The continuing economic situation in the U.S. appears to be taking it’s toll on the OTC eye drop market according to trends identified in several measures collected by Multi-sponsor Surveys’ 2012 Study of the OTC Eye Drop Market.
In particular, when asked how the brand decision is being made by over 600 past-12 month users of OTC eye drops, a 9 percentage point shift is reported in 2012 over the 2010 results — with “purchasing the brand I want regardless of price” down 9 percentage points, mirrored by a 9 percentage point increase in those reporting (Net) “purchasing the brand that is on sale, the lowest priced brand available or the brand for which they have a coupon”.
This trend in economizing on OTC eye drops is further supported by a +4 percentage point increase in the reported use of store brand or private label eye drops most often. Similarly, when asked to rate the importance of various product factors on a scale of 1 to 10 as they impact the purchase decision, “price” gained +5 percentage points in “top-2 box ratings” over the past two years. Source: The Gallup Study on OTC Eye Drop Users (issued Jan 2013)