Cold season and the ecommerce explosion
As winter approaches, a few things are inevitable: plummeting temperatures, shorter days, and the dreaded runny nose. Over-the-counter cough & cold medicine, previously a reliably stable seasonal category, has seen significant changes over the past 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of click and collect, and increased attention on personal health and wellbeing.
Sales for the over-the-counter (OTC) market increased by about 7% during the pandemic and will continue to rise in the coming years. The largest increase (outside of vitamins and supplements) was cold & cough and pain & fever — with the global cough & cold market predicted to bring in $13.02 billion in 2021.
As more and more of these purchases are beginning to take place online, brands need to begin measuring and optimizing their most powerful asset – their visual brand. A visual brand refers to the visual content a brand uses to communicate and advertise their products and services.
To get discovered, product imagery must capture consumer attention and entice them to learn more. To win the sale, carousel imagery must visually engage the consumer and drive them to click the “buy” button.
Visual Content that Attracts and Converts on the Digital Shelf:
Through the use of new visual artificial intelligence technology, this Vizit Report reveals the OTC cough & cold brands that have the most powerful visual brands on Amazon, CVS, Kroger, and Walmart. Because each retailer provides its shoppers a differentiated experience, this report surfaces the Visual Brand Performance leaders and laggards across stores, as well as the image trends and design elements that engage online OTC shoppers.
Analyzing Visual Brand Performance on the Digital Shelf
To evaluate Visual Brand Performance across Amazon, CVS, Kroger, & Walmart’s digital shelves, Vizit’s AI technology was used to assess product heroes and support carousel imagery from hundreds of leading cough and cold products. Vizit scored each brand image between 0-100 for OTC online shoppers to determine the brands with the highest-scoring product hero and carousel imagery on the digital shelf. The result is an understanding of the top-performing visual brands across retailers, as well as the specific visual trends and tactics that drive clicks and conversions.
Images Analyzed
Vizit analyzed thousands of images from the top 100 searched “cough and cold” products across Amazon, CVS, Kroger, & Walmart.
All images were collected as of October 1st 2021.
Vizit Audience Lenses
Vizit Audience Lenses use AI to simulate a consumer audience’s visual preferences based on online image viewing and interaction data.
For this report Vizit created an “OTC online shopper” Audience Lens to score cough & cold imagery from multiple retailers.
The Vizit Score
The Vizit Score is a 0-100 predictive measure of visual engagement. Vizit Scores are predictions powered by Vizit’s patented artificial intelligence.
The higher the Vizit Score, the higher the likelihood an image will visually engage a target audience.
Image Maps
Vizit Attention Maps
Attention maps display Attention-grabbing aspects of an image at first glance.
Engagement Maps
Regions of the image that are more likely to visually engage the target audience.
Opportunity Maps
Regions of the image that are less likely to visually engage the target audience.
Visual Brand Performance Rankings
Visual Brand Performance rankings show the leading brands at each retailer based on their average product hero and carousel Vizit Scores.
Visual Brand Performance Landscape
Visual Brand Performance landscapes show the leaders and laggards in Visual Brand Performance at each retailer. The bigger the circle the more images the brand has on the digital shelf.
Read the full Cough & Cold Visual Brand Performance report to learn about:
- The best and worst visual cough & cold brands on the digital shelf
- The image and design trends that drive visual engagement with OTC consumers
- Examples of high-scoring product pages across every retailer
- The difference in visual content and scores across major retailers
Key Takeaways
In today’s digital-centric, visual world, consumers shop with their eyes. For brands, the images they use can mean the difference between an “add to cart” and a scroll on by. It’s critical for retailers and brands to select the optimal product images for their intended audience – but how do you know what is going to resonate?
Vizit AI reveals the cough & cold Visual Brand Performance leaders across the digital shelf.
An AI-powered analysis of hundreds of top cough & cold product pages and thousands of images across the digital shelf reveals the Visual Brand Performance leaders at Amazon, CVS, Kroger, and Walmart.
- Amazon
- Winning brand: Theraflu (See Amazon Trends)
- CVS
- Winning brand: Maty’s (See CVS Trends)
- Kroger
- Winning brand: Vicks (See Kroger Trends)
- Walmart
- Winning brand: Luden’s (See Walmart Trends)
The cough & cold image trends and design elements that drive performance across the digital shelf
While the analysis revealed clear Visual Brand Performance leaders at each retailer, it also provided insight into the design elements and trends across retailers that drive visual engagement with an OTC online shopper audience.
