Mental health drive needed in France

Consumer attitudes related to mental health and emotional wellbeing are expected to continue to drive the need for innovation to improve mood and reduce stress, according to ingredients and supplement manufacturer Nexira Health. An Innova Market Insights report cited by the company reveals that 53% of global consumers have taken action to improve their physical wellbeing, while 44% have acted to improve their mental and emotional wellbeing.

Nexira also noted that supplement launches over the past five years have increased by 26%; after immune health, the second most launched claim is brain-mood health (+25%). To emphasise wellbeing and mood health in 2023, Nexira is highlighting Serenzo, a supplement ingredient based on sweet orange essential oil formulated with acacia gum designed specifically for mental and emotional wellbeing. In a 12-week consumer study, Serenzo supplementation reduced subjective feelings of stress by 50%, significantly improved mental load and appeared to boost mood and emotional wellbeing. 

^{Nexira’s new targeted branding for its VMS range}

Nicholas Hall Writes: Isn’t it strange how the pandemic has changed public perception of consumer healthcare? Perhaps it was to be expected that consumers would move away from the previously unstoppable prevention trend and spend more of their disposable income on treatments with tangible benefits. But who could have predicted that in the search for immunity, consumers would be more attracted to general products like vitamin C and multivitamins than more specific brands. The relative failure of antiviral products like ColdZyme is a real mystery to me. If these brands cannot succeed during the worst pandemic the world has experienced in the hundred years since the Spanish flu, when can they? On the other hand, consumers have reached out directly to OTCs and supplements that improve the quality of sleep and reduce stress. This will put a massive premium on the price that potential acquirers will have to pay for mega-successful brands like Prevagen and Natrol.

With these growing lifestyle niches, the market seems even more wide open to new entrants. Nestlé Health Science and Unilever have made big inroads into the VMS sector, with particular success in e-Commerce, which accounts for 40-50% of their health & wellbeing businesses. It seems that Big Tobacco is also circling and may look to dig deeper in attractive adjacent categories such as CBD; and I am fascinated by the news story that the packaged fruits marketer, Dole, is keen to reposition itself after 170 years as primarily a purpose-led health & wellness company.

CHC GROWTH REMAINS STRONG, +8.2% IN MAT Q2 2022

The mid-year update from DB6 shows the global retail market advanced by 8.2% in the 12 months to end-June 2022. In terms of geographies, Europe (+11.6%) held its position as fastest-growing region globally with many key markets maintaining double-digit growth, driven by sustained significant increases in the cough, cold & allergy category (+32.6%), as well as a continued gains in analgesics (+11.1%). Largest market Germany improved moderately over MAT Q1 2022 (+10.8%), with remaining Big 5 Western European markets similarly displaying robust advances, notably Spain (+16.7%). Russia’s growth remains strong in this reporting period, driven by price rises — its conflict with Ukraine beginning formally at end-February 2022

Americas (+10.2%) was the second-fastest growing region globally; the US market slowed slightly from unprecedented MAT Q1 2022 growth to 9.2% — still growing well ahead of the global rate and advancing by over $3.3bn vs year-ago, driven by a 37%+ improvement in CCA, and notable growth in analgesics (+8.8%). In Latin America, leading market Brazil surged (+17.4%) with strong increases observed across most major categories; cough, cold & allergy (+49.9%) analgesics (+16.4%) and dermatologicals (+11.7%) being the most noteworthy.

Asia-Pacific (+4.3%) maintained its comparatively muted growth, with largest market China (+3.3%) slowing in view of continuing lockdown restrictions, as well as pharmacy sales restrictions on particular products, primarily impacting cough & cold categories and systemic analgesics. A continued positive increase for No.2 ranked Japan (+1.4%), aided by a dynamic systemic analgesic performance (+19.3%), has helped to offset the slight slowing in China; combined, these markets have a share of almost 70% of total regional sales.

