Report on

Glucometers
& Glucose Powder
Market Overview of Glucometers

Globally, Diabetes is one of the fastest growing and deadliest diseases. With approx-
imately 415 million people with diabetes in the world, the numbers are expected to
rise to 642 million by 2040, according to International Diabetes Federation’s Diabetes
Atlas. Globally, 1 in 11 adults have diabetes and 12% of global health expenditure is
spent on diabetes.

In the South East Asia region, 8.5% of the population in the region have diabetes which
about 78.3 million people, since countries in this religion have higher populations and
are more densely populated. Half of this population, 52.1% don’t know that they are
carrying the deadly disease. In 2015 alone, the region saw 1.2 million deaths caused
by diabetes which is second among all seven IDF regions. In 2015, the region spends
12% of its healthcare budget on diabetes.

Back in 90s and 2000s, diabetes was not a prevalent disease in Bangladesh. But
it grew swiftly after 2000 and it is now one of the fastest growing diseases in the
country. Part of the reason could be insufficient attention from the policymakers and
government during its early days that paved the path for the disease to spread quick-
ly. Bangladesh has a disproportionately high diabetes population with more than 7.1
million, 8.4% or 10 million according to research published in WHO bulletin in 2013, of
the adult population affected by the disease. The number will be 13.6 million in 2040.
Nearly half of the populations with diabetes, 51.2%, don’t know that they have diabetes
and don’t receive any treatment.

With the number of people contracting diabetes adding to the already existing patients,
the market for products related to the treatment for this disease keeps on growing, and
with that, opportunities for businesses. Glucometers are an integral part of this indus-
try, and with passing years, both the supply and demand for glucometers have only
grown, with more than a dozen brands available in the market of varying prices. With a
healthy population and growing market, it can be said that the market for glucometers
and related products is still an industry with good opportunities.

With the number of people contracting diabetes adding to the already existing patients,
the market for products related to the treatment for this disease keeps on growing from
the existing figures, as shown in the table above, and with that, opportunities for
businesses grow as well. Glucometers are an integral part of this industry, and with
passing years, both the supply and demand for glucometers and strips have only
grown, with more than a dozen brands available in the market of varying prices. With a
healthy population and growing market, it can be said that the market for glucometers
and related products is still an industry with good opportunities.

Research Findings

Due to the increasing number of diabetes patients worldwide, the number of compa-
nies manufacturing and importing these products are always high, if not ever increas-
ing. There are about 150 different companies in Bangladesh which are currently in the
operations of importing Glucometers in Bangladesh. With more than a dozen products
available in the market, coming from Europe to India to China, prices vary greatly,
based on the product’s country of origin, as well as the brand itself. While one or two
brands happen to be market leaders, others offer strong rivalry through price competi-
tions and push-sale incentives for better sales.

Some of the brands which are more widely available than others are:

While about 150 different importers bring these products and more to Bangladesh,
some of the top importers for these products are:

• Bangladesh Medic Supply

• Sonargaon
• Ajanta Trading Corporation
• Reliance Corporation
• Al-Amin Group of Companies
• BIOMEDICS

Out of the many brands available throughout Dhaka city, we have listed five brands
which are most commonly found in pharmaceutical stores in both residential and com-
mercial areas. Their sales being the result of brand popularity, price of the glucome-
ters and the strips with their available packs of 25 or 50 pieces, availability and the
various push-sales strategies being used by retailers due to incentives provided by
importers.
The table below shows the information regarding the five most popular brands
identified:

The above table shows the glucometers ranked in a descending order based on price,
but the top two selling brands, as identified from our survey, are Accu Check Active and
Omnitest Plus. While at-least one or two of these brands were available at all stores
visited in the various areas covered in our survey, the most popular one at any store
depends on the location of the store and the likely socioeconomic class of the custom-
ers, as well as the product the retailers wish to sell.

