Consumer Behavior In Relation To Health Care Products

Introduction to the project

The project is based on the aspect of consumer behavior with respect to health care

products in India. The project revolves around the consumer’s behavior when it

comes to purchasing any health care product. The factors that influence the

consumer to make his decision while purchasing a product are also discussed. As

this is a research project, a research was conducted by survey method. A small

survey was conducted which involved retailer of health care products, who shared

their experience and idea of serving in this particular area. This project tries to

understand how much of the theory of consumer behavior is applied in practice and

how marketing can make a difference.

A detail study on consumer behavior has been done by many theorists, which is

discussed in the project along with different methods of motivating consumers to

buy. Detail information on health care products is also mentioned in the project

report. Many organizations have come forward with different products in the health

sector. Today in India itself we have more than 1500 companies which provide

healthcare products. Many have emerged to become huge brands. Apart from that

many foreign companies are also serving the Indian market with their products

which are becoming popular with each day, and are becoming a threat for the local

companies.

The health care industry still needs to evolve a lot in India. We cannot be sure how

the local companies compete with the foreign technology in the ever changing

world. Consumers are becoming more precise about the features they want in a

product and when they do not find them in a local product they tend to go towards

the foreign products.      

Consumer behavior

Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not

buy products. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology

and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both

individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as

demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants.

It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family,

friends, reference groups, and society in general.

Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer

playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is

an influential asset for customer behavior analysis as it has a keen interest in the

re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the

importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on

consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization,

customization and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into

social choice and welfare functions.

Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrow’s

possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved.

Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity,

monotonocity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No

social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously.

The most important characteristic of a social function is identification of the

interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks.

Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the

productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the

end of the cycle, the consumer.

Belch and Belch define consumer behavior as 'the process and activities people

engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and

disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires.

Factors influencing consumer behavior

Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by these four factors.

v 1. Cultural Factor

v 2. Social Factor

v 3. Personal Factor

v 4. Psychological Factor.

01. Cultural Factor:-

o Cultural factor divided into three sub factors (i) Culture (ii) Sub Culture (iii)

Social Class

o Culture:-

The set of basic values perceptions, wants, and behaviors

learned by a member of society from family and other important

institutions. Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants

and behavior. Every group or society has a culture, and cultural

influences on buying behavior may vary greatly from country to

country.

o Sub Culture :-

A group of people with shared value systems based on common

life experiences and situations.

Each culture contains smaller sub cultures a group of people

with shared value system based on common life experiences

and situations. Sub culture includes nationalities, religions, racial

group and geographic regions. Many sub culture make up

important market segments and marketers often design

products. 

o Social Class:-

Almost every society has some form of social structure; social

classes are society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions

whose members share similar values, interests and behavior.

02. Social Factors:-

A consumer’s behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as the (i)

Groups (ii) Family (iii) Roles and status

o Groups :-

Two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or

mutual goals.

A person’s behavior is influenced by many small groups. Groups

that have a direct influence and to which a person belongs are

called membership groups.

Some are primary groups; includes family, friends, neighbors

and co-workers. Some are secondary groups, which are more

formal and have less regular interaction. These include

organizations like religious groups, professional association and

trade unions.

o Family:-

Family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. The

family is the most important consumer buying organization

society and it has been researched extensively. Marketers are

interested in the roles, and influence of the husband, wife and

children on the purchase of different products and services.

o Roles and Status :-

A person belongs to many groups, family, clubs, and

organizations.

The person’s position in each group can be defined in terms of

both role and status.

For example. Mr. X plays the role of father; in his family he plays

the role of husband, in his company, he plays the role of

manager, etc. A Role consists of the activities people are

expected to perform according to the persons around them.

03. Personal Factors:-

It includes: (i) Age and life cycle stage (ii) Occupation (iii) Economic situation

(iv) Life- Style (v) Personality and self concept.

o Age and Life cycle Stage:-

People change the goods and services they buy over their

lifetimes. Tastes in food, clothes, furniture, and recreation are

often age related. Buying is also shaped by the stage of the

family life cycle.

o Occupation :-

A person’s occupation affects the goods and services bought.

Blue collar workers tend to buy more rugged work clothes,

whereas white-collar workers buy more business suits. A Co. can

even specialize in making products needed by a given

occupational group. Thus, computer software companies will

design different products for brand managers, accountants,

engineers, lawyers, and doctors.

o Economic situation :-

A person’s economic situation will affect product choice.

o Life Style :-

Life Style is a person’s Pattern of living, understanding these

forces involves measuring consumer’s major AIO dimensions.

i.e. activities (Work, hobbies, shopping, support etc) interest

(Food, fashion, family recreation) and opinions (about

themselves, Business, Products)

o Personality and Self concept :-

Each person’s distinct personality influences his or her buying

behavior. Personality refers to the unique psychological

characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting

responses to one’s own environment.

