Viagra market share slips in Estonia

Over the past five years, the consumption of potency drugs has increased three-fold in Estonia. “The purchasing power of people has increased. Would you have imagined five years ago a pensioner buying a 250-kroon pill?” asks Dr. Olev Poolamets. Dr. Margus Punab says a typical potency drug user is aged 45-70. Additionally, many younger, overworked men also take the drugs.

Viagra has traditionally wholesaled 9-10 million kroons (575,000-639,000 €), but in 2005, Viagra volume fell below nine million, a lower figure than the year it entered the market. Viagra, the first to enter the market, has perhaps met the classic marketing scenario of too much market share. “How far can a dog run into the woods?” once wrote noted marketing professor and beer consultant, Dr. Robert Weinberg. “Halfway,” he answered. “Because then the dog is running out again.”

Viagra’s competitors Cialis and Levitra entered the Estonian market in 2003. It’s estimated that 566 Estonians use a potency drug daily.