• Accu Check Active

While Accu Check Active is likely the most expensive glucometer in the market, it has
the highest availability, both in terms of the machine itself, as well the strips. The
brand name is also a strong factor in attracting customers.
Due to the high price, it is often perceived as a premium product, and customers with
“better than average” buying power often go for this product. Since customers from
socioeconomic class B and C form the significantly larger portion of the target group,
the price acts as a con for the product’s sales in smaller stores, but the brand value and
availability of the product and its supplements often makes up for that disadvantage.
Besides physical stores, Accu Check Active has a good presence in online stores,
although prices are often higher compared to prices available in pharmacies.
While most packages contain a set of 10 strips, some special packages contail 25
pieces of strips, but these special packages are rarely available.
• Bionime

Bionime is the second product that falls under a “perceived as expensive” category.
The product has high availability, and is sold well mostly in stores where they become
a direct competitor to Accu Check. The brand is close in price and reputation, and it
seems that their competitive selling point is the price of their strips which are more
affordable compared to strips from Accu Check, since most stores sell 50pc boxes of
Accu Check strips which cost about BDT 800-1000, and Bionime competes against
these strips.
With good presence in both physical stores and online, Biomine is likely Accu Check
Actives best rival in the same price category.

• Omron

Another competitor to the above-mentioned brands, Omran has a better presence

online than in physical stores, and its sold better where customers don’t want to
spend as much as they would have to spend when buying an Accu Check, but still
would like to go for a good product. Being a product of Japan, it holds a good reputa-
tion in the market and often sells well against products of Chinese origin.

• Omnitest Plus

A product which is often sold more than the it’s pricy competitors, Omnitest Plus
is likely the most popular lower priced glucometer available. It’s best sold around
government hospitals and smaller pharmacies where buyers look for more affordable
options. With strips available in both 25pc and 50pc packs, this brand poses a direct
threat to most of the other brands selling around its price range. And if availability
and affordability of the machine and strips were not enough, Omnitest offers one of
the best push-selling incentives in the industry, offers like “buy 10 Omnitest, get one
free” or “buy 20 packs of strips and get 1 Omnitest (glucometer) free” encourage retail
sellers to push customers looking to buy affordable machines to choose Omnitest.

• Gluco Leader Enhance

This glucometer is one of the cheapest machines available in the market, and has
the lowest price for strips (BDT 350 per 25pc pack). Sold best in small pharmacies,
it’s a winner against other low-priced machines due to its high availability, but does not
compete well in larger stores, where customers are willing to pay higher prices. Being a
product of China, as cheap as it comes, it does not hold a good image in larger stores,
and price maybe it’s only USP along with its availability that helps sell this product.
Competitor Analysis

The two most competitive brands in the market, Accu Check Active and Omnitest Plus,
despite being in two different price categories, offer strong competition to a wide range
of products, and will likely keep doing so if new brands were to enter the market. Their
core values are listed below:

Accu Check Active

Omnitest Plus
Market Scope:

Opportunities:

• Growing No. of diabetic patients (projected 13.6mln by 2040)

• Increasing public awareness regarding diabetes and how it can be handled, espe-
cially the uses of glucometers
• Established market of glucometers for potential customers
• Limited promotion by few competitors leaves more scope of promoting and sales
strategies

Threats:

• Market volatility & price sensitivity of customers to machines and strips

• Limited scope to reach the end-users since both machines and strips are bought
from pharmacies and super markets which have their own interests for pushing
selected products
• Pharmacies benefit from selling a variety of brands since different importers offer
different incentives
• Difficult to reach all sorts of consumers of the product, since bying and selling de-
pend on various factors, such as price, bran image and availability

Highlights:

• Few brands promote their products through incentives, which are almost complete-
ly focused on pharmacies
• Different importers provide incentives to different pharmacies
• Different consumers buy products based on differnt factors: price, availability, brand
image, price of strips and its availability, the last being the most important factor to
most consumers

