The cold and flu category is worth around £400m a year, so it is crucial for pharmacists to get their offer right to maximise sales and make the most of the season. Craig Shaw, marketing director for Nurofen and Gaviscon at RB, explains how

Shoppers care about choosing the right products, particularly when they have a cold or flu where the symptoms impact negatively on everyday life. This is why it’s so important for shoppers to make the right product choice.

Did you know that, according to RB research, shoppers spend longer browsing cold and flu than any other fixture? In fact, consumers spend around 56 seconds at the cold and flu fixture choosing their cough remedy, which is almost twice as long as at the analgesics fixture, and longer than they spend at eyecare, oral care, hair care, and even crisps and snacks.

Pharmacists know that cold and flu is a classic repertoire category, one where we see shoppers regularly picking from a handful of well-known brands and products. Pharmacists need to ensure that their fixtures reflect this behaviour by:

• Offering a good range of well-known products designed to treat different and/or specific cold and flu symptoms
• Keeping watch for new brand advertising and campaigns that promote a particular product and look to build greater awareness of the product benefits, underlining efficacy and the essential reassurance that drive demand. Make sure you have those high-profile brands on shelf.

Perhaps it is not surprising that the RB research also showed that shoppers are more engaged in their cold and flu purchase than other categories. We found that, when browsing, shoppers picked up, on average, 2.34 cough and/or cold products before selecting their purchase – more interaction than any other (recorded) category.

The most important decision

Importantly, 66 per cent of shoppers thought brand was the most important decision in this category (compared to 43 per cent for analgesics and 62 per cent for heartburn and indigestion). This means that well-known brands do really well in this category and are the key to winter remedy success and better bottom line results. Why? Well, many purchases are distress purchases – consumers buying products because they already have a cold or flu and are suffering from unpleasant symptoms. What they want is something that will make them feel better and they don’t want to try something unknown to see if it works. They want results, and fast!

On average, consumers suffer from 2.2 symptoms with every cold, which range from aches and pains to fever and congestion, so multi-symptom relief is important. Unlike other categories, cold and flu shoppers tend to buy across the fixture and so the potential for cross purchase is high. With the right presentation, shoppers buying cough products may also buy cold or sore throat remedies at the same time, in a bid to alleviate all the symptoms. Pharmacists need to think of this when planning their cold and flu fixture and, if they can, site as many products as possible together so customers can make all their purchasing decisions in one place. Make purchase decisions easy for your customers and this will translate into greater sales.

We also found that up that 27 per cent of cold and flu sufferers use an analgesic to treat their symptoms, so again it is important for pharmacists to offer a good range of ibuprofen, paracetamol and aspirin, as well as combination treatments. When advising customers on appropriate treatments, pharmacists need to remember that a ‘stuffy nose’ is caused by the body’s inflammatory response to the virus and that a product like Nurofen Cold and Flu, which contains maximum strength formulation ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine, targets inflammation at the source of the symptoms, providing a really effective solution.

The power of the mind

Psychology is an important factor when advising your customers, especially since we all react differently to pain and discomfort. RB research shows that cold and flu sufferers tend to fall into one of two broad categories:

• The ‘battlers’ – those who want something strong and fast acting that allows them to ‘get on’ with life, such as Nurofen, which delivers “powerful, targeted relief of symptoms”
• The ‘rest and recover’ group – those who find that the best route for them is to use products such as Lemsip hot drinks, which “sooth and comfort them and help them ease their way out of their symptoms”.

By understanding this insight pharmacists can help both these groups by advising on a wide range of products that cater for both needs. And by stocking a trusted and well- loved brand like Nurofen and encouraging trade-up from other products, pharmacists could grow sales by around 20 per cent over the winter months.

Importantly, with one in five people visiting their GP for cold and flu this winter, RB will be implementing a ‘No Appointment Necessary‘ campaign that will support the PAGB campaign (launched in 2013) to ‘push consumers away from primary care direct to the pharmacy’. We want to help to continue educating the 45 per cent of people who still believe antibiotics treat cold and flu, by advising them that they will not help, but that efficacious remedies from their pharmacy are readily available and they can simply walk in and speak to a qualified healthcare professional to get advice and help. We aim to drive more customers into pharmacy.