Cough-cold, switches drive growth

There was a $1.1 billion gain in OTC sales between 2013 and 2014, according to data culled from IRI, some $500 million of which can be attributed to an increase in sales across all cough-cold/allergy/sinus products and an approximate $300 million to a rise in digestive sales. Those two categories where home to the two most significant switches in the past year — Chattem’s Nasacort Allergy 24HR ($130 million in sales for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 28, 2014 across total U.S. multi-outlets, according to IRI) and Pfizer’s Nexium 24HR ($158.2 million), respectively.



Cough-cold has been a big driver in OTC sales lately, Kurt Jetta, TABS Group CEO, told Drug Store News. Other categories that have exhibited strong sales velocities include vitamins and first aid, he said. “In general, there just seems to be a lot of solid activity,” he said. “Four of the top five categories have some really solid underpinnings of continued growth. Cough-cold is the only one that, by definition, can be hit or miss just based on the season.”



New to the top 10 OTC products list this year is Pharmavite’s Nature Made, across both their mineral supplement and letter vitamin lines, respectively. Pharmavite has successfully outpaced category growth across the category, which has been relatively flat.

To view the full OTC Trends Report, click here.