Focus On Winter Remedies: 28 August

Focus On: Winter Remedies by George Nott (George.Nott@thegrocer.co.uk)

Download the synopsis here

Publishing: 28 Aug 2021

Advertising deadline: 18 Aug 2021

Submissions deadline: 11 Aug 2021

The story

Talk about a winter of discontent. With Brits hiding indoors and behind masks for most of the past year, incidences of cold and flu (apart from a certain virus) have plummeted. And so have sales of winter remedies. What are manufacturers of cold and flu treatments, decongestants and the like doing to drive sales? To what extent has the decline driven innovation into new product areas? And how long do experts expect this to last?

Key themes

Stockpiling: Of course, the latest figures are compared with those of 2019/20, when the world was turned upside down by the Covid pandemic. To what extent have these figures been driven by the huge spike in sales of anything remedies in March and April last year?

Immune systems: With people social distancing for much of the past year, our immune systems have had something of a holiday. So, as we all start to head back to work, are we going to be hit by a huge spike in incidences of common colds and flu because our immune systems have been weakened? We will be looking to speak to experts in this area, as well as brands and retailers about how they are preparing for this.

Market dynamics: This feature will how different retailers and brands are approaching the category in terms of merchandising, ranging, pricing, promotions and marketing and how this is impacting sales performance?

Innovation: A key focus of this feature will the latest trends in terms of product innovation. The pandemic has driven huge growth in areas such as sanitisers, face masks, etc, so what have cold and flu brands done to cash in? What other trends are shaping the market? We will be profiling four interesting upcoming launches in a separate boxout – we require details about the product, its launch date, rsp and retail listings and high resolution (no less than 300dpi/1mb) product images.