Visual Trends: Cough & Cold product hero imagery
Product hero imagery is a brand’s key to getting noticed and driving traffic to their product pages on the digital shelf. Product hero imagery must capture consumer attention and entice them to learn more. Across Amazon, CVS, Kroger, and Walmart, the following visual trends and design elements drive visual engagement with online OTC shoppers.
Product caps & bottle necks
High-scoring product hero imagery across all retailers include products with caps and bottlenecks that feature branding and design elements. Vicks brand products – including Dayquil and Nyquil – are good examples of this packaging style. Consumer attention is drawn in by the designs on these product caps, which also drive high visual engagement with OTC online shoppers.
Product packaging illustrations and imagery
High-scoring product hero imagery across all retailers include product packing that feature illustrations and imagery. While consumer attention is typically garnered by the product logo and description on these products, visual engagement with OTC shoppers is driven by the use of packaging illustrations and imagery. These products also tend to contain less text on their packaging than do competing products that feature no illustrations or imagery.
Visual Trends: Cough & Cold carousel imagery
While product hero imagery is a brand’s key to getting noticed, carousel imagery drives conversion. Carousel imagery must visually engage consumers, and entice them to buy. Across Amazon, CVS, Kroger, and Walmart, the following visual trends and design elements drive performance with cough & cold carousel imagery.
Iconography and diagrams
High-scoring cough & cold carousel imagery across all retailers include the use of iconography and diagrams. These icons are easily visible, and primarily exist to inform the reader which symptoms the medication addresses. While several brands use iconography in carousel imagery, the highest-scoring images include larger icons drawn in white against gradient or colored backgrounds. These icons both effectively capture consumer attention and drive visual engagement.
Background gradients and large bold text
Another cough & cold carousel imagery trend resulting in high-scoring images was the use of colored gradient backgrounds and bold white text. Vicks brand imagery — including imagery from Dayquil and Nyquil — are good examples of this visual style. While the text captures consumer attention initially, visual engagement and high image scores are ultimately driven by the use of gradient backgrounds along with the overhead view of the product.
Fruit illustrations
Cough & cold carousel imagery featuring fruit illustrations consistently scores highly with OTC online shoppers. These fruit illustrations are both attention grabbing and drive visual engagement. Many of these carousel images also include colorful gradient backgrounds.
How ecommerce and innovation leaders can elevate products and digital experiences with Visual Brand Performance
In this new era of ecommerce, where online brands face more competition than ever before, images will serve as the next battleground. To win, brands need data-driven insights to create highly engaging visual experiences that accelerate customer acquisition and escalate retention.
For ecommerce teams this means the ability to identify the images and designs that will attract and convert their target audiences on the digital shelf – and understand when consumer preferences change. With Visual Brand Performance software, ecomm teams can now tap into the visual preferences of their audiences in real-time, and understand the visual trends and design elements that drive success across their entire category and competitive set.
For product innovation and insights teams, AI-powered predictive analytics offer a window into the future, enabling them to move innovative concepts from the idea stage to product launch — and pass through all the stage gates in between — in record time. Visual Brand Performance software brings true agile test & learn to the enterprise – giving insights teams the power to design and develop the most visually engaging products and experiences on the internet.
Amazon cough & cold Visual Brand Performance leader: Theraflu
Vizit analyzed the top 100 searched cough & cold products across 32 brands on Amazon to reveal the highest scoring visual brands for OTC online shoppers. Product hero and carousel imagery on all product display pages were analyzed to generate Visual Brand Performance rankings.
Highest-Scoring Brand: Theraflu
Theraflu leads all other cough & cold brands with an overall Vizit Score of 69.6. The brand’s high score is driven by carousel imagery featuring bold text and color burst graphic backgrounds.
Amazon Cough & Cold Visual Brand Performance Leaders & Laggards
The chart below illustrates which brands are best and worst positioned to drive traffic and conversions based on the Vizit Scores for their hero (traffic-driving) and carousel (conversion-driving) images. The size of each brand circle represents the amount of images each brand has in the Amazon top 100 cough & cold search results. Based on their combination of high scores for hero and carousel images, Buckley’s and Sambucol join Theraflu, Vicks, and Mucinex as brands best positioned to drive both traffic and conversions with their visual content on Amazon. Alka-Seltzer, Dimetapp, and Tylenol are among the brands worst positioned to drive both traffic and conversions based on the Vizit Scores of their hero and carousel imagery.
