MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF CONSUMERS BATTLE INSOMNIA

by Michael Johnsen for Drug Store News

Overall, the sale of all sleep remedies were up 6.1% to $707.9 million across total U.S. multi-outlets for the 52 weeks ended Nov. 27, 2016, according to IRI. Procter & Gamble’s ZzzQuil still leads the category. Sales of the liquid formulation are outpacing category growth with an uptick of 8.4% to $85.3 million, or 12% of total category sales.

Fueling this growth is a combination of both old-and new-age technology, noted Jim Creagan, president of Randob Labs. Randob is launching its Dormin sleep aid into mass markets this spring.

“It’s going to continue to be a growth business, with two drivers,” he said. “One is the older population. As people age, they have more difficulty sleeping. [And] then you have the proliferation of the smartphone. … People are turning to sleep remedies because they have trouble falling asleep.”

In fact, as many as 38.3% of Americans have trouble sleeping, according to Hyland’s, which launched a homeopathic energy booster called Good Morning at last year’s NACDS Total Store Expo. Of those who have trouble sleeping, 35% have used a sleep aid, and one-third have not used a sleep aid but would be interested in trying one.

That makes sleep aids a high-trial category.

“If you are not sleeping, you are willing to try just about anything to get that sleep,” Creagan said. “Not only do you feel bad, but your work performance is impacted, [and] dealing with the kids is more difficult. … The constant trial aspect is definitely something that drives the category, [and] when they find something that works, they are fiercely loyal.”