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BRAC BUSINESS SCHOOL

Introduction to Consumer Behavior

Submitted to
Subhat Ehsan

Submitted by
Mahmudur Rahman 14304067
Md. Hasibul Islam 14304067
Nahin Chowdhury 14104099
Md. Khaza 15104155
Iffat Ara Rongon 16104190

Submission Date: November 14, 2018


Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to analyze the consumer behavior, perception and knowledge about
different pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical items available at different dispensaries across
the city. It discusses about their day to day activities, what they do how they do it. It also
contains advice about improving their business by making several changes. In this report, we will
see how they regulate their business activities and the challenges they face.

To gather relevant data about perceptions of different stakeholders we have paid direct visit at
several pharmacy in different area.
The first pharm
Introduction
Retail drug shops are the preferred first point of contact for a majority of the population in
developing countries including Bangladesh. Currently in Bangladesh, 1,03,451 licensed retail
drug shops and approximately an equal number of unlicensed retail drug shops are involved in
selling drugs “over-the-counter.” Most of the salespeople and dispensers at those retail drug
shops do not have training in dispensing drugs or in offering diagnoses and treatment, which they
frequently do.

Most of the salespeople or dispensers at those retail drug shops do not have training in
dispensing drugs or in diagnosing and treating medical conditions, which are tasks they
frequently do. According to law, the persons dispensing drugs at retail drug shops should have at
least a short training of 12 weeks (grade C pharmacists) before they can apply for a drug shop
(pharmacy) license. This certificate course is conducted by the Bangladesh Pharmaceutical
Society (BPS) in cooperation with the Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist Samity (Association)
(BCDS). The content, form, and utility of this training remain a matter of grave concern
(Bangladesh Health Watch 2010).

Objectives of the study


 Purchase pattern
 Communication tool
 Buyer and seller interaction
 Discussion topic
 Demographic and psychographic profile
 Key insights
Purchase pattern
We have observed purchase pattern in several different pharmacy across different location. Some
pharmacies have extensive rage of Pharmaceutical and Non-pharmaceutical items sold at large
scale. While, some focuses only at pharmaceutical health care products. Based on our
observation at well known pharmacies i.e Tamanna Pharmacy(Gulshan), Right Aid
Pharmacy(Mohakhali), Ittadi pharmacy(Beside BSMMU) and many other we can classify drugs
and other products or services into the following category.
Prescription Mdicine
o Drops & Ointment
o Different types of Injection
o Suspension & Solution
o Orthopedic items(Arm, Back, Knee, Cervical Support etc)
o Capsules, Syrup, Suppository, tablets, Cream and Others.
Health Care
o Medical & Health Device
o Nebulizer
o Surgical items
o Hot water Bags
o Needles & Syringes
o Blood Pressure monitors
o Baby Care
o Baby Milk
o Wipes
o Baby Diapers
o Lotion & Powder
o Baby Food
o Nutrition & Supplements
o Green & Herbal tea
o Healthy food & Drinks
o Multivitamins and minerals
o Protein Supplements
Personal Care
o Sexual & Women Care
o Performance enhancer, Condom, Birth control
o Pregnancy test kit, Pregnancy vitamins and supplements
o Sanitary Napkin
OTC Drugs
o Anticeptic
o Ointment
o Oral Suspension
Diabetic Care
o Insulin
o Blood Glucose monitor
o Test strips

