Oral care products account for 4.3% of the capacity of the non-drug assortment of pharmacies. There are about 4.2 thousand items in this category. According to the results of the first 9 months of 2024, pharmacies sold 33.5 million packs of oral hygiene products with a total value of about RUB 12.5 billion, according to the Monthly Retail Audit of the Russian pharmaceutical market conducted by DSM Group. Compared to the same period in 2023, the volume of packs sold increased by 1.8%, while in monetary terms the category grew by 12.9%.

In pharmacy, the maximum share in category sales is occupied by products for denture care, toothpastes are in second place, the third line is occupied by the “other” category (dental floss, toothbrushes, etc.), the fourth line is occupied by toothbrushes, and mouthwashes close the list.

In ruble terms, compared to the same period last year, the sales of toothpastes increased by 17.7%, toothbrushes – by 12.6%, denture care products – by 11.1%, mouthwashes – by 7.1%. In physical terms, the consumption of toothpastes and brushes increased by more than 5%, but the sales of rinses fell by 4.5% and denture care products by 4.1%. The “other” category grew by 14.4% in roubles and by 8.1% in packs.

Structure of the pharmacy market for oral care products in January-September 2024
sr 9m 2024 fig 1

Dentists recommend to renew a toothbrush at least once every 3 months, but the frequency of purchase of this category in Russia is still far from such periodicity. Both manual and electric toothbrushes are quite widely represented in pharmacies. In January-September 2024, 3.1 million packs of brushes were sold for RUB 1,025 million. The dynamics of this category is also positive. Thus, compared to the first nine months of 2023, the sales volume increased by 12.6% in rubles and by 5.5% in packs.

Dynamics of pharmacy sales of toothbrushes 9M 2024

Manual toothbrushes account for the bulk of toothbrush sales, accounting for 88% of the value volume and 97.8% of the natural volume. Electric dental care devices account for 12% and 2.2%, respectively. On average, a manual brush costs 294 rubles in pharmacies, while an electric brush costs 1,793 rubles.
Pharmacy consumers favor manual toothbrushes with soft and medium bristles – over 90% of sales in money.

Sales structure of manual toothbrushes by bristle hardness in rubles in January-September 2024
sr 9m 2024

In January-September 2024, the first line in the overall ranking of manual and electric toothbrushes is occupied by ROCS brand (20.3% share in rubles), followed by Curaprox with 16.4% share – pastes of this brand in 2024 entered the top 10 for the first time. Brushes under the Splat brand (11.3%) round out the top three.

In 2024, two newcomers – Elmex (+64.4% and +2 places) and Biomed (+73.5% and +4 places) – entered the ranking, which showed the maximum dynamics to the figures for the same period last year. On the other hand, CS Medica (-18.4% and -1 rank) and Oral-B (-16.5% and -2 ranks) brushes accounted for the biggest reduction in consumption volume. As a result, Oral-B left the top three in pharmacies.

Top 10 toothbrush brands by value sales in January-September 2024

Despite the presence of own brands of toothpastes and toothbrushes in pharmacies, pharmacy customers still prefer trusted brands, as evidenced by the annual ranking of these categories.