Nicholas Hall Writes: As I hinted last week, MAT Q2 results for the global CHC industry went far beyond expectations. The industry held up well during the two years of the pandemic, with all-channel growth of 6.1% and 6.5% in 2020 and 2021. The assumption was that growth would start to slow and align more closely with the 5-year CAGR of 5.4%. But Q1 confounded that forecast and, looking just at the store retail sector, our combined efforts were rewarded with 9.0% growth at constant currencies. Surely that couldn’t last! Who says? As the latest results attest, growth is still buoyant at 8.2% and presumably will be a lot higher when e-Commerce is added. If only we had the data, but nobody does, although we are working very hard to bridge that gap!!

Another shock to the system is how well Europe performed, with the leading countries delivering double-digit growth, or very close to it in the case of France. Of course, it helps that cough, cold & allergy surged in the first half of 2022, but that alone does not explain the spectacular rate of growth overall, which has for example put Germany 0.6% ahead of where it was in 2019! 

Log on to hear from Nicholas and experts from Bayer, Havas Health and more at our Asia-Pacific e-Conference on 23 November! You can expect insights into sustainability, the Go-To-Market model and self-care collaborations. This online event will also include the presentation of our Regional CHC Creative Marketing Award. For more information, or to register, please contact elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com.

e-Commerce Update: Zur Rose, Amazon

Swiss-based Zur Rose, which posted a 0.4% rise in external revenues to CHF963.9mn (US$1bn) in local currency terms in H1 2022, declined to comment on reports that it was exploring strategic options, including a possible sale. According to Bloomberg, Europe’s leading online pharmacy is working with advisors to look at alternatives and has held talks with potential suitors including US-based private equity groups KKR and Hellman & Friedman. Zur Rose, which gets most of its revenue from Germany and Switzerland, was founded in 1993 by a group of doctors and went public in 2017. It runs online pharmacies, has a medical wholesale business in Switzerland and also operates a marketplace in southern Europe for consumer health and beauty products.

In other news, Amazon will reportedly cease offering its on-demand 24 / 7 healthcare service Amazon Care at end-2022. According to a memo sent to employees by Amazon Health Services Senior V-P Neil Lindsay, it was not the right “long-term solution” or a “complete enough offering for the large enterprise customers we have been targeting”.

Nicholas Hall Writes: e-Commerce has grown significantly in recent years, especially during the pandemic, but clearly it is not a licence to print money as many had thought. The fact that Europe’s No.1 e-pharmacy has consistently lost money is a sobering fact. Zur Rose, which owns DocMorris, could pursue other options to improve its balance sheet, and a deal isn’t expected in the near future given current valuation levels; but the company is unprofitable and the glory days of the pandemic, when its capitalisation soared, are behind us. Nevertheless, the company has more than 11mn active customers across its core European markets, and some analysts bet that Zur Rose will get a boost from the accelerated roll-out of electronic prescriptions in Germany. 

And when we look more broadly at the concept of digital health, even the behemoth Amazon doesn’t always get it right. Analysts are saying that the end of Amazon Care is just a stumble on the company’s path to taking a comprehensive position in the US$4tn US healthcare sector, and eventually the world market. But it looks as though the playbook will need to be rewritten if Amazon and its Chinese and European competitors are to meet their ambitious goals. Maybe one of these companies will buy Zur Rose!

Trevor Gore, Founder of Maestro Consulting, will discuss Opportunities with Collaboration in the Self-Care space during our Asia-Pacific e-Conference on 23 November. This will also include the presentation of our Regional CHC Creative Marketing Award. For more information, or to register, please contact elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com.

