Determinants of over the Counter (OTC) Purchasing Behavior of Medicines in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Authors

  • C. Kathiravan
  • S. Dinesh
  • P. Mahalakshmi
  • V. Suresh
  • A. Rajasekar

Abstract

Over the counter, medicines denote directly sold to the consumer without a prescription from the medical practitioner and which may be sold directly by the medical shops to the consumer. OTC has significantly increased the revenue in the total Indian drug market. The buying decision has more triggered in OTC market by several factors and out of which the essential consideration to be: own previous experience, advice of the pharmacist and the information stated on the prospectus, television advertisements and other promotional campaigns. The analysis was conducted with a sample of 417 consumers out of the total response from 600 respondents. The study wants to measure if there are changes in the purchasing behaviourof individuals compared to the consultation with the professional practitioners. The most important conclusion of this paperemphasizes that both for uneducated and employed persons, the purchasing decision of OTC has determined by two essential factors: the recommendation by the experts (physicians or pharmacists) and their assessment or previous personal experience and information stated on the prospectus or television advertisements or promotional campaigns. Also, it has noted that the influencing level of economic factors like brand, price and promotion are lower in the illiterate category. 

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Published

2019-12-31

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Section

Articles