as they manage their health more independently. Moreover, ingredient education is a natural anchor for effective choice support, given that consumers are highly ingredient-led.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
- Purchases of OTC health and wellbeing products
- Purchase channels for OTC health and wellbeing products
- Information sources used and their trustworthiness
- Retailer choice factors, such as price and accessibility
- Behaviours towards OTC health and wellbeing products, such as stockpiling and online vs offline discovery of products
- Innovation and marketing activity in the purchase journey for health and wellbeing products
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