04. Psychological Factors:-

It includes: (i) Motivation (ii) Perception (iii) Learning (iv) Beliefs and attitudes

o   Motivation :-

§  Motive (drive) a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek

satisfaction of the need

      o        Perception :-

§  The process by which people select, Organize, and interpret information to form a

meaningful picture of the world.

o        Learning:-

§  Changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience.

o        Beliefs and attitudes :-

§  Belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something.

§  Attitude, a Person’s consistently favorable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings, and

tendencies towards an object or idea.

Psychological processes involved in consumer behavior

The starting point for understanding consumer behavior is the stimulus-response

model. Marketing and environmental stimuli enter the consumer’s consciousness,

and a set of psychological processes combine with certain consumer

characteristics   to result in decision processes and purchase decisions. The

marketer’s task is to understand what happens in the consumer’s consciousness

between the arrival of the outside marketing stimuli and the ultimate purchase

decisions. Four key psychological processes (i) Motivation, (ii) Perception, (iii)

Learning and (iv) Memory - fundamentally influence consumer responses.

1) Motivation:

We all have many needs at any given time. Some needs are biogenic; they arise

from physiological states of tension such as hunger, thirst or discomfort. Other

needs are psychogenic; they arise from psychological states of tension such as the

need for recognition, esteem, or belonging. A need becomes a motive when it is

aroused to a sufficient level of intensity to drive us to act. Motivation has both

direction – we select one goal over another – and intensity – the vigor with which we

pursue the goal.

2) Perception:

 A motivated person is ready to act. How he or she acts is influenced by his or her

view of the situation. In marketing, perceptions are more important than the reality,

because it’s perceptions that the affect consumers actual behavior. Perception is

the process by which we select, organize, and interpret information inputs to create

a meaningful picture of the world. The key point is that it depends not only on the

physical stimuli, but also on the stimuli’s relationship to the surrounding field and

on condition within each of us. One person might perceive a fast-talking salesperson

as aggressive and in sincere; another, as intelligent and helpful. Each will respond

differently to the salesperson.

In marketing, perceptions are more important than the reality, as it is perceptions

that will affect consumer’s actual behavior. People can emerge with different

perceptions of the same object because of three perceptual processes: selective

attention, selective distortion and selective retention.

3) Learning:

  When we act we learn. Learning includes changes in our behavior arising from

experience. Most human behavior is learned, although much learning is incidental.

Learning theorists believe that learning is produced through the interplay of drives,

stimuli, cues, responses, and reinforcement. Two popular approaches to learning

are classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

A drive is strong internal stimulus impelling action. Cues are minor stimuli that

determine when, where and how a person responds. Suppose you buy an HP

computer. If your experience is rewarding, your response to computers and HP will

be positively reinforced. Later on, when you want to buy a printer, you may assume

that because HP makes good computers, HP also makes good printers. In other

words, you generalize your response to similar stimuli. A countertendency to

generalization is discrimination. Discrimination means we have learned to recognize

differences in sets of similar stimuli and can adjust our responses accordingly.

Learning theory teaches marketers that they can build demand for a product by

associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues, and providing positive

reinforcement. A new company can enter the market by appealing to the same

drives that competitors use and by providing similar cues, because buyers are more

likely to transfer loyalty to similar brands or the company might design its brand to

appeal to different set of drives and offer strong cue inducements to switch.

4) Memory

All the information and experiences we encounter as we go through life can end up

in our long – term memory. Cognitive psychologists distinguish between short- term

memory (STM) – temporary and limited repository of information – and long term

memory (LTM) – a more permanent, essentially unlimited repository.

 Most widely accepted views of long – term memory structure assume we form

some kind of associative model. For example, the associative network memory

model views LTM as a set of nodes and links. Nodes are stored information

connected by links that vary in strength. Any type of information can be stored in

the memory network, including verbal, visual, abstract, and contextual. A spreading

activation process from node to node determines how much we retrieve and what

information we can actually recall in any given situation. When a node becomes

activated because we’re encoding external information or retrieving internal

information from LTM, other nodes are also activated if they’re strongly enough

associated with that node.

In this model, we think of consumer brand knowledge as a node in memory with a

variety of linked associations. The strength and organization of these associations

will be important determinants of the information we can recall about the brand.

