The economic crisis due to Covid-19 has changed the purchasing behavior of consumers of food supplements. On the physical pharmacy, the main channel, there is a strong growth in the consumption of vitamins (+ 47%), always best seller category, and also some “novelties”, the supplements for the defense of immune resources (+ 68%) and for the improvement of night rest and mental well-being (+ 23.5%).
This is what emerges from the analysis of the latest economic data provided by New Line Market Research (with the contribution of IRi for the GDO sector), on behalf of Supplements Italy, the Italian trade association belonging to Confindustria, which is part of the Unione Italiana Food, which represents 450 companies and over 20 product sectors.
The data show a market on pharmacy, parapharmacy, related e-commerce and large-scale retail channels that it records a slight but significant growth compared to the same period of last year (+ 3.2%) – total value of approximately € 3.9 billion * – and a relative increase in sales volume of + 2.1%.
The pharmacy remains the distribution channel of reference – alone it represents almost the77% (+ 0.2% compared to 2019) of the total value, with a total turnover amounting to almost 3 billion euros *. The second channel is represented by the parapharmacy, whose value is around € 342 million * (-2.0% compared to 2019). The third channel is that of GDO, linked to super and hypermarkets, (value 269 million euros, -0.4% compared to 2019). However, the real surge occurred in the online pharmacy and parapharmacy sales, which grew by + 87.5%.
“Covid-19 has had and still has a strong impact on people’s lives, in a more or less traumatic way: the consumer has developed a very strong sensitivity for the defense of mental well-being, an integral part of the health of each of us, at risk from forced isolation and from the psycho-physical stress connected to it “he declares Alessandro Golinelli, President of Integratori Italia. However, it is important that precisely in situations as difficult as the one that has arisen, consumers are correctly informed and can count on safe, effective and quality products, and that fake news is contained and countered to avoid confusion and damage. “