services such as measuring blood pressure, giving injections, and administering intravenous
saline are provided at the shops. PHC treatment for fevers, backaches, coughs and colds, gastric
upsets, headaches, and so for this also available from the shops. In most cases, the shop owner or
the dispenser provides those services.
Consumers Perception & Buying Behavior
Having a prescription is not necessary to buy drugs for common health problems such as a cold,
a fever, a headache, or a gastric problem. Some well known drugs for such purposes are Flagyl,
Napa, Ace, Omidon, Rupa, Safi, Vitamins and Supplements, Pain relief, Voligel, Moov, Eno
and many more. According to clients at the Right Aid Pharmacy, if a person who needs a drug
explains the health problem to the drug seller, then on the basis of the symptoms only, the seller
would provide the ill person with medication. Another client of Tamanna Pharmacy said that for
common illnesses, he did not think it necessary to obtain prescribed medicine. Also some clients
who had been taking the same medicine for a long time didn’t think it necessary to carry the
prescription when buying that medicine. For instance, in our conversation with one client at Best
Pharma stated She buys Mixtard 30, Insulin, Informat regularly for Diabetic.
If a prescribed drug is not available, the drug sellers often substitute another brand, sometimes
without informing the client. The clients have no say in this because they are ignorant about the
quality of a particular brand. Two respondents mentioned that because the dispenser was known
to them, they did not have a problem getting medicine without prescription. Also, we have
observed sometimes they visited the shops with old receipts or they used empty packets of
medicine to buy the same drug.
Most clients said even for prescriptions, the drug sellers apprised them of the quantity,
frequency, time, and duration of intake, of whether to take the medicines before or after a meal,
of how to prepare syrup for kids, and so forth. They mentioned that the dispensers write the
instructions for them, but sometimes the dispensers also gave verbal instructions. In case the
customer cannot read, the drug seller marks the medicine packet to indicate how many times and
when the patient should take the medicine in a day.
We have also observerd,how clients approach to the seller for Sanitary napkins, Condoms or
performance enhancer Drugs. In most cases, 75% of the drug sellers reported 45% of the man
come to buy sanitary napkins for their wives, some reported home maids, or house makers are
widely seen to buy sanitary napkins again some reported, 20% of the time girls buy sanitary
napkins for themselves. They usually come with a small note written the name of napkins. Some
reported, some girls feel shy and hesitate to approach. According to brand Preference, Senora,
Freedom is a well known one. However, Some clients reported that Senora is too short and
sometimes causes back leakage again some said Freedom has less absorption power, while
Whisper is a bit expensive for many girls.
In case of Condoms, Drug sellers reported, man generally prefer Durex, Moods, Panther. You
& Me etc. Sometimes, Flavors like chocolate and strawberry gets preferrance. Also sometimes
ask about performance enhancer drugs like Vigorex, Viagra. They also reported, If any
unmarried men or adult comes to buy condom generally it can be trace with their behavior.
For Baby Care, mothers or fathers are targeted consumers, Molfix, Avonee, Bashundhara Baby
Pants, Love Baby are well known. Biomil is one of the best known baby food now-a-days for
children of 6-12 months. Moreover, Baby oral care, Bath and skin care, Feeders are also sold
widely.
However, extensive rage of Baby care, Personal care & Women care items are not available in
all pharmacies. Big and well invested drug stores offer such variety of products and services.
Pharmacy which are located near to the Public Hospitals only offer Prescription and core health
care medicines.
Observe their interaction with seller along with other consumers

As we observe there are different types of people come to the pharmacy and different types of
consumers interact with the sellers differently. In a pharmacy most of the consumers call the
sellers as ‘Bhai’ but if the seller is an older aged person then the consumers call them as ‘Uncle’.
But in the pharmacies of slum areas some people call the seller as ‘Doctor’. For Example- ‘We
went to a pharmacy which is situated into Korail, the name of the pharmacy is ‘Sheikh Drugs’
and the name of the seller of this pharmacy is Akib Jabed and the people of the area call him
‘Doctor Bhai’.

People who come to buy medicines from a pharmacy interact with the sellers in three
different ways. Firstly there are people who come to pharmacy with a prescription of medicines.
Secondly there are consumers who come to the pharmacy with an older packet of a medicine
which they already used previously and now they need to buy that medicine, without any
prescription.
Thirdly there are people who come to the pharmacy and tell the seller about their disease then the
seller of the pharmacy give the medicine to the customer, what the seller think will be suitable
for the customer.

At Right Aid pharma located in Wireless, we find that there were two customers come to the
pharmacy with prescriptions and the sellers giving them the medicines which were written in the
prescription. But there were a medicine which were in the prescription but that medicine were
not available in that pharmacy. So the seller suggest another same type of medicine of different
company which also has a different name. But the customer refuse to buy it. There were other
customers who went to the pharmacy with an empty packet of a medicine so that they can show
the packet and buy the medicine again.

Factors to Satisfy Clients according to Drug sellers of different area:

Factors related to the satisfaction of services received from the drug shops included
(1) the familiarity of the drug seller as a member of the community,
(2) a short response time
(3) good behavior
(4) good services and late-hour services
(5) the availability of quality drugs and

(6) the option to pay in installments. In addition, proximity of the shops also mattered as did
availability of services at odd hours.