Theraflu, Bixa Botanical, and Similasan have the highest overall scores among top searched cough & cold products on Amazon. Several brands (including Mucinex, Coricidin, Hyland’s, Vicks, and Amazon Basic Care) have a relatively high volume of images, while all other brands have less than 30. Zarbee’s and Nature’s Way have the lowest overall scores among top searched cough & cold products on Amazon.
High-Scoring Amazon Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
The highest-scoring individual product hero images on Amazon include visuals of bottles alongside their packaging, as well as visuals of tinted brown bottles. Prime Natural Breathe Essential Oil Blend has the highest-scoring product hero image on Amazon for OTC online shoppers. Product hero images featuring homeopathic cough & cold treatments appear frequently among the highest-scoring product hero images.
Low-Scoring Amazon Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
Low-scoring product hero images on Amazon include white packaging with circular logos (as seen with Hyland’s brand products) and product packaging with large amounts of text and green & teal coloring (Alka Seltzer Plus and Robitussin brand products).
High-Scoring Amazon Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
High-scoring carousel imagery on Amazon is driven by the use of white iconography and blue & purple gradient backgrounds. Theraflu has the highest-scoring carousel image for OTC online shoppers on Amazon, featuring a set of icons that illustrate the symptoms the product treats. Vicks and Mucinex carousel imagery utilizing blue and purple gradients and bold white text also scores very highly for OTC online shoppers.
Low-Scoring Amazon Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
Low-scoring cough & cold carousel imagery on Amazon is driven primarily by alternate packaging images that include large amounts of text, feature green & teal coloring, and large circular logos. The lowest-scoring overall carousel image for OTC online shoppers is a visual of a child playing with blocks while coughing.
Amazon SKU Spotlight: Sambucol Black Elderberry Gummies
While the Sambucol brand does not rank as a Visual Brand Performance leader on Amazon, the PDP for Sambucol Black Elderberry Gummies provides insight into the importance of optimized carousel imagery.
Sambucol Product Hero Visual Trends
The product hero image for Sambucol Elderberry Gummies scores highly for OTC online shoppers. While attention on this image is drawn to the brand logo and product label, the high score is driven by the product shape and high-contrast cap.
Sambucol Carousel Visual Trends: Lifestyle Imagery
This listing contains nine supporting carousel images, which earn Vizit Scores ranging from 11.3 to 98.2. The two most effective carousel images (pictured below) include visuals of the unpackaged product itself and lifestyle images of family with the product superimposed in the foreground.
Sambucol Carousel Visual Trends: Informational Imagery
The two lowest-scoring images in the carousel include graphic elements depicting the product contents and benefits with high volumes of text to highlight and describe product details. Unlike the high-scoring carousel images on Amazon that use white iconography and bold white text sparingly, the heavy usage of small, dark text on these images ultimately drives their lower scores with OTC online shoppers.
CVS cough & cold Visual Brand Performance leader: Maty’s
Vizit analyzed the top 100 searched cough & cold products across 25 brands on CVS to reveal the highest scoring visual brands for OTC online shoppers. Product hero and carousel imagery on all product display pages were analyzed to generate Visual Brand Performance rankings.
The Visual Brand Performance leader of the 25 brands analyzed on CVS’s digital shelf is Maty’s with a Vizit score of 61.6. Maty’s high overall score is driven by consistently high-scoring product hero and supporting carousel imagery.
CVS Cough & Cold Visual Brand Performance Leaders & Laggards
The chart below illustrates which brands are best and worst positioned to drive traffic and conversions based on the Vizit Scores for their hero (traffic-driving) and carousel (conversion-driving) images. The size of each brand circle represents the amount of images each brand has in the CVS top 100 cough & cold search results. While CVS product detail pages typically don’t feature many carousel images, Matty’s and TheraFlu are utilizing visually engaging carousel images to help drive their sales potential. Larger brands such as Alka-seltzer, Robussan, and Triaminic are not positioned well for traffic or conversions based on the Vizit Scores of their product hero and carousel imagery.
High-Scoring CVS Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
High-scoring CVS product hero imagery includes product packaging that features prominent illustrations – as seen on Tukol, Mommy’s Bliss, Matty’s, and Hall’s brand products. Several Vicks products with high contrast, stylized bottle cap designs also appear in the top scoring product hero images on CVS’s digital shelf.
Low-Scoring CVS Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
Low-scoring CVS product hero imagery includes packaging imagery that features high volumes of text and shades of green. Walgreens, Wellements, Mucinex, and Robitussin brand products are all examples of this visual trend.
