Private label, Vicks win online shoppers

Private-label cough-cold brands and Vicks are the big winners when consumers are seeking remedies for their sniffles, coughs and stuffiness online. According to a Clavis Insight analysis of the search term “cold and flu” entered between Jan. 8 and 11 on Amazon, CVS.com, Peapod.com, Walgreens.com and Walmart.com, 23% of the first product results on the first page represented store brand offerings, or Vicks, respectively.

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Vicks dominated search term results on Amazon, Walmart.com and Peapod.com (25%, 32% and 60%, respectively), even though Vicks didn’t win any of the top 20 search spots on either CVS.com or Walgreens.com.



Vicks’ average share of first page search results is almost six times that of cough-cold and allergy brand Mucinex, Clavis Insight reported.



Ranking high on search terms is important because less than 30% of Amazon shoppers click beyond the first page of search results, Clavis Insight noted citing Millward Brown Digital. And in-store dominance of a brand doesn’t necessarily translate into automatic online sales if customers can’t find that brand on that first page of search.



CVS.com is focusing on plugging its children’s remedies, with 70% of the top 20 products in a search for “cold and flu” returning pediatric results, including four Children’s Dimetapp items, Clavis Insight observed.



With the slow cough-cold season to date, out-of-stocks have not been an issue. Among top items returned in a search for “cold and flu,” only one item was out of stock across two individual retailers. All other retailers had no inventory issues.