The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7273 p606
1 November 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Related websites
Mintel reports (reports.mintel.com)

Pharmacies main route for self-testing kits

Pharmacies are the main point of sale for self-diagnostic products, sales of which were worth an estimated £58.3m in September 2001, according to a report from market analysts Mintel.

The report says that these products have “a small but highly defined target audience looking for health-related products, hence pharmacies are a more logical outlet than supermarkets”. Pharmacies are able to order items quickly and staff can give advice on selecting appropriate products. Pharmacies accounted for over two-thirds of sales in 2001. Supermarkets have seen a growth in sales, mainly on the back of instore pharmacy openings.

In 2001, pregnancy test kits had sales of an estimated £34m, up 15 per cent in real terms on 1996, and ovulation prediction kits £5m although sales of these are described as stagnant. Blood glucose meters brought in £11.2m. Most products are supplied by specialist divisions of larger diagnostic, pharmaceutical or consumer electronics companies.