Grey imports for the grey market

As much as I hate the term ‘grey’ I couldn’t resist using it for this topic, both to mean older people and cross-boder trading.

In the US, selling pharmacy products to older people is big business. They represent 37% of the entire pharmacy category, and the 55 and older age bracket is more than twice as likely as all others to visit online pharmacy sites.

Well surprise, surprise among the top 25 pharmacy sites with the highest percentage of users age 55 and older, 12 are based in countries outside the US. No doubt this is due to their heavily discounted drug prices. Pharmacy sites in Canada and Mexico are benefiting the most.

Hitwise, the US Web tracking company says: "The data shows that the Internet is increasingly augmenting these more conventional methods.” Their analysis shows buyers are increasingly using search terms that include country names. 24% of pharmacy related searches included terms such as: "Canadian pharmacy," "Canadian drugs," "Mexican pharmacies," "Canada mail order drugs" and "Canada meds."

Females are the top online shoppers, accounting for 55% of visitors to the pharmacy sites.

It goes to prove that when there is a sound reason for using it appeals to all ages. Dick Stroud www.20plus30.com