Brand associations consist of all brand-related thoughts, feelings, perceptions,

images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand

node.

We can think of marketing as a way of making sure consumers have the right types

of product and services experiences to create the right brand knowledge structures

and maintain them in memory. Companies such as Procter & Gamble like to create

mental maps of consumers that depict their knowledge of a particular brand in

terms of the key associations that are likely to be triggered in marketing setting,

and their relative strength, favorability, and uniqueness to consumers.

The buying decision process: The five stage model

Buyer decision processes are the decision making processes undertaken by

consumers in regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the

purchase of a product or service.

More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of

action from among multiple alternatives. Common examples include shopping and

deciding what to eat. Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This

means that although we can never "see" a decision, we can infer from observable

behavior that a decision has been made. Therefore we conclude that a

psychological event that we call "decision making" has occurred. It is a construction

that imputes commitment to action. That is, based on observable actions, we

assume that people have made a commitment to effect the action.

In general there are three ways of analyzing consumer buying decisions. They are:

Economic models - These models are largely quantitative and are based on the

assumptions of rationality and near perfect knowledge. The consumer is seen to

maximize their utility. Psychological models - These models concentrate on

psychological and cognitive processes such as motivation and need recognition.

They are qualitative rather than quantitative and build on sociological factors like

cultural influences and family influences.

Consumer behavior models - These are practical models used by marketers. They

typically blend both economic and psychological models.

Marketing scholars have developed a “stage model” of the buying – decision

process.         

                    

The consumer passes through five stages: problem recognition, information search,

evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior. Clearly,

the buying process starts long before the actual purchase and has consequences

long afterwards.

Consumers don’t always pass through all five stages in buying a product. They may

skip or reserve some. When you buy your regular brand of toothpaste, you go

directly from the need for toothpaste to the purchase decision, skipping information

search and evaluation.

1) Problem recognition

The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem of need triggered

by internal or external stimuli. With an internal stimulus, one of the person’s normal

needs – hunger, thirst, sex – rises to a threshold level and becomes a drive; or a

need can be aroused by an external stimulus. A person may admire a neighbor’s

new car or see television ad for a Hawaiian vacation, which triggers thoughts about

the possibility of making a purchase.

Marketers need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need by

gathering information from a number of consumers. They can then develop

marketing strategies that trigger consumer interest. Particularly for discretion

purchases such as luxury goods, vacation packages, and entertainment options,

marketers may need to increase consumer motivation so a potential purchase gets

serious consideration.

2) Information Search

Surprisingly, consumers often search for limited amounts of information. Surveys

have shown that for durables, half of all consumers look at only one store, and only

30% look at more than one brand of appliances. We can distinguish between two

levels of involvement with search. The milder search state is called heightened

attention. At the next level, the person may enter an active information search:

looking for reading material, phoning friends, going online, and visiting stores to

learn about the product.

3) Evaluation of Alternatives

How does the consumer process competitive brand information and make a final

value judgment? No single process is used by all consumers, or by any one

consumer in all buying situations. There are several processes, and the most

current models see the consumer forming judgments largely on a conscious and

rational basis.

Some basic concepts will help us understand consumer evaluation processes: First,

the consumer is trying to satisfy a need. Second, the consumer is looking for certain

benefits from the product solution. Third, the consumer sees each product as a

bundle of attributes with varying abilities for delivering the benefits sought to

satisfy this need. The attributes of interests to buyers vary by product.

Consumers will pay the most attention to attributes that deliver the sought – after

benefits. We can often segment the market for a product according to attributes

important to different consumer groups.

4) Purchase Decision

 In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the

choice set. The consumer may also form an intention to buy the most preferred

brand. In executing a purchase intention, the consumer may make up to five sub-

decisions: brand, dealer, quantity, timing, and payment method.

5) Post purchase behavior

After the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from

noticing certain disquieting features of hearing favorable things about other brands

and will be alert to information that supports his or her decision. Marketing

communications should supply beliefs and evaluations that reinforce the

consumer’s choice and help him feel good about the brand.

The marketer’s job therefore does not end with the purchase. Marketers must

monitor post purchase satisfaction, post purchase actions, and post purchase

product uses.  

Health care

Health care, or healthcare, is the treatment and management of illness, and the

preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental,

complementary and alternative medicine, pharmaceutical, clinical sciences (in vitro

diagnostics), nursing, and allied health professions. Health care embraces all the

goods and services designed to promote health, including “preventive, curative and

palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations”. The

definition of health care is continuously evolving and varies significantly between

different cultures.

