With India’s consumer health market shifting rapidly towards e-commerce, telemedicine, and preventive care, Bayer is betting on digital-first strategies, local manufacturing, and science-backed self-care to reach 100 million households by 2030. Sandeep Verma, cluster head of South Asia for Bayer’s consumer health division, speaks to Geetika Srivastava about scaling digital platforms, aligning with Make in India, and addressing everyday health gaps. Edited excerpts:
Q. The Indian consumer health market is seeing a major shift towards digital platforms, telemedicine, and e-commerce. How is Bayer India leveraging these trends?
Industry estimates suggest that the share of e-commerce in consumer health is growing by over 20% annually, while telemedicine centers are engaging millions of consumers each month. There is a perceptible shift in the way people are accessing, and engaging with health and wellness solutions.
At Bayer Consumer Health, we view digital transformation as a key enabler to making self-care more accessible. We primarily leverage digitisation through two key means: First, consumer literacy. We have approached this from two perspectives: condition awareness – providing consumers with credible and reliable information about common ailments and simple tips to address them. For instance, our initiative Saridon Aarampur, a telehealth platform piloted in Uttar Pradesh due to high prevalence of headaches in the region uses voice-based AI to provide consumers with simple self-care tips. Second, access. Since the pandemic, purchase preferences have shifted towards e-commerce. Our surveys revealed that consumers prefer buying multivitamins on e-commerce platforms like Amazon. In response, we began launching select products with a digital-first approach. This has enabled us to reach consumers in various corners of the country, advancing our vision of reaching 100 million households by 2030.
Q. How is the company navigating the regulatory landscape and supply chain challenges in India to support the “Make in India” initiative?
Our commitment to ‘Make in India’ goes beyond manufacturing some of our most-loved brands in the country. It also extends to introducing solutions which are specifically designed to address the specific Indian consumers problems and preferences. For example, our Supradyn pre-natal range which has been developed and made 100% in India, addressing the specific concerns of the women here.
Q. What specific gaps in the Indian market are you aiming to fill with your future product pipeline in nutrition, pain management, and other categories?
Since our launch in 2021, we have aggressively introduced and relaunched products to meet the Indian consumer’s evolving needs. Our global portfolio spans over 150 trusted brands, with products in analgesics, nutrition, allergy, and dermatology. In India, our primary focus areas are nutrition, pain management, allergy and dermatology.
Addressing unmet needs across demographics remains our priority. Insights from large-scale consumer surveys such as the Supradyn Fatigue Survey, Bepanthen Dry Skin Survey and the Saridon Headache Survey play a key role in guiding our product pipeline. This has led to us introducing a line of products to support in managing various everyday health challenges like period pain, micronutrient deficiencies, and other dermatological ailments.
Q. How have your digital-first and precision marketing campaigns performed in terms of their ROI?
Our digital-first strategy is rooted in hyper-localisation and precision marketing. We are guided by our principle of ‘one size does not fit all’ in marketing as well. We tailor our approach and messaging basis to the city and the state, using topical touch-points to increase relevance and engagement. Partnerships with micro-influencers have worked well in building consumer trust and connections.
We also have an agile response mechanism wherein we assess and recalibrate efforts if something is not going as planned. This approach has enabled us to ensure that spends are optimised for relevance, resonance, and measurable return.
Q. The consumer health sector while experiencing growth is also facing pressure from rising input costs and supply chain complexities. How are you balancing consumer needs with market constraints?
We continue investing in product innovations, which help us reach more people. We are also strengthening our operational backbone, with local manufacturing and research partners. In doing so, we remain optimistic about the next few years and remain committed to our goal of reaching 100 million households in India, ensuring better everyday health for all.