Stada Health Report 2021

According to the third Stada Health Report, a representative survey of 30,000 participants in 15 European countries, 29% have suffered from increased levels of anxiety during the pandemic, while 25% are troubled by stress and inner restlessness and 15% have reported sleep disturbances. Some 52% of respondents are more affected by the lack of personal contact with family & friends than fear of Covid infection (42%), while almost 1 in 3 worries about the financial and work-related repercussions.

However, 70% of Europeans have been willing to invest more in their own health. For 73%, their doctor is the first point of call for all health-related issues, with pharmacists and scientists also highly trusted (60% each). Despite a 14 percentage-point increase in people purchasing medication online, 43% stay loyal to community pharmacies, 13% of which specifically single out their local branch. Europeans care more about brand names and what is associated with them (38%) rather than sustainable & environmentally-friendly packaging (25%) or whether a product was made in Europe (20%).

In the report, Stada asks the question, “With an increased interest in and an aspiration to healthy living, how did people in Europe procure information on these topics? The short answer is: The internet. 54% of Europeans have increased their online searches for health-related information compared to previous years.” However, this spike in online health searches and literacy has not automatically translated into European consumers looking to bypass their pharmacist when acquiring medication, or information about it. According to Stada’s survey, only 14% of Europeans have ordered more OTC medicines via online pharmacies post-pandemic, and 43% flat out refuse to order them online at all. Despite the ever increasing number of e-Commerce platforms and other channels for obtaining medicines online, community pharmacies are still Europe’s first choice for OTCs.

Nicholas Hall’s Touchpoints: The Stada report quoted above is further evidence that increased levels of stress and anxiety, and disrupted sleep, are by-products of Covid. Insomnia was already considered a pandemic in the Western world by the World Health Organization; and sleep, stress and mood have joined immunity and disinfection as categories with rocketing sales in the past two years … The theme continues in the latest Gallup survey, which notes the high incidence of “worry, stress, anger and sadness among employees worldwide”. It seems that substantial numbers of office workers are refusing to go back to work in the traditional way and are insisting on continuing to work from home … This localisation of labour will almost certainly change our concept of shopping and could benefit independent neighbourhood pharmacies, giving a whole new meaning to the concept of Pharmacy Point-of-Care. It’s too soon to draw definite conclusions, but consumer healthcare companies would do well to re-examine their sales force objectives. One of the most successful modules of the CHC Training Academy is “Winning in Pharmacy”, and I can see this being even more popular as we come out of the Covid lockdown.

To find out more about Winning in Pharmacy, or the offerings from The CHC Training Academy, please contact maricar.montero@NicholasHall.com. The CHC Training Academy can also work with you to develop your own in-house customised training programmes according to your specific strategic needs.