Until a few years ago, market research was focused on analysing the patient or prescriber through direct contact (personal or not), either through qualitative or quantitative research. Today, this has evolved, and although sometimes it is still done in the same way, on other occasions new technologies have led us to change the focus of OTC and prescription market studies.
In OTC markets, where the influence of the doctor is reduced, it is necessary to know: the correct placement of the product or drug, in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity and at the right price so that the customer can find the item they want and in the most favorable conditions. The pharmacy has the advantage of captivity through the medicine, but it is essential to turn it into a dynamic, attractive point of sale and not exclusively for dispensing. The drugs or OTC products must be in the optimal place to facilitate and promote the purchase.
In market research, we have new tools that allow us to determine how a consumer behaves in front of a line, a counter or a pharmacy stand, for example. In addition, we can also obtain an automatic analysis and classification of the visitor's gender or age.
One of them is based on the already known eye tracking adapted to real shopping environments and redesigned in the form of glasses. Pharmacy Eye Tracker It allows us to record the natural behaviour of the individual in real shopping environments and in moments of purchase decision. It allows us to look through the eyes of our client. The system consists of a pair of glasses, a portable recording device the size of a PDA and some infrared markers (to be placed on the shelf/counter/stand/...). Thanks to this technology we obtain the eye movements that an individual makes when he is in a pharmacy or drugstore, what visual path he makes, how many impacts each product area receives, the time he spends or the visual attention he allocates.
Without a doubt, this is a perfect tool for laboratories to be able to use tools from their marketing department and from their sales network to improve the situation of drugs and products at points of sale. On the other hand, there is another type of technology that has made market research evolve. These are techniques for obtaining information online.
Nowadays, thanks to the emergence of social media, research has taken a turn and, in certain cases, it is no longer necessary to maintain direct contact with the interviewee as he or she creates content and offers public information about his or her tastes, opinions or motivations through social media.
There are different methodologies and tools for research in social networks (research 2.0), one of them is the Netnography (application of observation methods specific to ethnography to the virtual world) which can be participant or non-participant. In participant netnography, a moderator introduces himself to the users of social networks and informs them of the observation that he is going to carry out on their online activity. In contrast, in non-participant netnography, the user is not informed of the observation.
Another tool used is the Online Communities through which we can collect information about prescribers, pharmacists or patients, for example.
Also, thanks to search engines Based on semantic analysis and advanced software, it is possible to search, organize and quantify all the information existing on the Internet about a laboratory, a brand or a product/drug.
Thanks to these new technologies, we obtain information quickly and economically about pathologies, treatments, experiences and beliefs of patients, etc., both from the prescribing physician and from the patient themselves.
Consequently, they allow us to adapt to the resources and needs of our client as well as gain time to market and reach much more dispersed audiencesThere are pathologies with very low incidence in which it is very difficult to capture a sample for qualitative and/or quantitative research. Thanks to these tools, we can study more complicated patient targets and medical specialties that are difficult to gather in one place and at a given time.
Jennifer Varón Key account manager hamilton