Recommendation

With such high competition from brands of varying categories, bringing a new brand
into the market and establishing it will be difficult and resource consuming, but not
impossible. Providing diagnostic centers and hospitals with free machines of the new
brand will help acquire exposure for the brand, and initially giving out free strips will
encourage it’s use. Giving free machines to pharmacies and supers shops where glu-
cometers within the relevant price range are most sold, may also be a good idea, as
this will be a great incentive for them to sell the machines to consumers at maximum
profit, and buying the strips from Renata to sell to consumers when the machine is
selling in the market and gaining exposure.
Push-selling strategies which encourage the buying of strips in large quantities for get-
ting machines at low-charge/free can also be a good strategy to boost sales as market
starts to respond and adapt to new competition.
Industry Overview of Glucose Powder

Since the last few years, the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector of Bangla-
desh is changing continuously. There is a significant market growth for the products
like foods, beverage, apparels etc. The FMCG Market in Bangladesh as estimated by
Neilsen is valued about $1.8 billion. In 40 categories, the FMCG market is growing at
31.3% which is largely dominated by Non-food categories ($759 million), followed by
branded foods ($563 million) growing at 33% and beverages ($250 million) growing at
24%. In the FMCG category, Instant Powder Drinks have huge market demand and it is
growing. Currently the growth rate of the Health Food Drinks (HFD) segment is around
54%. The market is dominated by the instant powder drink like Tang, Nutri-C, Rasna,
ISPI, Foster Clark, Glaxose D etc.

Research Findings:

To understand the market scenario of glucose powder among the instant powder drink,
we visited several super shops and pharmacies in Gulshan, Baridhara, Bashundhara,
Dhanmondi and Shahbag. The objective of our field visit was to get an insight about
price, customer choice and distribution channel about the available glucose powder in
Dhaka city.

According to our market research, the following brands are available in the market:
• Glucose – D
• Glaxose – D
• Glucon – D
• Sajeeb Glucoz
• Dabur Glucoz
• Glucosol – D
As per our research, the following three brands are the most popular and have more
availability in the market, mostly in super shops and general stores, as well as some
phamacies.

• Glucose D: It is a product of PRAN. The product was available in more pharma-

ceutical stores as well as the super shops and departmental stores. The products
were essentially for seasonal sales. It has higher availability and sales in local
department stores due to domestic brand recognition; however, the average sale
was slightly lower in the super shops in compare to the local department stores. In
comparison to other popular brands of PRAN, Glucose-D has the poorest presence
in terms of online promotional activities.

• Glaxose-D: Has good availability in both local stores and supermarkets. Has very
good brand recognition, and availability in two sizes and prices (BDT 85 for 250ml
and BDT 135 for 400ml) lead to better sales. It has the best popularity amongst
young and health conscious consumers. Among all the glucose powders, ‘Glax-
ose-D’ has the highest online presence. Their well-developed and regularly updat-
ed Facebook page has made them attract a large number of fans in Bangladesh.
So far, according to the Facebook statistics they have 8589 fans in Bangladesh and
the fan overview was highest during the month of July, August and September. The
highest overview that has been counted was on September 4, 2017, which was
8708.

Fan Overview of Glaxose-D

Ref: https://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/facebook/pages/de-
tail/1426111730987168-glaxose-d-bangladesh?country=bangladesh
• Glucone - D: Mostly available in supermarkets, it has lower sales compared to
‘Glucose D’ and ‘Glaxose D’ due to higher pricing. They have the poorest online
presence in Bangladesh. Where the average fan overview of Glaxose D is close
to 8 thousand the average for Glucon D is only 3. (The blue line indicates the fan
overview of Glaxose-D and the green line indicates the fan overview of Glucon-D)

Comparison of Fan Overview between Glaxose-D and Glucon-D

Ref: https://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/facebook/pages/de-
tail/1426111730987168-glaxose-d-bangladesh?accountCharts-ac-
counts=115056248518412

Glucoz: This is a product of Sajeeb Corporation which is mostly famous for its en-
gagement with the manufacturing and marketing of brands like Shezan, Tang, Kolson,
Nocilla. Their recent engagement with Glucoz has made them present in the current
glucose powder of Bangladesh. However, the brand did not get as much buzz as their
other flagship brands. They are currently promoting the brands in the shelves of some
selective super shops but their actual sales are very low in terms of the leading glucose
brands in Bangladesh as well as in Dhaka city.