High-Scoring CVS Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
High-scoring carousel imagery on CVS’s digital shelf includes visuals that feature iconography representing symptoms treated, as well as images that use colorful gradient backgrounds and bold white text. Consumer attention is also captured by “low online price” badging on several carousel images.
Low-Scoring CVS Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
Low-scoring carousel imagery on CVS’s digital shelf includes images of sides of product boxes with high volumes of text, as well as closely cropped portions of product packages. Again many of the lower scoring carousel images also include visuals of green packaging.
CVS SKU Spotlight: TheraFlu Expressmax Daytime or Nighttime Severe Cold & Cough Syrup Combo
On the CVS digital shelf, Theraflu brand cough & cold products have consistently high-scoring product hero and carousel imagery. The brand’s top-performing SKU is TheraFlu Expressmax Daytime or Nighttime Severe Cold & Cough Syrup Combo.
Product Hero Visual Trends
While consumer attention on the product hero image is drawn to the brand logo and product details, visual engagement with OTC online shoppers is driven by the bottle’s cap and “warming relief” badging.
Carousel Visual Trends: Informational Imagery
The other three images included in this Theraflu PDP are informational graphics. The highest-performing of these images is the infographic-style image outlining the symptoms this product is designed to address. Consumer attention and visual engagement is driven by the use of iconography in these images.
The remaining informational images feature bold white text and bright orange backgrounds. The fruit illustration captures attention and drives engagement in the first image, while the bottle cap designs drive visual engagement with OTC online shoppers in the second.
Kroger cough & cold Visual Brand Performance leader: Vicks
Vizit analyzed the top 100 searched cough & cold products across 26 brands on Kroger to reveal the highest scoring visual brands. Product hero and carousel imagery on all product display pages were analyzed to generate Visual Brand Performance rankings.
Highest-Scoring Brand: Vicks
The Visual Brand Performance leader of the 25 brands analyzed on Kroger’s digital shelf is Vicks. Vicks overall Vizit Score of 79.7 is driven by exceptional product hero imagery. Vicks packaging imagery featuring stylized bottle caps both captures the attention of online OTC shoppers and drives visual engagement.
Kroger Cough & Cold Visual Brand Performance Landscape:
The chart below illustrates which brands are best and worst positioned to drive traffic and conversions based on the Vizit Scores for their hero (traffic-driving) and carousel (conversion-driving) images. The size of each brand circle represents the amount of images each brand has in the Kroger top 100 cough & cold search results. While Vicks, Kroger, and Delsym brands are best positioned to drive both traffic and conversions on Kroger, brands such as Dimetapp, Alka-Seltzer, and Cold-Eze are not positioned well to drive traffic and conversions with their visual content.
High-Scoring Kroger Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
The highest-scoring individual product hero images on the Kroger digital shelf for OTC shoppers include blue packaging elements, and high contrast or highly stylized product bottle caps. Examples include Mucinex Day & Night Children’s Cold Liquid as well as Vick’s VapoShower. Products with high contrast or highly stylized caps include Robitussin naturals, Vicks Nyquil, Mucinex all in one, and Kroger brand daytime severe cold & flu cough syrup.
Low-Scoring Kroger Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
Low-scoring product hero images on the Kroger digital shelf include packaging with high volumes of text and shades of purple visible on packaging. Kroger brand Children’s cough syrups and Alka-Seltzer Plus are visible examples of this trend.
High-Scoring Kroger Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
High-scoring carousel imagery on Kroger’s digital shelf includes the use of colorful gradients and large, bold, white text. They also include illustrations as seen in the Mucinex images. Additionally OTC online shoppers are visually engaged by alternate packaging angles of products that have high contrast or stylized caps.
Low-Scoring Kroger Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
Low-scoring carousel imagery on Kroger’s digital shelf include alternate product images of packaging that contain purple and white, as well as iconography that is accompanied by heavy volumes of smaller sized text content.
Kroger SKU Spotlight: Vicks NyQuil Kids Honey
A top-scoring SKU on the Kroger digital shelf is Vicks NyQuil Kids Honey Cold & Cough + Congestion Nighttime Relief Liquid. While each retailer has its own product image requirements for what is and isn’t allowed, Kroger’s are stricter than many other retailers’, which limits brands’ options for the supporting carousel imagery. This high-scoring SKU includes 3 images, all of which are visuals of Nyquil’s product at different angles.
