Shopping Behavior

Situation

Client who manufacturers and sells an OTC product, which is dispensed as a prescription more than 70% of the time, was unsure what retail factors were driving brand choice.  They were unsure whether it was store personnel (pharmacist, technician and/or cashier), store displays, product packaging, point of sale displays, product demonstrations, what the physician prescribed, insurance coverage, coupons/on pack promotion, etc. 

Solution & Task

Answers & Insights designed and implemented a project where in-store interviewers watched and intercepted 500 shoppers who purchased OTC or prescription products from the client's category.  The interviews were conducted in chain, food and mass retail stores and included consumers who used cash, Medicaid or third-party insurance.  Our interviewers talked with the consumers to explore their reasons for product selection and who influenced choice.

Action

Our client discovered that more brand/product choice decisions were occurring on the prescribing  rather than the OTC side since physicians were not specifying a product on the prescription.  Additionally, it was the pharmacy technician – not the pharmacist – who was often making the decision/recommendation.  As one respondent said, "It was the product the tech showed me how to use and it seemed easy to me."  The client shifted marketing funds from other resources to design and implement a training program for techs so they would demonstrate their products to consumers and strengthened store shelf presence.