Paediatric Consumer Health in Vietnam

2021 DEVELOPMENTS

COVID-19 pandemic lifts demand for paediatric consumer health as does growing online access

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to contribute to the rapid growth rate of paediatric consumer health due to high concern among Vietnamese parents as children were considered vulnerable to the virus. Hence, both value and volume sales of paediatric consumer health experienced strong growth as people tended to buy products for storage purposes to ensure they had some in stock should their children develop symptoms of the virus.

Higher demand for paediatric vitamins and dietary supplements and paediatric acetaminophen

During the outbreak, the Ministry of Health encouraged parents to keep children indoors due to having weaker immune systems than adults. Therefore, parents were willing to spend more on paediatric vitamins and dietary supplements, especially vitamin C or dietary supplements with an immunity boosting positioning, in order to protect and safeguard the health of their children during the pandemic.

International companies maintain their lead, despite being present with higher priced products than local counterparts

In 2021, international players continued to characterise paediatric consumer health. Amongst these, Laboratoires UPSA and Sanofi-Aventis Vietnam were the two strongest companies and were the only two to hold double-digit value shares in 2021.

PROSPECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Growth rates return to pre-pandemic rates over the forecast period for paediatric consumer health as COVID-19 comes under control

After some initial stockpiling due to COVID-19 in 2020 and ongoing high sales due to the ongoing presence of the virus in 2021, the category’s growth rate is expected to return to more normal levels over the forecast period as consumers will return to their usual purchasing patterns. Although a slowing rate of growth is expected over the forecast period, mainly due to increasing maturity, increases are still expected to remain in the double-digits.

Falling birth rate hampers the category while rising disposable incomes enable parents to spend more on fewer children

According to The General Department of Population and Family Planning, whilst there were only five provinces with low birth rates (below 2.1 children per woman) in Vietnam 10 years ago, this number had increased to 21 provinces by the end of 2019.

Industry players develop new formats and flavours to boost and maintain consumer interest in the category

As demand for this category is predicted to increase slightly, despite a slower birth rate, companies will focus on launching new products with new additional ingredients such as vitamin C, B, and A. Other launches will incorporate new fruit flavour tastes such as orange and strawberry to attract more parents.