OTC Choice - Nasal sprays and drops

• 2025-09-01 00:00:00
• Research

At Szinapszis, we believe that accurately understanding consumer decisions is more important than ever in the OTC sector. That's why we've further developed our OTC Choice® studies, which provide a quick, multi-method snapshot of how consumers make choices in and outside of pharmacies.

In 2025, we have already completed these studies in several areas, such as cough suppressants, heartburn remedies, allergy medications, and nasal drops and sprays.

 

 

During the cold and allergy season, many households regularly use active ingredient-based or sea water-based nasal drops and nasal sprays: on average, respondents were able to spontaneously name 2-3 brand names, and with prompting, they knew about twice as many.

Interesting facts:

• According to our latest data, 60% of the adult Hungarian population has purchased such products, and many not only for themselves: 41% of users in this category intend the product for multiple family members. This is an important consideration when making a purchase decision.
• Although 87% of purchases in this category are made in pharmacies, one in ten purchases are made in drugstores – the proportion of online purchases is negligible here compared to other categories.
• Although many people decide in advance which brand they are looking for, 28% of shoppers make their final decision in the pharmacy – the recommendation of the dispensing pharmacist plays a key role here, so the test purchase was particularly instructive: in 22% of cases, no information was provided about the recommended product.
• Price is not the most important decision factor, but 50% check it before making a purchase, and the majority of them also check the price at the pharmacy. Numerous studies indicate the increasing price sensitivity and price awareness of Hungarian shoppers, which is also evident in pharmacies in many consumer segments.

The research was based on a large, representative sample: we surveyed 400 category buyers using a short online questionnaire and conducted 100 test purchases in high-traffic pharmacies across the country. This allowed us to examine not only consumer opinions, but also real-life pharmacy situations more closely.

???? Interested in the detailed results? Contact us and we will be happy to share the full study with you!