Advice You - Business

A study recently published by Wharton, University of Pennsylvania and Verde Group discusses the findings of a survey of 1000 randomly selected consumers. The objective of the survey was to discover what problems shoppers were

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

encountering during their shopping experiences at retail stores and which of those problems were most likely to be discussed with others and which actually put customer loyalty at risk.

The findings were, of course, predictab

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

le. In the final analysis, sales associates appear to be able to 'make or break' the shopping experience. I don't believe we really need surveys to figure this out but, given the simplicity of the findings, they will likely be

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

of some use in convincing retailers of the reality. DMSRetail.com has always maintained that retailers should pay more, expect more and get more.

The study may also be useful in identifying actual behaviors that retailer’s c

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

an address in order to ensure their customer loyalty is not at risk. The bottom line is that the majority of customers take greater issue with sales associate problems than with store problems. So, if you address the behaviors

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

of sales associates and do an adequate job with your store, merchandising, pricing, etc. you should be able to keep your customers satisfied with their shopping experience, encouraging them to speak about your organization on

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ly when they have something favorable to say and, of course, to keep coming back.

The most damaging sales associate problems were found to be:

1. Not being able to find a sales associate
2. Being ignored by sales associ

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

ates and
3. Insensitivity to long check-out lines.

I’m sure that could not come as a surprise to anyone in retail management. Those problems have all been addressed, haven’t they? How is it that they continue to be

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

issues facing consumers in 2007?

To this retail consultant the study provides very interesting reading particularly when you get to the part where the retailer is let off the hook for the problems presumably created by sales

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

associates. It is absolutely unbelievable that this paper would justify the retailers that provide inadequate wages and insufficient staff levels to properly take care of their customers. They say that most of the required sal

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

s associate behaviors are trainable and recruiting a certain type of individual in the first place will solve these issues.

It is suggested, in the study, that competition in the retail industry may not permit higher wages or

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

bonuses to be used to recruit better talent. It is also suggested that hiring more workers won’t necessarily help but having staff who are sensitive to the customers needs may. So, having too few associates is acceptable as l

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

ong as those associates are sensitive?

It doesn’t work that way. Having too few associates on the sales floor shows the company’s lack of sensitivity to both the customers and the associates. Even the most sensitive associate

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

will lose their focus on their customers if the tasks involved in maintaining the store are overwhelming or if there are too few sales associates to properly service all of the customers. At some point even the most sensitive

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

associate will feel that the company doesn’t provide enough hours (payroll $) for proper floor coverage and execution of tasks so it can’t really be that important.

It goes without saying that Store Managers should be recrui

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

ting associates who are friendly, outgoing, intelligent, well presented, image appropriate, respectful, sensitive, and the list goes on. If all sales associates were model hires, the problems for customers would largely disapp

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ear provided the store is sufficiently staffed. But most retailers are not willing to pay higher hourly rates or to compensate based on performance. They cannot attract the model individual so they continue to hire, and attemp

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

t to train, unqualified individuals who are willing to accept lower wages. Often these associates cannot be counted on to take care of business the way the retailer expects them to. On top of that, there are usually too few of

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

these individuals on the sales floor. Wages and compensation plans for retail store employees need to be studied again and again until a solution is found. Usually that solution can be found by cost reduction measures being a

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

pplied to other areas of the business – instead of the store sales floor – and by scientific evaluation of the correlation between sales and payroll.

I can't begin to explain why this is not being discussed in more boardrooms

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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