Vicks Nyquil Product Hero and Carousel Visual Trends
This Nyquil product hero image scores a 87.5, making it one of the highest-scoring product hero images on Kroger’s digital shelf. While consumer attention is garnered primarily by the product logo and label, visual engagement is driven primarily by the high contrast, stylized product cap. The product is visualized from 2 other angles for this PDP, both which score highly. Noticeably, the straight-on product hero image scores highest with OTC online shoppers. Many of the Vicks products across their cough & cold portfolio include high contrast and stylized caps.
Amazon cough & cold Visual Brand Performance leader: Luden’s
Vizit analyzed the top 100 searched cough & cold products across 19 brands on Walmart to reveal the highest scoring visual brands for OTC online shoppers. Product hero and carousel imagery on all product display pages were analyzed to generate Visual Brand Performance rankings.
The Visual Brand Performance leader of the 19 brands analyzed on Walmart’s digital shelf is Luden’s. It’s overall Vizit Score of 64.9 is driven by high-scoring product hero and carousel imagery. Luden packaging imagery featuring bright colors and large cherry fruit graphics resonates with online OTC shoppers and is highly likely to drive attention and engagement. Luden’s carousel imagery also resonates with online OTC shoppers, again driven by their use of large fruit graphics and bright brand colors.
Walmart Cough & Cold Visual Brand Performance Leaders & Laggards
The chart below illustrates which brands are best and worst positioned to drive traffic and conversions based on the Vizit Scores for their hero (traffic-driving) and carousel (conversion-driving) images. The size of each brand circle represents the amount of images each brand has in the Walmart top 100 cough & cold search results. While the “cough and cold” search results are dominated by Walmart’s own “Equate” brand, the brands best positioned drive traffic and conversions with visual content are Luden’s, Ricola, Theraflu, and Dimetapp. Brands such as Tylenol, Hyland’s, Alka-Seltzer, and Coricidin are not positioned to drive traffic and conversions with their visual content.
High-Scoring Walmart Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
High-scoring product hero images on Walmart’s digital shelf include cough drop product packaging that feature large illustrations, as well as products like Nquil and Mucinex that utilize the product cap space for design elements.
Low-Scoring Walmart Cough & Cold Product Hero Imagery
The lowest-scoring product hero images on Walmart’s digital shelf include product packaging imagery that features large volumes of text, the color green, and large circular logos. Mucinex DM, Alka-Seltzer Plus, and Robitussin Sever are all examples of this visual trend.
High-Scoring Walmart Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
High-scoring carousel imagery on Walmart’s digital shelf includes visuals with iconography and illustrations. These images depict the symptoms the medication treats, and use large, bold, white font and white iconography on colored or gradient backgrounds. Both Theraflu and Walmart’s own “Equate” brands use this visual technique frequently within their carousel images.
Low-Scoring Walmart Cough & Cold Carousel Imagery
Low-scoring Walmart carousel imagery includes visuals of packaging with high volumes of text. Both Alka-Seltzer and Equate brands feature many packaging images in their carousels that score low with OTC online shoppers.
Walmart SKU Spotlight: Luden’s Deliciously Soothing Throat Drops
As the leader in Visual Brand Performance in Walmart’s top searched cough & cold products, Luden’s imagery scores highly in both product hero and carousel imagery. Their “Deliciously Soothing Throat Drops” listing contains 1 product hero image, and 4 carousel images.
Luden’s Product Hero Visual Trends
Luden’s product hero image scores an 86 overall, and is highly likely to visually engage online OTC shoppers. While consumer attention is drawn to the brand logo, product flavor, and quantity badging, the image’s high score is driven by cherry fruit graphics on the left side of the packaging.
Luden’s Carousel Visual Trends: Informational Imagery
While consumer attention is primarily drawn to the text and claims within informational carousel imagery, the use of cherry fruit imagery is again the primary driver behind the high image scores. The images featuring cherry graphics in Luden’s carousel score a 88.8 and a 62.6 respectively.
Luden’s Carousel Visual Trends: Lifestyle Imagery
The flat-lay style image that features Luden’s cough drop product next to personal items scores highly with online OTC consumers. While consumer attention is primarily drawn to the product itself, the overall image score is driven by appearance of everyday carry items next to the product.
The Luden’s lifestyle carousel image including human models scores noticeably lower for online OTC shoppers. While attention is drawn to the models’ faces, the audience is unlikely to be visually engaged by the cough drop appearing on their tongues.
