Insights and advice on issues relating to pharmaceuticals and health products in pharmacies and in the “mass market”
20.08.2013 17:02
For 25 years now, IMS Health has been offering interested customers in the OTC industry comprehensive information on the market for over-the-counter products from pharmacies and the mass market. With the IMS OTC® Report and the IMS HealthMediumStudy, sales activity on site can be reliably mapped. Well-founded analyzes on very different issues – e.g. market situations and developments, competitive observations, benchmarking – support customers in their strategic decisions. The projected market figures are based on the IMS pharmacy panel with over 4,000 pharmacies as well as information from drugstores and hypermarkets, traditional food retailers and brand discounters.
Adequately reflect increasingly complex market conditions
Over time, the OTC market (OTC: over the counter = prescription-free) became increasingly complex. On the one hand, the pharmacy market expanded beyond medicines to include other non-prescription products such as health products (e.g. dietary supplements), dietary foods or medical devices (e.g. diagnostics and tests). On the other hand, additional “mass market” sales channels as well as pharmacy mail order (since 2007) need to be taken into account.
For a detailed examination of markets, manufacturers and their product ranges, the products are classified into end-user-oriented categories (e.g. painkillers, cold remedies). Another requirement was to evaluate the pharmacies' sales at effective sales prices.
The various information is integrated in a database and the analysis software enables a variety of evaluations.
Key market indicators that are calculated include sales and turnover of products or product categories, market shares and rates of change. In the context of the OTC business, it is also important whether products are prescribed - with a statutory health insurance or private prescription - or purchased through self-medication; This is recorded in the pharmacies' merchandise management system.
Diverse questions
The spectrum of subject areas for which analyzes are based on the IMS OTC® Report and the IMS HealthMediumStudy can provide information and findings is broad. It ranges from comprehensive market overviews and competitive observations to product range and sales-specific investigations.
The example of the regulation stipulated by the Statutory Health Insurance Modernization Act (GMG) to largely no longer reimburse over-the-counter medicines from 2004 onwards can be used to illustrate how this pharmaceutical policy measure affected the market: up to 2003, the share of sales for prescribed over-the-counter medicines was higher Medicines and health products are significantly higher than the proportion acquired via self-medication. This began to reverse in 2004, and since then the proportion generated through self-purchases has been significantly higher than the sales generated through regulations. For pharmaceutical manufacturers, this meant setting a new course for marketing and sales in the OTC business, because from 2004 onwards, end consumers were the central target group much more than before. However, the doctors were not completely left out of the spotlight, as the introduction of the Green Prescription was intended to convince them to use it as a recommendation.
This example represents just one of many possible analyzes based on the IMS OTC® Report and the IMS HealthMediumStudy can provide benefits. After 25 years of use with constant development and adaptation to changing market conditions, the studies are considered important sources of information in the context of the OTC business.
The Power Point Charts press release is attached.