Background
During the start of our term at Great Lakes, many of us
(including me) were victims of common ailments like sore throat, cold and fever.
As many of us are aware, the common prescription for such ailments is
Paracetamol.
The most common brands under which the chemical Paracetamol
is available in the market are Crocin, Calpol, Dolo & Metacin. However the
most common one in and around Mahabalipuram seems to be Dolo. I was surprised to
hear from many of my fellow classmates from up north of India that they are not
all familiar with the brand Dolo. Their favourite seemed to be the brand
Crocin (manufactured by GSK). What is even more surprising is that Dolo is manufactured by a company
called Micro Labs which is located in Himachal Pradesh This made me curious and
also gave me the idea for this blog: To study the consumer buying behaviour for
Over the counter drugs and other medicines.
Given below is a description of the journey I embarked upon to
study the learning’s I gained.
Visit to Medical Centre at Anupuram
For a preliminary study, I visited the medical centre at
Anupuram that is next to our college and had a discussion with the medical
practitioner out there as doctors are the primary targets of the Marketers in
pharmaceutical firms. Mr. Praveen, the doctor in charge was very helpful on the
subject.
·
Apparently there are 80 brands of Paracetamol
available in the Indian market (as per the CIMS book referred by doctors).
Although each one is same in chemical composition, they vary with respect to
dosage (250 to 1000 Mg)
·
The rural crowd in and around Mahabalipuram are
mostly unaware of the chemical name of the tablet. The doctor usually prescribes
the chemical name of the medicine (Paracetamol) along with the Brand name.
There are various factors which influence the doctors in the brand decision
o
Availability – Doctors generally prescribe the
brands which are most readily available in the hospital Pharmacy or the medical
stores in and around the hospital
o
Incentives from Pharmaceutical Companies – The pharma
companies market their product aggressively through their medical representatives
by offering gifts and other incentives to the medical practitioners. Even
though Crocin is the most popular brand, in and around Chennai, Dolo seems to
dominate.
o
Financial Capability of Patient: Doctors will prescribe
expensive brands to the patients who have purchasing power for the same. In
case of people from the lower rung of the society, doctors stick with cheap
brands in order maintain relationship with the patient.
Visit to Arafat Medical Centre at Mahabalipuram
I decided to further study the subject and hence visited the
Arafat Medical Centre at Mahabalipuram. The following are the observations and
learning’s from time spent there.
·
Many of the customers who purchase Paracetamol do
not visit the doctor prior to purchase. Most people who visit the store are
very familiar with the brands Dolo and Crocin. The reason they prefer Dolo over
Crocin is that doctors seem to recommend it. Sometimes it is the medical store
staff, who recommend the medicine after the patient describes his symptoms
(Fever, body pain etc)
·
The medical shop attendants prefer to recommend
Dolo as they are highly incentivised for selling the same. However, as per Shop representative Mr Habib,
Crocin is the most available brand of Paracetamol in India and Crocin can be sold
not only in medical stores but also in other stores (Kirana Stores) since it
does not require a drug licence for sale.
·
Although there is little variation in prices of
different brands for Paracetamol, the prices could vary anywhere from Rs 4 to
Rs 10 a capsule for various brands for doctor prescribed medicines like Amoxycyllin.
The patient tends to accept whichever brand the doctor recommends irrespective
of the price. In many cases, the customer is able to differentiate the brand
from its peers by the size, shape and colour of the capsule and may
specifically ask for the specific brand. When it comes to these medicines,
customers are unaware of the chemical name or brand name and do not deviate
from the doctor’s prescription. In case of unavailability of the specified
brand, the customers are reluctant to accept the alternate recommendations of
the medical shop staff. Many a times the shop keeper gives assurance to the customer
that if the medicine is not found appropriate by the doctor, the customer can
return it and get his money back.
Overall, the experience was good and helped me gain good insights
in to the buying behaviour of consumers when it comes to medicines.
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