Observe their discussion topics

In a pharmacy the customers mostly discuss about diseases and medicines with the seller.
Sometimes customers went to the pharmacy with a prescription but didn’t know which medicine
is for which purposes, then sometimes customers asked the sellers about the details of the
medicines which name is written on the prescription. There are another type of customers who
come to the pharmacy to discuss their diseases with the seller so that the seller can give him
some medicines. There are some other discussion occur like- any customer went to buy a
medicine but the medicine is not available in the pharmacy on the other hand there is same type
of medicine is available in the pharmacy which is from another company also with another name.
Then sometimes the seller tries to convince the customer to buy that medicine instead of what
they would come to buy. Some customers ask the sellers to give him or her some information
about some good doctors. There are also some other unemployed, retired or old aged people who
sometimes sit in the sitting space of the pharmacy and discuss politics and other popular news’s,
about different hospitals and Doctors.

Communication Tools at Different Pharmacy

Unlike street cart shops, Medical Pharmacies involved in a vast marketing activities. The bigger
and popular the Pharmacy is the stronger their marketing stimulus are. Although, they usually do
not hang any banners on street bends, put TV/ paper AD’s but their shops name boards are seen
using very bright, Big and BLOCK letter fonts mostly in English or Bangla. Pharmacies have
different type of suppliers, customers, business partners and other stakeholders. Therefore
pharmacies has to maintain multiple type of IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) tool for
different type of stakeholders.
At this time, the word “TRUST” is very vital asset for pharmacies. This is why some Pharmacies
hang their Drug license certificate, Model Pharmacy Recognition Certificate on their refrigerators
door. Unlike other business organizations, a pharmacy cannot afford to lose trustworthiness among
its supplier, customer and employees. So they have to strictly monitor employees personal issues
and behavior toward customers and suppliers; Suppliers timely orders-payments-tips and
Customers’ needs and complaints.
Accordingly, pharmacies are often seen choosing their name using Sacralization approach for
giving it a trustworthy image like, ISLAM Pharma, AL-Madina Pharmacy, Bismillah Pharmacy,
Shifa Pharmacy, Best Pharma, Modern Pharmacy and many more. Similarly, Pointing to a specific
group or region are also common like National Pharma, Pacific Pharma, Barishal Pharma, Gulshan
Pharma; for feminist look -Lazz Pharma, Joya Pharmacy, Mousumi Pharmacy; Specialized look
like-Ortho Pharma etcetera.
Again, they usually use some very common symbolic pattern especially on their Name Board like
Red Cross and Quarter full moon, two intertwisting snakes on a “T” bar, “Model Pharmacy” logo,
Heart Beat lines and Stethoscope. Seeing those signs, anyone can say it is a medical Pharmacy.
Then we found some common massages used by pharmacies on their Name Board footer,
Envelops, carrying bags, Business cards, which frequently says, “All type of National &
International Medicines are available”. Some big pharmacies also put “payment on Credit Card
are accepted” massage.
Additionally, using the knowledge of one of our research partners three years of working
experience with multiple medical pharmacies, we have noted that, unlike other shops pharmacies
are very organized and they systematically categorize their products. From the main entrench, we
will see Sanitary napkins, diapers are kept very close to the service counter. Then Condoms,
Pregnancy kits, Contraceptive pills, lotions and creams are kept in a corner. Detol, Hexasol,
Viodin, Cotton on a lower row. On above that, we may found Cough and other commonly used
syrups. Ointments, Drops and Inhaler on separate cases or rows. Normal medicines are usually
maintained by alphabetical orders but they usually put Antibiotic, pain killers, anti-anxiety drugs
on prescribed drug section in the top row. Almost all big pharmacies follows this categorical orders
so that, frequent customers can easily point their fingers on the product and demand without saying
the name and the employee can serve faster.
It is also seen that, some pharmacies have a doctor’s cabin or desk on a corner which remains
empty most of the time. A stethoscope and BP machine will be always available on that desk. It
gives the customer a belief that, there is someone present here who has medical knowledge. CCTV
Camera and a widescreen desktop flat monitor on the cash counter to give it a technologically
advancement look. However, only few well-known big facilated pharmacies have such secure
system.On the checkout point there will be some chocolates, tasty saline, Mints, cotton buds, Zero
Cal sugar pill and mini-packed products. So that Customers cannot even takeback the speared
money because they will love to spend on those unnecessary items.