Bumps in the road for China’s e-Commerce market

China’s e-Commerce market has grown strongly in recent years, but the sector is now navigating more difficult times, with the following developments all reported recently:

• Shares in online platforms such as Alibaba Health and JD Health fell last week following a report in 21st Century Business Herald that the government could ban 3rd-party platforms from selling medicines on the internet. Regulators will reportedly clarify the definition of 3rd-party platforms, which was mentioned in a regulatory proposal last month
• The National Radio & TV Administration and Ministry of Tourism & Culture released new rules on live-streaming events, including the requirement for influencers who discuss topics such as medicine to have relevant qualifications. Live-streaming events have become a prominent promotional tool for CHC marketers, especially during lockdowns when other forms of A+P such as outdoor events and in-store activities have been limited
• JD.com reported growth of 10.3% during this month’s 618 shopping festival (vs the same event in 2021) and sales of RMB379bn (US$57bn); this is JD’s slowest growth rate for 618, which was launched in 2004, and down from the 27.7% upturn reported in 2021. This follows Alibaba reporting its slowest Singles Day growth in November 2021 since the event began in 2009

Source: www.hicom-asia.com

Nicholas Hall’s Touchpoints: Last week we wrote that e-Commerce is essential for the new Haleon, as indeed it is for almost all CHC players. But in our calculations, we have assumed the continued high growth of China’s e-Commerce sector. And yet, the top players like Alibaba (owner of Taobao.com) and JD have been sending out SOS signals, warning of a rapid slowdown of growth, partly I suspect because they are coming increasingly under the thumb of the Government, from whose lofty perch the success or decline of e-Commerce is of very little import.

Now my colleague Nicola Allan, the CHC Insight Asia-Pacific Senior Editor, has reminded me that despite these negative stories, China’s e-Commerce channel is outperforming physical retail, as continued lockdowns drive consumers to shop online. So in one sense perhaps we don’t need to be overly concerned; on the other hand, perhaps we are wise to introduce a note of skepticism into our view of e-Commerce prospects.

According to our latest DB6 forecasts, which were constructed with great rigour only a few weeks ago, the global CHC e-Commerce market in 2031 will be worth US$97.7bn at MSP. But 249% growth between 2021-2031 is heavily dependent on China, which is slated to grow by 333%, and whose share of global is expected to increase from 34% in 2021 to 42% in 2031. Without China, e-Commerce is still a tearaway success with a forecast 205%  growth rate, but will not be in the same league.

The agenda for our Asia-Pacific e-Conference on 23rd November will be released next week! Register with elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com to take a look at the first line-up of participants who will explore expanding possibilities in CHC across the region. Our Regional CHC Creative Marketing Award will also be presented during this event.

e-Commerce Ascential for GSK Consumer

UK-based Ascential Digital Commerce and GSK Consumer Healthcare (soon to become Haleon) will next week launch Ascential Digital Commerce Connect at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The data-rich digital commerce platform provides clarity about GSK CH e-Commerce brand performance and improves reaction time to market dynamics in the rapidly growing e-Commerce market. The Connect platform analyses, visualises and displays marketing data about each brand and competitor to monitor key activities and answer marketers’ key questions when it comes to:

• Understanding the current brand / sales performance in the e-Commerce marketplace – standalone vs key competitors and owned channels vs major online retailers like Amazon and Alibaba
• Dissecting what brand health looks like regionally throughout EMEA, USA / N America, Asia-Pacific & Latin America
• Navigating potential challenges and outages around supply chain, R&D, disruptive markets and other key metrics
• More accurately calculating marketing spending as a percentage of gross revenue

GSK CH expects that e-Commerce growth will reach the mid-teens percentage of the business by 2025, making it a priority channel to drive overall sales.

Nicholas Hall’s Touchpoints: Duncan Painter, the CEO of Ascential, is right when he says: “The next five years represent a tipping point in the retail industry. Retailers and brands with the deepest, most recent insights into the digital performance of their products and services will gain an informed, competitive edge.” There is an insatiable demand for e-Commerce data in the consumer healthcare market, and I’ve just signed off on a very substantial budget – at least by our standards – to buy in and provide improved e-Comms data to our client base, which I am very pleased to say for the first time ever now includes all six of the top CHC players.

e-Commerce accounted for 14% of all CHC sales in 2021 and this share is forecast to exactly double in the next decade, with a higher achievement in Asia, especially China. Some analysts are even more bullish – one we’ve looked at and rejected put e-Comms so high that the only outcome would be the complete collapse of the store retailer sector, and surely that is not going to happen! Indeed, we hear numerous reports of a revival of consumer interest in the physical shopping experience. Nevertheless, e-Commerce is part of the Future Resumed, as we now call the New Paradigm for CHC, but in a subtle omni-mix of physical and digital shopping that offers the maximum flexibility and choice to consumers wishing to self-medicate.