Before the term health care became popular, English-speakers referred to medicine

or to the health sector and spoke of the treatment and prevention of illness and

disease. The social and political issue of access to healthcare in the US has led to

public debate and confusing use of terms such as "health care" (medical

management of illness or disease), health insurance (reimbursement of health care

costs), and the public health (the collective state and range of health in a

population).

Healthcare in India

A growing healthcare sector

Healthcare is one of India’s largest sectors, in terms of revenue andemployment, and the sector is expanding rapidly. During the 1990s, Indian healthcare grew at a compound annual rate of 16%. Today the total value of the sector is more than $34 billion. This translates to $34 per capita, or roughly 6% of GDP. By 2012, India’s healthcare sector is projected to grow to nearly $40 billion.

The private sector accounts for more than 80% of total healthcarespending in India. Unless there is a decline in the combined federal and state government deficit, which currently stands at roughly 9%, the opportunity for significantly higher public health spending will be limited.

One driver of growth in the healthcare sector is India’s boomingpopulation, currently 1.1 billion and increasing at a 2% annual rate. By 2030, India is expected to surpass China as the world’s most populous nation. By 2050, the population is projected to reach 1.6 billion

Expanding middle class

India traditionally has been a rural, agrarian economy. Nearly three quarters of the population still lives in rural areas, and as of 2004, an estimated 27.5% of Indians were living below the national poverty line. Some 300 million people in India live on less than a dollar a day, and more than 50% of all children are malnourished.Middle class

Rise of disease

Another factor driving the growth of India’s healthcare sector is a rise in both infectious and chronic degenerative diseases. While ailments such as poliomyelitis, leprosy, and neonatal tetanus will soon be eliminated, some communicable diseases once thought to be under control, such as dengue fever, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria, and pneumonia, have returned in force or have developed a stubborn resistance to drugs. This troubling trend can be attributed in part to substandard housing,inadequate water, sewage and waste management systems, a crumbling public health infrastructure, and increased air travel

Pharmaceuticals

Paralleling the rise of disease is the emergence of a robust pharmaceutical industry in India. The Indian pharmaceutical market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world; sales increased by 17.5% to $7.3 billion in 2006, according to IMS Health. Many factors, including a strong economy and the country’s growing healthcare needs have contributed to theaccelerated growth, which is especially strong in the over-the-counter OTC.

The healthcare divide

When it comes to healthcare, there are two Indias: the countrythat provides high-quality medical care to middle-class Indians and medical tourists, and the India in which the majority of the population lives—a country whose residents have limited or no access to quality care. Today only 25% of the Indian population has access to Western (allopathic) medicine, which is practiced mainly in urban areas, where two-thirds of India’s hospitals and health centers are located. Many of the rural poor must rely on alternative forms of treatment, such as ayurvedic medicine, unani and acupuncture.

Opportunities within India healthcare sector

Emerging health insurance market

In recent years, there has been a liberalization of the Indian healthcare sector to allow for a much-needed private insurance market to emerge. Due to liberalization and a growing middle class with increased spending power, there has been an increase in the number of insurance policies issued in the country. In 2001-02, 7.5 million policies were sold. By 2003-04, the number of policies issued had increased by 37%, to 10.3 million.

Growth of telemedicine

Only 25% of India’s specialist physicians reside in semi-urban areas, and a mere    3 % live in rural areas. As a result, rural areas, with a population approaching 700 million, continue to be deprived of proper healthcare facilities.

 Healthcare infrastructure expansion

An enormous amount of private capital will be required in the coming years to enhance and expand India’s healthcare infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population and an influx of medical tourists. Currently India has approximately 860 beds per million population. This is only one-fifth of the world average, which is 3,960, according to the World Health Organization. It is estimated that 450,000 additional hospital beds will be required by 2010—an investment estimated at $25.7 billion. The government is expected to contribute only 15-20% of the total, providing an enormous opportunity for private players to fill the gap

Medical equipment market

The rebuilding of India’s healthcare infrastructure, combined with the emergence of medical tourism and telemedicine, will drive strong demand for medical equipment, such as x-ray machines, CT scanners and electrocardiograph (EKG) machines. Leading international companies market most high value medical equipment, while only consumables and disposable equipment are made locally. Many international companies have expanded their operations in the Indian market in recent years and established manufacturing facilities to assemble equipment for the domestic market and export sales. The competition is expected to intensifywith the entry of more global firms into the medical equipment marketplace. The government is encouraging the growth of this market, through policies such as a reduction in import duties on medical equipment, higher depreciation on life-saving medical equipment (40%, up from 25%), and a number of other tax incentives.

