In 2023, the global marketplace for consumer health continued to be impacted by inflation and vacillating consumer demand, which limited innovation and acquisition strategies throughout the year. Nevertheless, strong growth can be found across the industry, from sports nutrition’s expansion to lifestyle positionings to the continuing demand for cough and cold remedies in the face of continuing respiratory illness to the rise of multifunctional supplements as a reaction to persistent high prices.
The World Market for Consumer Health global briefing examines the size, growth trends and potential opportunities in the Consumer Health market. The strategic analyses include assessing the impacts of changing regulations, research breakthroughs and public health concerns on both the market and leading companies. Consumer attitudes towards the products and their personal healthcare needs are also explored.
Product coverage: Allergy Care, Herbal/Traditional Products, OTC, Paediatric Consumer Health, Sports Nutrition, Vitamins and Dietary Supplements, Weight Management and Wellbeing.
Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.
Key Findings
The industry is still balancing the effects of inflationary pressure, limiting avenues for investment
Though tempered from the highs of mid-2022, inflationary risk and worry influenced consumer health growth in 2023, as companies continued to adjust pricing in many markets and limited investment and acqusition strategies, constraining innovation over the course of the year and preventing a refocus on what a truly post-COVID marketplace would be. This overhang is expected to go into 2024, but there are promising areas that the industry can build upon to stimulate growth.
Women’s health leads near-term growth strategies
Women’s health is an area upon which the industry can refocus, with opportunities in this space across OTC drugs, vitamins and dietary supplements, sports nutrition and weight management. Already in 2023, companies in these spaces have introduced tailored women’s health applications across a wide variety of need states and throughout women’s lifespans, while others have had significant success expanding the Rx-to-OTC switch pipeline to address glaring gaps in needs.
Multifunctional supplements are a reaction to concerns about pricing and efficacy
2023 has seen an expansion of multifunctional combination dietary supplements that aim to provide benefits across a range of health needs. This is driven by consumers who are looking to pare back spending and are increasingly thinking about their health in a more holistic manner; as a result, these consumers are searching for products that are efficacious and can efficiently meet their needs in a pill or two.
Weight loss drugs are a true risk to existing weight management brands but offer some hope
The introduction of GLP-1 agonists such as Ozempic and Wegovy has been one of the leading global stories in 2023 and its impact on sales of weight management and wellbeing has already been felt. Moving forward, there is considerable risk that this class of drugs will severely diminish the growth profile of this and other consumer health categories, though there remains some opportunities for companies to adapt and attract consumers cycling on and off these drugs.
Pain management is integrating new positionings, ingredients and strategies to propel growth
Pain management has been a mainstay of consumer health for decades, but innovation by and large has tapered in recent years. Post-COVID, the industry has acknowledged the category’s limitations around the multifaceted nature of demand and has embarked on a sudden proliferation of innovations in pain management across markets that include brand extensions, expansions into dietary supplements and multifunctionality, and opportunities for education and outreach.
Sports nutrition to sustain growth by expanding geographically, integrating health benefits
Sports nutrition remains the gold standard for growth in consumer health in 2023, and its future remains bright based on strategies that have begun recently. These include strategically building geographically around fast-growing emerging economies and integrating health benefits that consumers increasingly demand in addition to the core considerations of muscle-building, strength, endurance and recovery.
Why buy this report?
- Get a detailed picture of the Consumer Health market
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change
- Understand the competitive environment, the market’s major players and leading brands
- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop
