PROCTER & GAMBLE IS SECOND IN EUROPEAN OTC MARKET IN 1992
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
PROCTER & GAMBLE IS SECOND IN EUROPEAN OTC MARKET IN 1992, according to market data from IMS on eight major European community nations. Peter Hayward, Director of OTC Services, IMS (U.K.), reported to the Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association annual meeting that P&G's share of the European OTC business leapt from 2.4% of the total market in 1991 to 3.6% in 1992. Hayward pointed out that P&G's jump in IMS data "has much to do with new data included, particularly categories of skin care and medicated confectionaries." P&G's strong overall ranking has been built in its number-two ranking in Germany where, according to IMS, it ranks behind Klosterfrau and ahead of local powers Bayer and Boehringer- Ingelheim. P&G ranked fourth in Italy, the only other European market where it is in the top five. The importance of the German market is indicated by the fact that it is almost 15 percentage points larger than the second market, France. The total German market for OTCs in 1992 was over 43% of the $ 14.4 bil. OTC business in the eight-country market. The market in what was formerly West Germany was 39% of the total (or approximately $ 5.6 bil. at the consumer's cost). The French market was 24.9% of European OTC sales in 1992, IMS estimates. IMS calculates OTC sales as distinct from nonprescription drug sales in Europe. The $ 14.4 bil. true OTC sales -- purchases made directly by the customer -- were just under 60% of the total nonprescription market in Europe in 1992, IMS says. The total market for nonprescription products was $ 24 bil., including those that are prescribed by physicians to facilitate government reimbursement and those sold from behind the pharmacy counter without a prescription. P&G has two products among the top 20 brands in Europe, IMS figures indicate. Clearasil ranks sixth with sales of $ 76 mil. and Vicks ranks sixteenth with $ 57 mil. Both products are examples of what Elisabeth Beck, IMS (Germany) managing director-market research services, calls "Eurobrands," brands marketed in several national markets. Beck reports that no Eurobrands have emerged with standardized packaging, marketing and advertising in all European markets. Clearasil and Vicks, for example, are each marketed in six of the eight European countries tracked by IMS. The largest Eurobrand is also the number-one selling OTC product in Europe: Bayer's Aspirin + C. IMS calculates that the product generated sales of $ 158 mil. from four major markets in 1992. Bayer's plain Aspirin was number-two in Europe and among Eurobrands with sales of $ 144 mil. Bayer ranked number-one among companies in the European OTC market, with a market share figure of 3.7%. Hayward observed that Bayer's top position is "in no small measure due to growth of aspirin in Germany." Rhone-Poulenc Rorer was first in the European OTC business in 1991, but slipped to third position in the IMS rankings with a market share of 3.4% in 1992. Sanofi-Sterling followed RPR with a similar 3.4% share figure in 1992. Boehringer-Ingelheim was fifth at 3%, followed by Roche at 2.6% and SmithKline Beecham at 2.5%. The SmithKline Beecham figure represents a drop in market share of .3 percentage points from 1991, according to the IMS figures. P&G's growth in Europe reflects increased attention to overseas operations in the past few years. In late 1990, for example, P&G opened an Eastern European division to market health and consumer products in that region and established several joint ventures with personal care products companies in Poland and Hungary in 1991. P&G also highlighted its European operations in its 1991 annual report, disclosing for the first time results for Europe as a separate geographic entity. The company's aggressive move into the European OTC business was forecast several years ago. At NDMA's annual meeting in 1990, Nicholas Hall of the Nicholas Hall UK publishing/consulting business predicted that P&G would move into the number-one position in the worldwide OTC business by 1995. Other U.S.-based companies with leadership positions in specific European markets, according to IMS, include: Johnson & Johnson, number-one in Belgium where Janssen was founded; Warner- Lambert, number-four in the U.K.; and Sterling, number-five in the U.K.