Pharmaceutical industry opportunities

Despite widespread poverty and inadequate public healthcare provision, India has much to offer the leading drug makers. An increase in lifestyle diseases resulting from the adoption of unhealthy western diets, combined with a growing middle class that has more disposable income to spend on treatment, will provide new opportunities for global pharmaceutical firms.

Manufacturing

India has emerged as a major supplier of several bulk drugs, producing these at lower prices compared to formulation producers worldwide. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already has approved 85 Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and formulation plants in India, the highest such number outside the US. India is poised to become a major exporter of pharmaceuticals, particularly generic and OTC drugs, to global markets. By 2010, India could be producing 15% of the world’sbulk pharmaceuticals and drug intermediates. However, achieving that level of growth will require an estimated $1.2 billion investment in production capacity. Many multinational generics companies have been sourcing products from

Indian manufacturers for some years. Some also use Indian contract manufacturers to manufacture the finished product. Contractmanufacturing, currently estimated at $350 million, is expected to reach $1billion by 2010, according to CRISIL.

Pharmaceutical research

Pharmaceutical research is one area that is expected to achievetremendous growth in the coming decade, due to India’s huge andgrowing population, low per capita drug usage, and increasing incidence of disease. Global pharmaceutical alliances with Indian drug firms are finally beginning to look like a two-way street, with major R&D deals.

Clinical trials

India historically lacked the expertise to perform clinical trials, because most companies only tested different processes for producing copycat versions of Western products, and the rules were quite lenient. Several drug makers have also been caught behaving unethically or even illegally.

Following is a brief description of major health care companies:

1) Pfizer

Pfizer Incorporated is a pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in sales in

the world. The company is based in New York City, with its research headquarters in

Groton, Connecticut. It produces Lipitor (atorvastatin, used to lower blood

cholesterol); the neuropathic pain/fibromyalgia drug Lyrica (pregabalin); the oral

antifungal medication Diflucan (fluconazole), the antibiotic Zithromax

(azithromycin), Viagra (sildenafil) for erectile dysfunction, and the anti-inflammatory

Celebrex (celecoxib) (also known as Celebra in some countries outside the USA and

Canada, mainly in South America).

Pfizer's shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April

8, 2004.

Pfizer pleaded guilty in 2009 to the largest health care fraud in U.S. history and

received the largest criminal penalty ever levied for illegal marketing of four of its

drugs. Called a repeat offender, this was Pfizer's fourth such settlement with the

U.S. Department of Justice in the previous ten years.

On January 26, 2009, Pfizer agreed to buy pharmaceutical giant Wyeth for US$68

billion, a deal financed with cash, shares and loans. The deal was completed on

October 15, 2009.

Products

The following is a list of key prescription pharmaceutical products. The names

shown are all registered trademarks of Pfizer Inc.

§             Accupril (quinapril) for hypertensiontreatment.

§             Aricept (donepezil) for Alzheimer's disease.

§            Aromasin (exemestane) for the prevention of breast cancer and the prevention      

                       ofosteoporosis and menopause for women.

§             Bextra (Valdecoxib) for arthritis.

§             Ben-Gay a sports cream co-marketed byJohnson and Johnson, and McNeil         

                   Laboratories.

§              Caduet (amlodipine) and (atorvastatin) forcholesterol and hypertension.

§             Camptosar (irinotecan) for cancer andChemotherapeutic agents.

§             Celebrex (celecoxib) for arthritis.

§             Chantix (Varenicline) for Nicotinic agonists, and anti nicotine drugs.

§             Cefobid a cephalosporin antibiotic.

§             Depo-Medrol (methylprednisolone) forasthma.

§             Solu-Medrol (methylprednisolone) forasthma.

§            Depo Provera for birth control.

§            Detrol, and Detrol LA (tolterodine), forbladder control problems.

§            Diflucan (fluconazole) for antifungal drug.

§             Ellence (epirubicin) for cancer andchemotherapy drug.

§            Eraxis (anidulafungin) for antifungal drug.

§            Exubera (inhalable insulin) for diabetes, and insulin therapies.

§            Flagyl (metronidazole) for bacterial and protozoal infections.

§           Genotropin (Growth hormone) for N/A.

§           Geodon (ziprasidone) for schizophreniaand bipolar disorder.

§            Inspra (eplerenone) for diuretics.

§             Lipitor, Sortis (atorvastatin) forcholesterol.

§            Lyrica (pregabalin) for neuropathic pain.

§            Macugen (pegaptanib) for N/A

§           Norvasc (amlodipine) for hypertension

§           Neurontin (gabapentin) for neuropathic pain.

