Around the world, people are increasingly health conscious and aware of the impact of individual lifestyle choices on their health and the health of others. This growing awareness has the potential to transform the way we think about health care – becoming our own health advocates and seeking ways to personally improve and maintain health. 

This overarching trend of health ownership worldwide is expected to drive growth in the consumer health industry across a number of fronts. Additionally, self-care can help alleviate increasing resource pressure on health care systems and governments.¹

New digital opportunities across the entire value chain including personalized self-care services and growing e-commerce platforms can open new ways to reach new customer groups and strengthen the relationships with existing ones.

Moreover, retail health is likely to drive the acquisition of new customers across the industry: In both developed and developing countries, many people have more access to retail health stores than to a traditional healthcare provider. This is particularly true in underserved communities. It is expected that the role of pharmacists will expand, and the number of in-store healthcare providers will increase. These services will help people to better take care of themselves at home and to purchase a consumer health product right then and there.

Data can be used to offer more personalized treatment options.

Consumer health companies with an understanding of customer needs, large pools of customer insights and a strong foundation of well-known brands are ideally positioned to benefit from the opportunities of big data. They will be in a position to customize marketing and product experiences in the highly individualistic market for personal health care.

These trends are expected to further drive growth and support existing structural demand in the overall sector.² COVID-19 has brought a new health reality to many people. In the pandemic, consumers looked for vitamins, minerals and other products that support everyday health and help prevent avoidable diseases. The demand for nutritionals that support the immune system is expected to continue to expand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.³

And beyond the pandemic, consumers are seeking convenient, easy-to-get and easy-to-use self-care solutions to take care of themselves at home. 

.

As a leading life science company, Bayer is aligned with the long-term market trends in health and nutrition and offers innovative and sustainable solutions to tackle some of the key challenges for humanity. In Consumer Health, with our portfolio of leading and trusted brands, we offer people around the world convenient and effective everyday health solutions. We combine scientific expertise with world-class brands and have shown our ability time and time again to invent and reinvent ourselves to adapt to changing consumer needs and societal trends.

With the increased focus on preventive health solutions, Bayer is well positioned to deliver safe, effective, and science-based health solutions that consumers increasingly demand.

Did you know what Bayer's Consumer Health Division has achieved since 2018?

After having initiated a comprehensive turnaround plan in 2018, the Consumer Health business is continuously growing across all regions and categories. As part of our turnaround plan, we optimized our portfolio by exiting underperforming and non-core product categories, while strategically investing in companies like Care/of in order to enter into newly emerging, attractive demand spaces like personalized Nutritionals.

At the same time, we strengthened our digital and eCommerce capabilities by focusing on precision marketing and progressively shifting our media spend towards digital channels. We also optimized our portfolio of rapidly growing eCommerce platforms. As a result, our eCommerce business is growing in the high double digits in 2020 and 2021.

The success of all these efforts is evident in the fact that in 2020 we steadily increased our market share in 5 out of 7 product categories. We also managed to further strengthen our broad geographical footprint and have grown or maintained our market share in all four of our regions.

Did you know about Bayer’s leading position in the market for nutritional supplements?

The operational improvements we made as part of the turnaround, as well as our strategic portfolio management enable us to fully tap into the potential of changing market dynamics. One of these dynamics is the increasing demand for categories that enable consumers to manage their own health and wellness, and ensure that they stay well, like nutritional supplements.

This segment of the broader consumer health market has a particularly attractive growth outlook, driven by high structural demand and increasing health literacy. COVID-19 has further contributed to the increased appreciation of preventative healthcare. Today, Bayer is a leading company in this segment, with vitamins and nutritional supplements playing significant roles in its product portfolio with leading brands such as One A Day™, Supradyn™, Berocca™ and Redoxon™ to name a few. Bayer is further strengthening this position fueled by continued focus on preventive health solutions.

Bayer plans to continue to expand on its strong global footprint in the nutritional market and provide more people around the globe with access to the nutrients they need to live healthy lives. With our recently announced The Nutrient Gap Initiative, we aim to reach 50 million people in underserved communities per year by 2030 through direct action and in partnership with critical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with a focus on intervention, education, and advocacy. The initiative is a crucial part of our sustainability goal to expand access to everyday health for 100 million people in underserved communities.

Did you know about the power of Bayer’s brands and its science-based approach to self-care?

Every year, hundreds of millions of people turn to our products to get well, be well and stay well. The sheer number is an indication of the trust consumers put in Bayer products. Whether it is Claritin™, Bepanthen™, Elevit™ or – of course – Aspirin™: People around the world know Bayer products and recognize the quality they promise. That promise is further strengthened by the Bayer Cross, a strong and globally recognizable brand.⁴

And yet, it is more than our iconic brands that helped us gain and maintain trust. Consumers favor solutions with scientifically proven benefits – and we deliver them. Drawing on a scientific legacy of more than 150 years, we set our self-care solutions to a rigorous standard. For instance, in the last 20 years alone, Bepanthen has been backed by more than 100 clinical trials.⁵ Not only do these trials demonstrate quality and efficacy, they also help us to continuously innovate behind our powerful brands. By combining the scientific and medical expertise of a pharmaceuticals company with the brand-building competencies and market proximity of a consumer goods company, Bayer is set to meet the market demands of the future.

Given this strong position, continued momentum and the capacities to further drive innovation, Bayer is well positioned to continue to benefit from the opportunities in the Consumer Health market.  

Sources

1 Market model in market sales OTC medicines, data from IQVIA, Nicholas Hall
2 Deloitte (2020), Global Healthcare Outlook
3 L.E.K. Insights (2020), Impact of COVID-19 on Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements
4 Bayer internal study 2020
5 Bayer Statement (2018) Reinvigorating Our Leading OTC Position

Forward-Looking Statements
This content may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports, which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.