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14 July 2009
Taipei
In a major new study exploring consumer behaviour towards Self Medication and non-prescription medicines, The Nielsen Company highlights the polarising impact that the global economic slowdown is having.
Whilst 46 percent of consumers around the world indicated that the global economic slowdown would affect the amount of, or type of non-prescription medicine that they will use, the level of agreement ranged from 79 percent of Chinese to only five percent of Danes. Regionally, a third of Europeans and only 31 percent of North Americans agreed their usage would change, but in Latin America (47%), Middle East/Africa (55%) and Asia Pacific (57%) the levels were significantly higher. It can be concluded that new economic realities coupled with lower relative disposable incomes make maintaining usage of non-prescription medicines more difficult for consumers in many developing countries. In Taiwan, 37 percent respondents agreed their usage would change affected by the economic downturn.
So what changes are likely to occur with consumer's usage of non-prescription medicines? From a range of options, consumers were asked to identify the main way in which their usage of non-prescription medicines was likely to change. Three factors stand out from the summary slide below, which shows the level of response to each option by region.
Firstly, there is a broad consistency in the percentage of changers who will simply opt to use non-prescription medicines less frequently. This behaviour will inevitably have an impact on category volumes during the next twelve months.
Secondly, outside of North America, there is a large base of consumers indicating that they are likely to make more use of natural and traditional remedies. For individual countries, this is particularly high in many Eastern European markets (Baltics, Russia, Czech, Hungary). High levels of response were also recorded in China, Philippines and Indonesia in Asia, in Turkey, and in Brazil and Colombia. However, levels of response to this option in most of Western Europe and North America were much lower.
Thirdly, it is clear that consumers in USA will take advantage of the opportunity to buy cheaper products - nearly 30 percent of all those who indicated their usage will change responded that buying cheaper products was the main change. The role of low-priced generic and store brand products in North America has grown significantly in recent years, and consumers understand them to be, in many cases, as effective and trustworthy as mainstream brands. Similarly in some Western European markets, especially in the Nordic region & Germany, a high proportion of change consumers will be on the lookout for cheaper products.
In Taiwan, what changes are likely to occur with consumer's usage of non-prescription medicines due to global financial crisis? Three in ten said they would decrease their frequency of usage, and 17 percent claimed they would “use more natural and traditional remedies” and “visit the doctor more instead of buying non-description medicines”.
One other factor that is of some comfort to the retailers and manufacturers of non-prescription medicines is that there is a very low proportion of consumers who respond that they will stop buying these products as a result of the global economic slowdown. Saudi Arabia (16%) and Turkey (14%) had the highest level of response to this amongst changers, but most other countries were in low single-digit response levels.
Also of interest from the research is the extent to which consumers in Europe still rely on advice from the pharmacist compared to many other regions of the world. As the chart below shows, consumers were asked to choose, from a variety of options, the most important factors for them in making a purchase of non-prescription medicines.
Globally, across the 50 countries, the key factors are safety and efficacy - "I know it is safe" and "I know it works". Further down the hierarchy of needs are other factors relating to confidence in the product, branding, familiarity, speed of action and pharmacy advice. Lower still come price and value for money, whilst the advertising for the product registers very low levels of response from consumers. In Taiwan, safety (47%) is the first key factor for when choosing a non-description medicine, followed by “advice from pharmacist” (45%) and “efficacy” (35%).
However, the response from European consumers show that advice from the pharmacist is still highly important in driving product choice, a reason why manufacturers invest millions of Euro across the region in sales forces targeted to the pharmacy trade. This reliance by consumers on pharmacy advice is particularly high in Belgium and Spain, where over 50 percent of consumers said it was an important factor for them. The only other country which produced a response of more than 50 percent was Thailand.
Compare this to the very low level (13%) recorded by consumers in the USA and it is clear that the policy of open access and self-selection to medicines in supermarkets and drugstores has significantly reduced the role of the pharmacist in America in supporting consumers in product choice. Relative to the global average, US consumers are significantly more interested in the product price - 33% of consumers said this was an important factor in product choice, a number only bettered in the survey by Japan at 40%. The global average for this factor was below 20%.
Overall, the survey highlights the importance of understanding local consumer needs for the non-prescription medicines sector, a category that remains highly individualised by country, with a regulatory, distribution and marketing framework that is set by local governments and which shows little consistency globally.
About The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey
The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, conducted by Nielsen Customized Research, was conducted in March 2009 among over 25,000 internet users in 50 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North & Latin America and the Middle East. The largest half-yearly survey of its kind, the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey provides insight into current confidence levels, spending habits/intentions and the major concerns of consumers across the globe.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (NetRatings and BuzzMetrics), mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
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