§           Rebif (interferon beta-1a) for Multiple Sclerosis

§           Relpax (eletriptan) for including the sulfonamide group of migrane .

§           Rescriptor (delavirdine) for HIV.

§           Selzentry (maraviroc) for HIV.

§           Somavert (pegvisomant) for Acromegaly.

§           Sutent (sunitinib) for cancer andchemotherapy drug.

§           Tikosyn (dofetilide) for atrial fibrillation and flutter.

§          Vfend (voriconazole) for antifungal drug.

§           Viagra (sildenafil) for erectile dysfunction.

§            Viracept (nelfinavir) for AIDS.

§            Xalatan (latanoprost) for glaucoma

§           Xalacom latanoprost and timololMedication for glaucoma.

§           Xanax and Xanax XR (alprazolam) foranxiety and panic disorders.

§           Zoloft (sertraline) for an antidepressant.

§          Zyrtec (cetirizine) for allergies.

§          Zyvox (linezolid) for antibiotics.

2) GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline plc is a British pharmaceutical, biological, and healthcare

company. GSK is the world's second largest pharmaceutical company, by

employees; and a research-based company with a wide portfolio of pharmaceutical

products covering anti-invectives, central nervous system, respiratory, gastro-

intestinal/metabolic, oncology, and vaccines products. It also has a Consumer

Healthcare operation comprising leading oral healthcare products, nutritional

drinks, and over the counter medicines. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange

and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Products

The company's products include:

§           Advair

§           Albenza

§           Alli

§           Amerge

§           Amoxil

§          Aquafresh

§          Arixtra

§           Arranon

§          Augmentin

§          Avandia

§         Avodart

§          BC Powder

§          Beano

§          Beconase

§          Biotene

§          Boniva

§          Boost

§          Ceftin

§          Coreg

§          Coreg CR

§          Dexedrine

§          Flixonase

§          Geritol

§          Gly-Oxide

§          Goody's Powder

§           GSK-189,254

§          GSK-873140

§           GW-320,659

§           GW 501516

§           Horlicks

§          Imitrex

§          Keppra

§          Lamictal

§          Lanoxin

§          Levitra

§          Lovaza

§          Lucozade

§          Macleans

§          Nicoderm

§          Nicorette

§          NiQuitin

§          Pandemrix

§           Panadol

§           Panadol night

§          Parnate

§          Parodontax

§          Paxil

§          Promacta

§          Ralgex

§          Relenza

§          Requip

§           Ribena

§          Sensodyne

§          Serlipet

§          SKF 38393

§          SKF 82958

§           Tagamet

§          Treximet

§         Tums

§        Trizivir

§         Tykerb

§         Valtrex

§         Ventolin HFA

§         Veramyst

§        Vesicare

§         Wellbutrin

§        Zantac

§        Zofran

§        Zovirax

 

3) Novartis

Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in

Basel, Switzerland, ranking number one in revenues, which accounted over $53

billion in 2008, and number three in sales, which accounted 36.173 billon in 2008.

Novartis is one of the largest healthcare companies in the world and a leading giant

among pharmaceutical companies. Novartis manufactures drugs such as clozapine

(Clozaril), diclofenac (Voltaren), carbamazepine (Tegretol), valsartan (Diovan),

imatinib mesylate (Gleevec / Glivec),ciclosporin (Neoral / Sandimmun), letrozole

(Femara), methylphenidate (Ritalin), terbinafine (Lamisil), and others. Novartis owns

Sandoz, a large manufacturer of generic drugs. The company formerly owned the

Gerber Products Company, a major infant and baby products producer, but sold it to

Nestlé on 1 September 2007.

Novartis is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries

and Associations (EFPIA) and of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical

Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA).

Products

Pharmaceuticals

§          Comtan- $420 M (2007)- Parkinson's disease

§           Diovan- $5.0 B sales[21] (2007)- Hypertension

§          Exjade- $357 M (2007) - Iron chelator

§          Femara- $937 M (2007)- Breast cancer

§          Gleevec- $3.1 B- for Chronic myeloid leukemia

§          Lescol- $665 M (2007)- cholestrol

§          Lotrel- $748 M (2007)- Hypertension

§          Lucentis- $393 M (2007)- Age-related macular degeneration

§          Ritalin- $375 M (2007) - AD/HD

§          Exelon- $632 M (2007)- Alzheimer's disease

§          Sandimmune and Neoral- $944 M (2007)- Transplantation

§          Sandostatin - $1.0 B (2007) - Acromegaly

§          Tegretol- $413 M (2007)- Epilepsy

§          Termalgin - (Paracetamol and compounds.) - Treatment of fever and light pain.

