After seeing a weakening in its growth rate in 2020, when the pandemic first hit the region, consumer health in Asia Pacific had then been recording strong growth until 2024, when normalisation of sales and a difficult macroeconomic environment in China slowed the overall regional performance. Positive growth is expected over the forecast period, driven by factors such as ageing populations, increasing health awareness and rising levels of self-medication.
This report comes in PPT.
Growth slowed in China in 2024, after the significant demand peak in late 2022 and early 2023. This peak was mainly due to the wave of COVID-19 cases after the lifting of restrictions in December 2022, during which panic-buying and stockpiling boosted sales of systemic analgesics and cough and cold remedies. Vitamins and dietary supplements also saw a slowdown in 2024, given the normalisation of demand for immune-boosting products.
Although the lines between foods and dietary supplements are becoming increasingly blurred, gifting will remain an important growth driver for these products in South Korea. Korea Health Functional Food Association figures show around a quarter of sales of dietary supplements are for gifting purposes, with players actively promoting these products during holiday seasons as ideal gifts, and Kakao Gift – South Korea’s largest messenger-based platform for gift exchanges – making it easy to send dietary supplements to family and friends.
While pharmacies still lead consumer health retail distribution, the e-commerce channel is hot on their tail. There is continuing trust in pharmacies and pharmacists, with consumers valuing the sales advice and product recommendations they can get at such outlets. However, the e-commerce share, which topped 31% in 2024, could soon be overtaking that of pharmacies, which, at 33%, only just remained ahead at the end of the review period.
Retailers in Japan were stepping up the launch of relatively inexpensive private label lines of OTC products in 2024, particularly given national brands were being forced to raise their prices due to high inflation and a weak yen. Private label players are even launching premium product lines or high value-added products, looking to target consumers placing importance on a balance between quality and price.
It is the aggregation of OTC, Vitamins and Dietary Supplements (VDS), Sports Nutrition, and Weight Management and Wellbeing
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