On the other side, there are some other financial or technological partners who put their offering
posters, stickers, crests in popular medicine shops like, DBBL (up to 20% Cashback on payment
by NexusPay App),Bkash Cashback, This type of offers attracts customers who use different
digital wallets. Payment bonus or cash back by credit-cards also attracts customers from rich areas
like Gulshan, Bashundhara, Banani, Dhanmondi. Which benefits both Pharmacy and digital
financial service provider. Recently GrammenPhone Tonic Program is using popular
pharmacies to refer this service to their regular customers. By this way, Pharmacies gets referral
benefits, Gp recognition and own a positive multipurpose Pharmacy image. Sometimes similar
companies also sponsors the name board of the shops.
Besides Most of the Pharmacies does not have any online existence. Although, some popular
pharmacies can be found in google maps but hardly someone gives check-in or review on them.
Some might have some email account even a website but they are mostly inactive or only
descriptive.
Moreover, the owner, manager or main spokesperson always tries to build an interactive
relationship with his employees, regular customers, representatives, local and political peoples.
They are always seen shearing jokes or talking with employees about their home, Ask customers
about their health issues, provide them personal suggestions, Offers tea/coke to representative to
maintain a good relationship if payment is delayed.
However, the local items found in a Pharmacy, the prices are mostly fixed because they all buy
from the same company. Though, it is necessary to provide 12% to 15 % commission on big or
bulk purchase. Even this ratio is almost fixed for most of the shops. So there is a low scope of cost-
leadership marketing on pharmacy Business. So the main policy to grow business is to insure
availability of variety of products and multipurpose services, good customer service with
sympathetic-cordial nature and Clean-Comfortable shop environment.
Demographic & Geographic Information:
Age - 15-60 years
Religion - All
Gender- both male and female
 Rural-most of them are male to buy the product like condoms, sanitary napkin, Viagra,
Baby foods are not very much popular. On the other hand, to buy the medicine for child,
we saw more female than male and most of them are without prescription. To buy
medicine for older people both male and female came to pharmacy.
 Urban-there was approximately 65% participation of male for the products like condoms
or Viagra, Birth control pills. For Sanitary napkins, there were more male than female.
However, number of female buying Sanitary Napkins are also increasing.
 Income- people of all income level comes to buy medicine. People with high income
often goes to those pharmacy which are well decorated, big in size and well accolated.
People with middle income goes to both big and small pharmacy and people with low
income mostly goes to a small pharmacy as they think the price of a bigger pharmacy is
more than smaller one.
 Education- both educated and uneducated people comes to buy medicine, though
educated people are more aware of the medicines they are buying than uneducated people
or less educated people.
Psychographic:
 Lifestyle - people with a luxurious lifestyle goes to a bigger and well decorated
pharmacy. People with a simple lifestyle mostly goes to a smaller pharmacy or the
pharmacy which are near or easy to go.
 Behavioral - We saw such customers who came for Napa and they did not accept another
medicine except Napa, such as Ace, Napa extra, or Ace plus. In the case of condoms,
younger people comes and prefer the condoms with flavor, though older people mostly
don’t have concern about flavor.
Our Reflection On visit
Drug shops, salespersons and dispensing practices
The drug shops were quite a familiar entity in the community life. As some of the drug shops
were as old as 10 to 20 years, many remembered their interaction with the shops since their
childhood. The salespersons of the drug shops were also a very common face to them as they
mostly originated from the local community, were amiable and trustworthy, and well respected.
Some clients (respondents from the catchment community who purchased drugs from the
sampled shops within past one month) mentioned that they had a very good relation with the
people at the drug shops.
The clients were aware that the salespersons may have some training on drug dispensing but in
most instances, they did not bother much.
The need of prescription for buying drugs other than the’ Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs’ was
considered superfluous by the respondents as the salespersons were known to them. They
explained that if a person required a drug, s/he would explain his/her illnesses to the salesperson,
and get necessary drugs based on symptoms. Structured observation done on a number of ‘client-
salesperson interactions’ at drug shops also corroborated this process. For example, in about one-
third of such interactions in the urban areas, only 36% salespersons asked about the nature of
illness, 27% about the symptoms of illness, and 26% about the duration of the illness.
Sometimes, depending upon symptoms, the salesperson made a superficial, nonspecific physical
examination such as feeling the client’s pulse, checking for anemia, measuring temperature and
blood pressure, auscultation of the chest with a stethoscope if there is cough, pressing the
abdomen if there is a complaint of digestive disturbances etc.

Clients having chronic illnesses also didn’t think it necessary to show the prescription when
buying the particular drug. They usually used to bring old receipts or empty medicine packets to
buy the same drug again. They were also complacent about receiving receipts against the cash
paid for drugs, the transactions taking place based on mutual trust.

“Sometimes the drug seller counsels us about the total doses that if you do not
complete your dose … you will not get effective result.”
-A drug shop client from BSMMU Ittadi Pharmacy

One respondent stated that he did not think it necessary to know about licensing when visiting
drug shops.

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