§          Tobramycin- $273 M (2007)- Cystic fibrosis

§          Trileptal- $692 M (2007)- Epilepsy

§          Voltaren- $747 M (2007)- Inflammation

§           Zometa- $1.3 B (2007)- Cancer complications

Consumer health (OTC)

§            Benefiber

§            Buckley's cold and cough formula

§            Bufferin

§            Comtrex cold and cough

§            Denavir/Vectavir

§            Desenex

§            Doan's pain relief

§            Ex-Lax

§            Excedrin

§           Fenistil

§           Gas-X

§           Habitrol

§           Keri skin care

§          Lamisil foot care

§          Lipactin Herpes symptomatic treatment

§          Maalox

§          Nicotinell

§          No-doz

§         Otrivine

§         Prevacid 24HR

§         Tavist

§         Theraflu

§         Triaminic

§        Vagistat

§        Voltaren

 

4) Amway

Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that use multi-level marketing

to sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care

markets. Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos. Based

in Ada, Michigan, the company and family of companies under Alticor reported sales

growth of 2.3%, reaching US$8.4 billion for the year ending December 31, 2009. Its

product lines include home care products, personal care products, jewelry,

electronics, Nutrilite dietary supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers, insurance

and cosmetics. In 2004, Health & Beauty products accounted for nearly 60% of

worldwide sales. Amway conducts business through a number of affiliated

companies in more than ninety countries and territories around the world. It is

ranked by Forbes as one of the largest private companies in the United States and

by Deloitte as one of the largest retailers in the world.

Products

Brands

Amway's product line grew from LOC, with the laundry detergent SA8 added in

1960, and later the hair care product Satinique (1965) and Artistry (1968). Today

Amway manufactures over 450 products, with manufacturing facilities in Ada,

Michigan, China, and India, as well as Nutrilite organic farms in California,

Washington State, Mexico, and Brazil. In addition Amway affiliates market products

from hundreds of other manufacturers offering everything from books (e.g. Barnes

& Noble, North America) to wine (World of Wine, Europe).

Household cleaners

Amway is best known in North America for its original cleaning products, LOC, SA8

clothes washing products and Dish Drops dish cleaning products. In the January

2007 issue of Consumer Reports, SA8 with Bioquest was rated as the best

performing laundry detergent, scoring 99 out of a possible 100. Consumer Reports

did however criticise SA8's pricing, which was disputed by Amway. In 2008,

Amway's cleaning products were named Favourite of Experts by an independent

consumer survey in Ukraine.

Health and beauty

The majority of Amway's sales today come from the Health & Beauty sector and in

North America the Amway Global/Quixtar website is ranked the #1 Health & Beauty

website by Internet Retailer. In South Korea Amway is ranked one of the top two

companies in toiletries and cosmetics.[citation needed] Amway's health & beauty

brands include Artistry, Time Defiance, Satinique, Tolsom, Body Series, Glister,

Moiskin (South America), Nutrilite, Nutriway (Scandinavia and Australia/New

Zealand), eSpring, Atmosphere and iCook as well as XL and XS Energy drinks.

5) Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a global American pharmaceutical, medical devices and

consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a

component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among

the Fortune 500. Johnson & Johnson is known for its corporate reputation,

consistently ranking at the top of Harris Interactive National Corporate Reputation

Survey, ranking as the world's most respected company by Barron's Magazine, and

was the first corporation awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy

by the U.S. State Department for its funding of international education programs. A

suit brought by the United States Department of Justice in 2010, however, alleges

that the company from 1999 to 2004 illegally marketed drugs to Omnicare, a

pharmacy that dispenses the drugs in nursing homes.

The corporation's headquarters is located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United

States. Its consumer division is located in Skillman, New Jersey. The corporation

includes some 250 subsidiary companies with operations in over 57 countries. Its

products are sold in over 175 countries. J&J had worldwide pharmaceutical sales of

$24.6 billion for the full-year 2008.

Johnson & Johnson's brands include numerous household names of medications and

first aid supplies. Among its well-known consumer products are the Band-Aid Brand

line of bandages, Tylenol medications, Johnson's baby products, Neutrogena skin

and beauty products, Clean & Clear facial wash and Acuvue contact lenses.