Stay tuned for the first edition of the agenda for our Asia-Pacific e-Conference, to be hosted by Nicholas and the team on 23 November! As well as exploring expanding possibilities in CHC within the region, this event will also include the presentation of our Regional CHC Creative Marketing Award. For more information, or to register, please contact elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com.

Jeffries London Healthcare Conference

Nicholas Hall’s Touchpoints: On 19th November, it was my great pleasure to moderate the CHC panel at the Jefferies conference. My distinguished panellists were two experienced CHC war horses: Roger Scarlett-Smith, Executive VP UK & USA, Stada, and President UK at Thornton & Ross, part of the Stada group, and formerly a very senior manager at GSK; and Pat Smallcombe, Chairman of Karo Consumer Healthcare and a former Pfizer and J&J top executive. Here follows a summary: 

• Separation of J&J’s Consumer Health business presents a great opportunity for a company of that size. The CH unit has focused on increasing profitability & market attractiveness and has gone from underperforming from a P&L perspective to growing sales and shares. The agility, cadence & skill sets required for CH, which needs to act more locally, are different to more global, science-led Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices units. The question is if the separation, which will take several years, will detract from the focus on the market 

• Ongoing impact of Covid varies by category, but the industry is at a crossroads. The huge increase in sales of vitamin D3 & immunity boosters is holding. Half-year data show treatment products are growing very strongly for the first time in many years, particularly in N America, although it is too early to say if this is the beginning of a longer-term trend. Meanwhile, Covid has accelerated trends that were already happening such as sustainability and a preference for trusted brands; the influence of HCPs has increased relative to influencers. In Health & Beauty, the fastest growing sub-category as an idea is vegan endorsement

• Disproportionate surge in e-Commerce has been driven by the pandemic and is now running at around 12% of the CHC market; DB6 estimates this will double in the next 10 years. Any company that does not have an e-Commerce position will be in trouble in the long-term. Amazon is particularly popular in Germany, UK & USA, although several companies are aiming for a brand.com approach. However, increasing traffic to those sites and setting up an operation like Amazon is extremely expensive. It remains to be seen though if consumers return to physical stores if they do not have to shop online. In a related issue, there has been little evidence of price comparisons in different markets; this is probably more of a trade issue

• Personalised healthcare has big opportunities, but we are still at the front end. Consumers are sceptical about who owns the healthcare data; they are more trustful of HCPs than tech or pharma companies. At this stage, it is hard to see the return on investments and there are plenty of other areas for growth 

• M&A moving forwards is an area of interest as recent deals have been positive, with encouraging multiples and stable businesses. The healthcare technology area is also interesting. There is a rich appetite around consolidation. There will be more spin offs, with MNCs offering underutilised assets, such as Nizoral & Compeed, which, with increased A+P, have huge salient equity with consumers. Whether M&A is replacing R&D and NPD is a good question; there must be the right combination of internally-generated innovation vs externally-generated innovation

• Biggest white space in the CHC market may be a cultural white space where you can execute with reliability, high quality and good customer service, while retaining an entrepreneurial localisation spirit. Getting closer to the consumer and being more relevant using digitalisation is also key, as is being more focused at the right time, with the right product, in the right way

This summary doesn’t do full justice to the wisdom and erudition of the panellists, with a small amount of support by myself. If you would like to hear the whole 45-minute session, please click on the link here.

