New Product Development Trends in Consumer Health

Consumer health merits further investment

With retail value sales expected to grow by 3% annually to nearly one-quarter of a trillion us dollars, the consumer health industry remains a bright spot in a fast moving consumer goods landscape that has struggled for growth in the recent past.

Despite regional variances, some factors affect all product innovation

Though local considerations are critical in new product rollouts, some economic, demographic, regulatory or consumer factors, including incomes, health literacy, and traditions of use can cross borders and even be predominant across whole regions.

Prescription to over the counter (retail-to-otc) switches provide new avenues for development

Rx-to-otc switches have traditionally been a major catalyst of major consumer health growth. With growing pressure on national health systems, including the rising prevalence of serious, non-communicable diseases, a number of regulators are looking to shift burden of treating more basic ailments to consumers. This shift could be a major boon to the allergy care, digestive remedies, cough, cold and allergy and burgeoning sexual health categories.

Convenience and efficacy are stalwarts of consumer health new product development

While trends in ingredients and health concerns can wax and wane, particularly in the supplement categories, two areas of concern that have always been able to stoke consumers interest are more convenient and more efficacious products. Increasing consumer willingness to self-treat with otc options and invest in preventive care will keep those issues front-of-mind for the foreseeable future.

Novelty alone is not enough to drive long-term success

While novel formats and formulas may create buzz and entice consumer experimentation, long-term success of new launches will rest on the product’s ability to deliver real value to both consumer and producer. For consumers, enhanced efficacy or ease of use will only be able to demand so high a premium, while reduced margins may not prove a tenable cost for expanded market share and share of mind for producers –particularly publically traded companies facing stringent shareholder demands on profit.

The state of innovation in consumer health is strong

Companies from across the industry spectrum continue to introduce innovative and successful new products. From multinational pharmaceutical companies revitalising lagging otc categories with new switches to start-ups incorporating a new generations’ health and sustainability concerns into supplement launches, innovation in consumer health is alive and well.