Products

Baby Care

§         JOHNSON’S BEDTIM

§         JOHNSON’S SOOTHING NATURALS

§          PRIM’AGE

§           DESITIN

§          JOHNSON’S HEAD-TO-TOE FRAGRANCE FREE BABY LOTION

§            PENATEN

§           NATUSAN

Skin & Hair Care

§          BEBE

§          CLEAN & CLEAR

§          PURPOSE

§         ROC

§         UPLIV:  Stress Management Program

§          NEUTROGENA

§          JOHNSON’S

§           SHOWER TO SHOWER

§           skin ID

§          VENDOME

§           AVEENO

§          LUBRIDERM

§         AMBI SKINCARE

§          PIZ BUIN

§         ROGAINE

Wound Care & Topicals

§          BAND-AID: Brand Adhesive Bandages

§          BENGAY

§         CALADRYL

§         PURELL

§         NEOSPORIN

§         CORTAID

§         SAVLON

§         COMPEED

§          TUCKS: Hemorrhoidal Ointment

§           DAKTARIN

Oral Health Care

§          LISTERIN

§          EFFERDENT

§          LISTERINE WHITENING

§          REMBRANDT

§           REACH

Women's Health

§          STAYFREE

§          MONISTAT

§          CAREFREE

§           e.p.t.

§           K-Y

§           O.B.

Over-the-Counter Medicines

§           TYLENOL

§           SUDAFED

§          MYLANTA

§          ZYRTEC and ZYRTEC-D12-HOUR

§          MOTRIN

§          IMODIUM

§          PEPCID

§          NICORETTE

§          BENADRYL

§          ROLAIDS

§          DOLORMIN

Nutritionals

§          SPLEND

§          LACTAID

§          VIACTIV

§          SUN CRYSTALS

§          BENECOL

Conclusion

As the new decade creeps in and the new century approaches, a time has come to

reflect upon and predict the consumer's behavior in the marketplace. Many things

have changed since the end of mass marketing and the beginning of market

segmentation. Under mass marketing, Henry Ford gave the consumer the Ford in

any color as long as it was black. After World War II, marketers switched from

making products they wanted to make products the consumer wanted. Finding out

what the consumer wants to purchase and why, is what consumer behavior is all

about.

Our theoretical models of how consumers make purchase decisions have evolved

from the economic paradigm of the 1940s, through the irrational consumer of the

1950s and 1960s, to the information processor of the 1970s, up to the 1980s

cognitive miser. Tomorrow's consumers will undoubtedly have a distinctive

theoretical decision model that will grow out of the future decision making

environment.

When it comes to healthcare product the consumer tends to react in almost same

manner as he reacts while purchasing any other product in the market. But the new

generation consumers tend to be more aware of the products available in the

market. They are aware of its features and know exactly what they want. The health

care can be roughly divided into two sections namely, cosmetics and

pharmaceutical products.

For the research I conducted a small survey to find out what scenario is followed in

Aurangabad when it comes to purchasing any health care product. I found that, like

any metropolitan city Aurangabad too has a wide range of products which include

foreign as well as Indian products. I had a hypothesis in mind that mostly the

foreign cosmetic products are preferred than any local Indian product, which proved

to be wrong. I was astonished to hear that mostly people prefer Indian products as

they suit their skin and also have a good quality. I surveyed the major areas in

Aurangabad which are popular and mostly crowded. The survey involved a

questionnaire which had 8 questions with respect to the consumer’s behavior when

he purchases a health care product. The survey was conducted keeping in mind the

major retail sellers of health care products.

The retailers had one thing in common to say; now the price is not a major issue for

purchasing the product. They all agreed that the consumer is more concerned about

the quality and the brand name of the product than the price. People are aware of

all the brands available in the market and know what to purchase. The retailers also

believed that advertisements have a major impact on the consumer and he demand

what he had seen in an ad on T.V. I must say that the companies advertising for

their products are gaining much attention in the market and are consumed more

often.     The Indian healthcare sector can be viewed as a glass half empty or a glass half full. The challenges the sector faces are substantial, from the need to improve physical infrastructure to the necessity of providing health insurance and ensuring the availability of trained medical personnel. But the opportunities are equally compelling, from developing new infrastructure and providing medical equipment to delivering telemedicine solutions and conducting cost-effective clinical trials. For companies that view the Indian healthcare sector as a glass half full, the potential is enormous.

In Aurangabad the products of Himalaya, Johnson & Johnson’s, Hindustan lever, Ponds, Lakme, Ayur, and Nisha herbal are more popular. It can be seen that if a product gives good result the consumer is more attracted to it and is willing to spend any amount to get it. My only suggestion to the health care organizations is that they concentrate on the quality of the product and advertise it as much as possible, and for sure the product will be recognized and preferred over others.

REFFERENCES:

http://managersconvention.blogspot.in/2010/05/consumer-behavior-in-relation-to-health.html