Asia Pacific

Positive sales growth was registered across most categories of consumer health in the Philippines in 2023 as the strong focus on health and wellbeing that has spread among the population since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spur…

Sales of cough, cold and allergy (hay fever) remedies in Japan have continued to recover in 2023. This is largely due to increased opportunities for consumers to go out and a shift away from the practice of wearing face masks on a daily basis. With…

In the Philippines, one interesting aspect of OTC products in general and cough, cold and allergy (hay fever) remedies in particular is that consumers are generally very aware of the active ingredients that are contained within these products and the…

Dermatologicals has seen a return to growth in current value terms in 2023, which is mainly due to the waning impact of COVID-19 on consumer lifestyles and behaviours. Antipruritics is one of the largest categories within dermatologicals and has also…

2023 saw rising demand for dermatologicals supported by the return to pre-pandemic daily routines and lifestyles as greater exposure to the causes of various mild skin conditions resulted in a higher incidence of skin infections and parasite-related…

Similar to the pattern seen in vitamins, sales of dietary supplements continue to see steady growth in current value terms in 2023 due to increasing health consciousness. The market has been hit by the rising cost of raw materials and production…

Probiotic supplements generated further positive sales growth in 2023 as the category continued to recover from the significant sales declines registered in 2021. Many consumers began taking probiotic products as a way of strengthening their immune…

Sales of digestive remedies continue to see a strong recovery in 2023 in current value terms. Sales are rebounding from the negative impact of the pandemic with the lifting of restrictions increasing the opportunities for consumers to go out to eat…

One factor that spurred growth in sales of OTC digestive remedies during 2023 was the return to pre-pandemic lifestyles, with the accelerating pace of life in Philippine cities encouraging consumers to eat fast food and convenience food more often,…

With the pandemic declared to be over in 2023, sales of both standard eye care and allergy eye care have benefited from increased opportunities to get out and about, a recovery in the number of inbound travellers, but also high pollen counts.…

The key trend behind rising demand for standard eye care in the Philippines is the increased amount of screen time in the daily lives of many local people. Indeed, dramatic increases have been seen in the amount of time that Philippine consumers…

In 2023, with COVID-19 moving to a class 5 disease and restrictions on social behaviour being lifted, consumers started to go out without wearing masks, leading to an increase in influenza, infectious diseases with cough symptoms, and heat stroke. In…

Alternative medicine is increasingly commonplace in the Philippines and this continues to support rising demand for herbal/traditional products. Local people are increasingly favouring consumer products based natural ingredients such as camphor,…

Regulations against smoking are becoming stricter worldwide, and the situation is no different in Japan. These stricter rules have encouraged large numbers of smokers to quit, especially since the law banning smoking indoors in principle (Health…

2023 saw further positive growth in retail volume sales of NRT smoking cessation aids in the Philippines, although growth rates were considerably lower than the phenomenal performances recorded in the category earlier in the review period. The main…

Overall, sales of paediatric consumer health are in decline in current value terms in Japan in 2023. Nonetheless, the performances vary by product category with some benefiting from a post-pandemic recovery while others are facing headwinds. For…

The high sales growth being seen in paediatric consumer health in the Philippines is largely due to the country’s relatively high birth rate and the culture of not skimping when it comes to spending money on children. However, it should be noted that…

The potential market for sleep aids is expanding in Japan off the back of an increasing number of consumers facing poor sleep quality and fewer hours of sleep. This drop in quality sleep is due in part to a rise in telecommuting and prolonged use of…

One of the more interesting aspects of the Philippine consumer health market is that the country is often the first territory that multinational companies launch new products in, especially those that represent a significant departure from the…

Sports nutrition was one of the most dynamic areas of consumer health in Japan over the review period, including during and after the pandemic. The category has been rapidly expanding thanks to an increasingly health conscious population, but also…