Nestlé targets doubling of e-Commerce sales by 2025

By 2025, Nestlé expects to nearly double its e-Commerce sales to 25% of group total by significantly increasing its digital marketing spend, reports Reuters. The size of the investment was not disclosed. In Q1-3 2021, Nestlé sales were CHF63.3bn (US$68.3bn), with e-Commerce, which grew 17.2% in that period, reaching 14.1% of total sales. On the back of the success of DtC sales of products such as Nespresso coffee pods (Nespresso.com) and Purina PetCare (Purina.co.uk), the company will use a similar model. Speaking at a virtual investor summit, Executive VP Bernard Meunier said markets such as USA, Europe and China would drive growth. 

Nicholas Hall commented: This is high ambition by Nestlé, bearing in mind that many of its brand leaders are available very widely through retail outlets. Whether its CHC business can also reach this level internationally is a moot point, but in its favour Nestlé competes mainly in the VMS sector, where there are lower regulatory hurdles governing e-Commerce in more conservative countries, so maybe it is a fair ambition. And why not, when we ourselves forecast that e-Commerce will hold a 23% share of the entire global CHC market by 2030?

e-Commerce has had an amazing ride in the past ten years, with very few headwinds and the Gulfstream equivalent caused by the Covid lockdown, but the latest news from China implies that this trend may not continue in such a dynamic way in future. To quote from the unusually downbeat Alibaba: “The extremely high growth that China’s overall e-Commerce market has experienced in recent years is getting harder to maintain following government crackdowns on internet retailing this year.” Perhaps the e-Commerce sector has reached the inflexion point of all growth sectors when additional revenues have to be created rather than assumed.

Among the other top CHC players, the ratio of e-Commerce sales is generally on a par with Nestlé. In Q3 2021, Unilever and Reckitt announced that e-Commerce now accounts for 12% of group net revenues, while at GSK it represents 7% of sales. However, during a recent earnings call, Consumer Healthcare CEO Brian McNamara noted that in Q1-3 2021, e-Commerce had grown in the mid-20% range, adding: “Our ongoing investment in digital capabilities continues to position us well for growth in this key channel.” With online shopping clearly appealing to consumers and continuing to grow in popularity even as lockdowns ease, it is likely other companies will have similar targets to Nestlé’s in mind.

We are pleased to announce that the next title from Nicholas Hall’s Reports will focus on Herbals & Naturals. You will be able to review the latest trends, developments and sales, look at pure herbal & natural categories, along with products within topical analgesics, cough remedies, sleep aids, plus much more. To pre-order your copy and save up to GB£2,100, or for further information, please contact melissa.lee@NicholasHall.com.

CRN survey shows sharp rise in US VMS usage in 2021

The Council for Responsible Nutrition has revealed initial findings from its 2021 Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements, which was fielded by Ipsos in August and involved 3,089 adults aged 18+ years. Vitamin D usage has significantly increased (52% vs 42% in 2020), as has zinc (22% vs 15%) and vitamin C (40% vs 35%); all could be helpful for combatting Covid-19 and boosting overall immunity. Further, 50% of supplement users report a change to their supplement routine since the start of the pandemic; 55% of those indicated that this includes adding new supplements to their existing routine.

ClearCut Analytics Director of Sales Jake Bernstein told attendees of the CRN Annual Conference, where the findings were unveiled, that dietary supplement sales on Amazon have risen by 43% and predicted that 25% of sales will be purchased online by 2024. Ashwagandha and collagen were the Amazon star performers.

Nicholas Hall’s Touchpoints: This important research is another building block in helping us to understand how consumer attitudes have changed during the Covid-19 lockdown. As CRN’s Brian Wommack comments: “With 80% of Americans using supplements, these products are now mainstream and broadly accepted by the public. Just as important, 79% of Americans believe the dietary supplement industry is trustworthy, a jump of 5% from 2020.” This data and these comments will be taken into account in our ongoing evaluation of whether the CHC market is moving back to treatment and reversing the recent trend towards prevention & immunity. 

