Baby flop, baby crash, baby blues? It seems that the stork is slowing down its flapping of wings almost everywhere in the world. In 2020, nearly 740,000 babies were born in France, 13,000 fewer than in 2019 (-1.8%). INSEE points out that this is the sixth consecutive year that the number of births and the fertility rate have fallen (Source: LSA Conso article:, accessed on 6 April 2021). The pandemic and its attendant uncertainties do not alone explain the reasons for the drop in the number of births, which has been falling for several years now.
What consequences for the infant milk market?
The infant milk market
This decline in births has an impact on the infant nutrition market.
In France, this market is estimated to be worth more than €834.8 million in 2019. It covers two distinct segments: diversification foods (€476.4m) and infant formula (€358.3m). (Source: article LSA Conso, accessed on 6 April 2021)
Focus on the infant milk market, which is not spared by market developments and is experiencing a decline. This market has to adapt to strong competitive pressure and new consumer expectations, with the public's distrust caused by the contaminated infant milk scandal in the background.
2 indestructible giants
On a global scale, Blédina (Danone) and Nestlé are at the top of the ranking. Together they represent about 80 % of market share in supermarkets and hypermarkets in 2020. In addition to the trend towards naturalness with the advent of natural 100% and the return in force of breastfeeding, these leaders are challenged by new players made up of private label brands. New entrants are also coming to challenge them on their classic or more innovative segments, but also with very buoyant niches such as organic or Made in France.
Distribution channels
Baby is born: here are the new parents, very concerned and very vigilant about the well-being of their offspring and the quality of the products they are given. First age milk, second age milk or follow-on milk, growth milk, anti-regurgitation milk, thickened milk... In this jungle of infant milk choices, how can you find your way around?
Infant milk is mainly purchased through two channels: pharmacies and supermarkets.
What are the factors that lead people to buy milk in pharmacies or supermarkets? The key factors are the search for greater health safety, the extension of product ranges to meet increasingly specific needs (anti-regurgitation, allergies, etc.) and new food trends.
Pharmaceuticals represent a key distribution network for laboratories. The channel is experiencing dynamic growth of +8.6% in value and 2.4% in volume for the year 2020. Sales were sustained by the new 2020 DHA regulation, which pushed the market valuation to +12.1 %. It also benefited greatly from the 2018 "Egalim Law", the objective of which is to find a fair price to better remunerate farmers.
However, pharmacies are under pressure to be profitable. In addition to competition from supermarkets and drugstores, they face fierce competition from online drugstores, which are popular with consumers looking for attractive prices, new products and a continuously accessible offer. It is therefore in the interest of traditional pharmacies to follow trends, offer a wide selection of products and maintain competitive prices while developing differentiation factors.
One of these factors is the positive perception that the French have of the pharmacy, which is seen as a local service. This perception has been further reinforced by the health crisis. Pharmacists remain competent professionals who give their time and are easy to find when they are needed. They enjoy a high level of trust among parents who need advice and support in their purchasing decisions.
This is where the pharmacy team must fully play its role. They must have a perfect understanding of the characteristics of the products in order to provide the expected advice. The price difference is nowadays more and more reduced, thanks also to tight negotiations between laboratories and pharmacies, their groups and agreements.
Our expertise in pharmacy with Laboratoire Gallia
Laboratoire Gallia, a Blédina (Danone Group) brand, has been the leader in the infant formula market in France for over 60 years. Laboratoire Gallia knows that it is essential to support pharmacists with the aim of optimising the presence of their ranges at the point of sale, optimising the visibility of their products and developing turnover while building loyalty among pharmacists.
The mission of GIS sales staff
In order for their internal sales forces to focus on commercial relations and negotiations, SIG pharmaceutical delegates intervene by Substitute sales force to develop commercial prospecting, particularly in the smallest pharmacies in order to transform them into high-potential customers. They thus reinforce and complete Laboratoire Gallia's integrated sales force.
At SIG, we focus on rigorous training and permanent coaching of our teams, to create a high-performance sales force that optimally complements the work of the Laboratoire Gallia teams. Our pharmaceutical representatives (PD) are experts in pharmacy sales and are the laboratory's real relays in the field. Through their regular visits, they develop a relationship of trust with pharmacists. By exchanging with these professional prescribers, they analyse the quantitative and qualitative returns on sales, advise and recommend solutions to develop the resale of products. Thanks to their prospecting work with targeted or high-potential points of sale, they ensure regular and rigorous monitoring of pharmacies.
Their role is to guide and support the pharmacist so that he or she can offer the right product every day to meet the needs and concerns of parents who are concerned about their children's well-being.
The challenge is to build brand loyalty for the development of the DN. A satisfied parent, who feels well advised, will become a loyal customer. They will more naturally turn to all the laboratory's products that will accompany their baby during its first months or years.
The delegates' mission is to train and inform the pharmacy teams about Laboratoire Gallia's products and innovations. They convey the laboratory's message and endeavour to share its values and ambitions in order to establish a legitimate and differentiated brand image, enabling Laboratoire Gallia to assert its role as a health player.
In addition to training, pharmaceutical representatives are responsible for negotiating the implementation and promotion of Laboratoire Gallia's merchandising and promotional tools (shelf headers, POS displays, posters, promotional operations, etc.). By carrying out a department diagnosis (holding rate, breakage, rotation, price label, visibility, shelf display), they ensure that the brand's shelves are optimised and that the product ranges are promoted to activate the sell-out.
Outsourced sales force: what benefits for Laboratoire Gallia?
In addition to establishing a special relationship with pharmacists, we work with the brand with a strategy of targeting catchment areas to guarantee growth in market share and sales. This solution allows Laboratoire Gallia to invest in a controlled and totally flexible way for a ROI approach. This approach is based on a structured and pragmatic methodology:
- Identifying, targeting and qualifying high potential pharmacies to develop untapped sales potential,
- The placement of pharmaceutical delegates strategically (e.g. at unvisited points of sale),
- Optimising route planning to reduce time on the road, allowing our sales force to spend more time with pharmacists
- Creating more balanced sales territories (e.g. by considering the number of outlets in an area and analysing its sales potential)
The use of a sales force (permanent, ad hoc or commando sales force) can meet various challenges:
- reach a high potential target
- recruiting new consumers and building their loyalty
- ensuring the launch of a product
- generate effective customer contacts
- enrich your customer database
- animate a commercial event
- rely on the expertise of a service provider in order to attack, for example, a new distribution network
At SIG, we take into account the specificities of your market. We adapt our systems to ensure that the solutions we implement are effective. Do you have a project? Contact us!