Dabur Glucose-D: Although Dabur is India’s largest ayurvedic medicine and natural
consumer products manufacturer in India, their glucose powder brand ‘Dabur Glucoz’
has the least amount of presence in Bangladesh. This product is rarely found in some
super shops and they don’t have any kind of promotional campaign in Bangladesh.
This product contains 99.4% pure glucose.

Glucosol-D: This product is also manufactured in India which is used as energy en-
hancer and a rich source of vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus and glucose. This product
is found in some very selective pharmaceutical shops and it can hardly be counted as
a competitor for other glucose brands.
Market Scope and Strategies

According to our primary and secondary research the most popular buyers for glucose
products are male who belongs to the age group of 15-35. Their profession varies
from students to office employees. However, there is a significant growth of glucose
consumption among females who work outside and who have a health consciousness
for herself and her family. Since the consumption of glucose is rarely made by doctor’s
prescription, the marketing strategy of glucose should be the same as the strategies of
the FMCG goods.
For a faster market penetration and long-term sustainability of the product, we propose
the following strategies for the new glucose powder brand.

Target Customer:

• Gender: Both Male and Female

• Age Group: 15-35
• Socio Economic Class: A, B & C
• Geographic Location: All the major cities of Bangladesh

Marketing Strategy:

• Product Flanking: It refers to the introduction of different combination of products

at different prices. While doing our survey, we found out that glucose powders
have hardly some variation in terms of size and price combination. Most of the
brands have 250 ml and 400 ml pack and the price range is BDT 100 to BDT 250.
Our proposal is to add different size of glucose powder at different price and distribute
the product in different stores. For example, in super shop, the customers are mostly
interested in buying family packs. But in grocery stores the choice is quite different
where the slightly smaller pack will generate more sale. In remote location or urban or
semi urban areas where most of the customers belong to the socio-economic group
of C, the introduction of sachet pack will generate more sales at a reasonable price.

• Advertising and Media Coverage: To have the ultimate feedback of advertising in different
media, the brand needs to form a well establish promotional message and repeat it through
print ads, TVCs and RDCs and social media. There has to be a well-designed face book page
and the digital promotion has to be integrated to attract customers of different groups. For
a new brand, the brand exposure is a must. The goal of such promotion would be to include
the new glucose brand to the evoke set of 60% of the potential consumers in first one year.
Since, most of the consumers are young male, the endorsement of sports icon like Taskin
Ahmed, Masraffe Mortuza, Sakib Al Hasan, would give the brand a huge exposure and at-
tract its potential customers. The brand may also like to include some activation program to
have instant customer engagement with the brand.
Recommendation:

According to our market research, the product like glucose powders are mostly sold
during mid-summer and all the existing competitors start their promotion at the begin-
ning of summer. If the new brand follows the same thing, it would be tough for them to
outperform the existing market leaders. Since, it is winter now, and the existing brands
have hardly some presence in the super shops. If, the company starts promoting their
brand during winter by filling up the shelves in super stores and groceries. It will be
tough for the existing brands to refill the shelves during the peak glucose consumption
time. Thus, it will generate sales for the new brand.

In super shop they can set a separate shelf for glucose and promote their brand. They
can include free health care service for the consumers who have the potential risk for
diabetes or other diseases which are interrelated with glucose consumption. This will
give the brand a positive image which will increase the product sale in future.