The self-medication market is currently undergoing a transformation: consumers are purchasing over-the-counter (OTC) medications less frequently from pharmacies and increasingly from drugstores and supermarkets.*

Furthermore, the announcement by the drugstore chain dm to offer pharmaceuticals online is likely to lead to further changes and disruptions in this market.

OTC and dietary supplements – a market in constant change.

• Who buys OTC medications in grocery retail and drugstores?
• Why are OTC medications and dietary supplements purchased in retail instead of pharmacies? What are the purchase motivators and barriers for buying medications in supermarkets or drugstores?
• Which medications and health products are bought in grocery retail/drugstores and which are more commonly bought in pharmacies?
• What are the subjective purchase triggers or incentives for buying self-medication in grocery retail/drugstores (brand, price, impulse effects, packaging size, etc.)?
• Which indications are primarily purchased in grocery retail/drugstores?
• Which brands or private labels are purchased in retail, and in which subcategories?
• How do health products enter the “relevant set” of potential buyers?
• Are OTC medications and health products purchased spontaneously or planned? What is decided in advance during a planned purchase in the supermarket? What triggers impulse purchases?
• Which retail outlets are used, only one or multiple? (Is there a “switching buyer”?)
• Is self-medication also purchased online? What is the ratio between online and in-store purchases?
• What is the willingness to buy self-medication online?

Special: How is the self-medication offering evaluated in individual grocery retail accounts and specific drugstore chains?
The new Trend Evaluation Shopper Insights OTC/Self-Medication in Grocery Retail and Drugstores 2025 by mafowerk examines the influence and impact of the three key factors: POS | Product | Shopper.

These shopper insights provide an important foundation for manufacturers and retailers for the successful further marketing of OTC products in this distribution channel.

Nuremberg/Fürth, November 2025

*Source: Lebensmittelzeitung online, 04.11.2024
Image: © shutterstock / LightField Studios