A 360 Degrees View Of Consumer Healthcare Market Size
There are several industries that lie at the cusp of the present and the future, and one of these industries is consumer healthcare. Growing at a significant pace, this industry boasts of many important advancements in the near future, as well as having a relevant impact on the lives of people today.
The most revenue-generating markets for consumer healthcare products are the U.S. and Europe. However, the growth in those regions has stagnated, and it is the APAC (Asia Pacific) region where the consumer healthcare market size is expanding with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of nearly 18 percent. With specific regard to India, the over-the-counter (OTC) market is growing at a CAGR of 9 percent and is expected to reach a value of $6.5 billion by 2026.
With the availability of medicines in rural areas, the medical services domain remains to some extent free of adverse pressure. Moreover, as a result of self-medication, the market is projected to be positively affected in a major way, and this trend is likely to continue until at least the first half of 2020. In addition, the recent change in gears toward the use of e-commerce websites, and online retail as a whole indicate major changes in the consumer healthcare industry as well.
Consumer Healthcare Market
All across the globe, there is a systemic shift in the way that consumers are interacting with medicines and the understanding of medication as a whole.
Here are some salient points:
- The wellness products industry has emerged as one of the top winners within the healthcare domain. This is due in large part to the rise in disposable incomes among the youth today, as well as the overall economic growth. Moreover, as a result of this particular demand, multiple traditional pharmaceutical companies, earlier selling only prescription medicines, have made inroads into OTC products.
- Various big pharma companies have successfully created OTC product businesses, as a result of their successful research and development (R&D). With specific regard to still growing markets like APAC, there is massive scope for growth as the consumer healthcare domain is largely underpenetrated.
- By 2022, the Indian consumer healthcare market in India is estimated to reach $76 million overall.
- The consumer healthcare market can be largely classified into several categories, some of which overlap with others, but not to a significant extent. These categories are: analgesics, dermatology products, gastrointestinal products, smoking cessation products, health supplements, wound healing products, and lifestyle and weight management products. Of these, there is now significant growth in smoking cessation products, as well as lifestyle and weight management products.
- The OTC segment is, for many pharma companies, the logical extension of their already existent business arms. Given the increasing awareness in the average consumer about health and wellness overall, the overall knowledge about self-medication, as well as multiple lifestyle-related issues, the OTC segment is likely to expand manifold over the years to come. Moreover, given that it also fills in the gaps in the products offered by consumer goods firms, this market growth is likely to be sustainable as well.
- The long term investment opportunities in the consumer healthcare space are increasingly relevant for those who are conscious of market trends. Innovative healthcare solutions are coming up everywhere, whether they be wearables (in the IoT segment) or healthy organic food products (within the wellness segment). Female hygiene products, to take another example, have also been on the rise, and this marks a trend that is likely to sustain as well. Brands are seeking to extend themselves in as many ways as possible, whether it be through multiple offerings within one major product, or through multiple major offerings. And this trend shows no signs of stopping!
- Owing to the overlap of the various market segments within consumer healthcare with online retail, there is now forming a very noteworthy nexus which is estimated to change the shape of both industries – but more significantly healthcare.
- Overall, the pharma products market, it should be noted, is notably different from that of the consumer healthcare market. The market dynamics are increasingly different, and there is not as much implied market control in the latter as there is in the former. Pharma companies are trying their best to change their marketing strategies and develop newer skillsets to process increasingly shifting business environments, especially considering rural as well as semi-urban markets.
- While the sale of consumer health products around the world is dictated for the most part by chemists or pharmacies, the OTC products market is constantly expanding. It is expected that OTC products will soon be found in grocery retailers as well as supermarkets.
Conclusion
Given that the consumer healthcare market is largely fragmented in most parts of the world, with the exception of North America, the market is constantly expanding to create new opportunities as well as to cater to the existing ones. There is no doubt that this industry is one that will offer long term sustainable growth, and there will be many ways in which this consumer healthcare segment is bound to make a difference in the overall healthcare industry.