However this turns out, one clear learning emerges: consumer trends move slowly, accelerated only by mega-happenings such as the recent pandemic. By comparison, fashions in the pharmaceutical industry, including its CHC daughter, are highly volatile. 

Our Innovation in CHC 2021 report assesses 10 major trending ingredients, with a strong focus on VMS. Drawing from CHC New Products Tracker, this report also explores trends in NPD activity by company, reviews the best CHC innovations and much more. For more information or to order your copy, please contact melissa.lee@NicholasHall.com.

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.

European e-Conference report 2021

In this week’s blog, we highlight the key takeaways from our recent European e-Conference and take a closer look at one of the slides from Nicholas Hall’s Global Trends presentation, looking at the fastest-growing brands in consumer healthcare over the past five years.

Nicholas Hall Writes: 100 delegates from around the world joined us in late April for our first-ever e-Conference, and many more are expected to listen to the recording. The conference reviewed global and European trends in the consumer healthcare market, the impact of Covid, changing consumer attitudes and the omnichannel shopper journey, the digital revolution and our forecasts for the future. These and many other topics were covered under the banner of “A Glimpse into the New Normal”.

There is no denying that “immunity” is the biggest buzzword in consumer healthcare at the moment, and has produced some amazing results. We’ve just completed an analysis of the new DB6 data, looking at the fastest-growing brands over the past five years. Just to be clear, this is drawn from the 200 biggest brands and excludes those specifically from China, which are very largely formulated with traditional Chinese medicine. Sambucol, a brand I love dearly and have used for 20 years, shows up as the second fastest growing brand. Only Biofreeze (to be acquired by Reckitt in a deal expected to complete in Q2 2021) has grown faster during this period.

_{Source: Nicholas Hall’s DB6 database. All values US$mn at MSP.}

CHC Insight Europe Editor Sarah Carter and Researcher / Writer Nathalie Corbett filed this report summarising various highlights from our European e-Conference:

• There is an increased consumer focus on prevention, not just in terms of avoiding Covid-19, but also awareness that people with better overall health have better lifestyle outcomes. Many consumers are no longer looking for treatment, but instead seek to safeguard their future health.

• During the pandemic, the health consumer has evolved from patient to “consum’actor”, who uses their purchasing power to protect the values and causes they believe in.

• The consumer is in control of our industry and we need to deliver on their expectations. The best medicine is a consumer who is informed, empowered and inspired.

• The way consumers shop has been severely disrupted and perhaps irrevocably altered by the pandemic. The CHC industry must respond with agility in order to successfully compete in this omnichannel landscape.

• Consumers cross these different channels in a way that’s seamless, with lines blurring between communication, point of purchase, advertising, etc.

• It’s all about the data – get this data culture deeply embedded at all levels of your organisation. It’s also about the right data, and not being inundated with data that isn’t useful. Identify the relevant KPIs and target those.

• Tech and Big Data can help us gather insights and use these to deliver relevant business developments and product innovations. Consumers themselves are increasingly generating a wealth of data, including via self-monitoring devices.

• Online can offer opportunities that offline cannot, even when it comes to personal advice. Digital interactions are sometimes preferable vs crowded stores / time constraints.

• But pharmacies still account for 76% of purchases, and have a superb chance to fight back and regain market share provided they collect new insights into their customers’ shopping journeys.

• We should no longer refer to e-commerce, but rather e-life. Platforms like Amazon are increasingly media hubs rather than just online stores.

• Brand building is more important than ever as consumers adapt to the New Normal. We must be present and relevant and focus on creating an emotional bond with the consumer, a traditionally weak area.

• There can be no return to old strategies and the old way of doing business. It is time for new strategies and New Paradigms.

We hope you enjoyed our European e-Conference 2021! If you couldn’t attend, you can still purchase a recording of the meeting by contacting elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com. Immunity & other Growth Drivers will be the focus of our next round of regional hot topic webinars. Starting with a focus on Asia-Pacific on 19 May, on the Americas on 23 June and concluding with Europe on 21 July. Please contact elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com to find out more.