The Client Side:

Beiersdorf AG

Beiersdorf AG:A leading international consumer goods company

Beiersdorf Pharmacy Self-Medication Brands

◼ HANSAPLAST: Plasters, and other products for wound care and foot care, joint supports and noise protection.

◼ HANSAPLAST ABC Heat Plasters : Against pain in muscles and joints, lumbago, rheumatism, and sciatica.

◼ FUTURO support bandages for work, sport and leisure. Provide protection and support for a wide variety of joint problems.

◼ EUCERIN: One of the leading brands for medicinal skin care in America and Europe in relevant categories

SELF-MEDICATION: Standard OTC Distribution System

◼ Manufacturer (brand & generic)

◼ Wholesaler (prime vendors)

◼ Pharmacies (retail, hospital, etc.)

◼ Cash-Customer / Patient

Our Research Interest:CUSTOMER-PHARMACIST INTERACTION

perceived severity of symptoms

perceived origin of symptoms

relevant background knowledge

earlier experiences

nothing / ignore

medical care / physican / other help professional

alternative care providers

SELF-

MEDICATION

Nonmedical

self-care

symptom care

home remedies

life style changes

PURCHASE OTC DRUGS natural products

prescription

drugs

Incidence of

symptoms of an

illness

SELF CARE

NEED

AROUSAL

INFORMA-

TION SEARCH

EVALUATION

OF ALTER-

NATIVES

Customer purchase decisionsfor non-prescription medication

Role of the pharmacistas OTC consultant

►Explore patient symptoms

► Obtain sufficiently detailed medication history

► Decide to refer / not to refer

► Screen for specific conditions and diseases

► Recommend appropriate OTC medication

► Provide objective information about responsible self-medication

Patient decides to contact Pharmacy

Pre

-Ph

arm

acy P

ha

se

sIn

-Ph

arm

acy P

ha

se

s

Modelling patient-pharmacist interactions in self-medication

PharmacistSelf-Reports / Diaries

Patient as Customer

Focus Groups Exit Interviews

Surveys

Observer / Researcher

Mystery Shopping In-Store Observation

Ethnographic Research Discourse Analysis

Conventional Approaches for StudyingIn-Pharmacy Customer-Pharmacist Interaction

Studies show:▪ Average duration of pharmacist

consultation: 1.6 minutes

▪ Pharmacist asking a mean

number of 3 questions

▪ Giving an average of 4.4 items

of information or advise per

consultation

Available Research:▪ Mostly small-scaled

▪ Often anecdotal, des-criptive,

or narrative

▪ Relying on generalised dimensions

and factors

▪ Analytic format: corre-lational

▪ Limited relevance for intervention /

change / action

In-Pharmacy Research: Current Status

MISSING:

◼ Lack of micro-analytic behavioralstudies

◼ how customers structure their purchase decisions of non-prescription medication inside pharmacies

◼ how pharmacists influence these decisions when interacting with customers

◼ acrosss different self-medication product categories

WANTED:

◼ Studies need to go beyond merely descriptive over-generalised accounts of in-pharmacy interactions

◼ Must instead provide causal explanations of self-medication decisions as determined by the consultation behaviour of the advise-giving pharmacist

◼ With a potential for direct practical modifications and interventions

In-Pharmacy Research for Hansaplast Med

◼ Use multiple scenarios to determine optimal selling proposition in typical pharmacist-customer interaction

◼ Full experimental control over critical positioning factors

◼ Easy execution / implementation of positioning options

◼ Ability to ensure ‚test realism‘

◼ Inclusion of relevant customer segments

◼ Ability to measure several marketing-related factors:

• In-Store Behaviour

• Product Purchases, Sales + Revenue Implications

• Shopper Cognitions & Perceptions

◼ Time, & budget constraints

In-Pharmacy Research: Some Research Obstacles

◼ Large between-pharmacy variation in retail space, staffing, sales, profitability, customer bases, neighbourhoods,

• Highly individualised structure of pharmacies

• In Germany: 22.000 pharmacies, most of them with only one owner

◼ Severe restrictions for in-store research: Issues of approachability, collaboration, confidentiality

◼ Impossible to simulate / re-build ‚test pharmacies‘

under laboratory conditions

The Supplier Side:

4D*Shopper

Merging Two New Formats for Experimental In-Pharmacy Research

u PHARMACIST

INTERACTION

Systematically varied stimulus presentation

v EXPERIMENTAL

PHARMACY

Fully controlled response measurement of custo-mer purchase behaviour

‚Embodied Conversational Agents‘

Computer-generated re-creation of realistic anthropomorphic discourse agents

‚Virtual Stores‘

Computer-generated fully interactive retail environments used for shopper research

Virtual Pharmacy

◼ Computer-generated virtual retail environment

◼ Photo-realistic display of individual medication products as fully animated 3D objects

◼ Product presentation in familiar store shelves and store environments

◼ Interactive navigation through store environment, with complete walk-through control, and product access

◼ Measurement system records shopper / customer behaviour on a continuous basis

Virtual Pharmacist as ECA

◼ Embodied Conversational Agents (ECA)

◼ Computer-generated recreation of anthropomorphic interaction agents or models

◼ Mostly used to supply information or for tuoring, transactions, and negoatiations

◼ Successful applications in e-learning, e-commerce, and e-marketing

◼ Based on conversational scripts

◼ Requires in-depth knowledge of typical discourse routes and strategies within a given content area

The Product Category: OTC Pain Medication

◼ Broad range of OTC pain relievers

◼ Classified by application format

• as systemic (tablets, capsules, solubles)

• or topical (e.g. patches, plasters, creams)

◼ Or by ingredients, e.g.

• Aspirin products

• NSAIDS (e.g. Ibuprofren)

• Acetaminophen products

• Combination products

◼ In Germany: public has no accessto OTC analgesics medication

OTC Pain Medication Shelf: GermanySome 30 SKUs

Standard Treatment Selection Strategies Adopted by Pharmacists as OTC Consultants:

The Case of OTC Pain Medication

TOPICS QUESTIONS EXAMPLE

Symptom Clarificationwhen / how / since / how

frequent / etc.Acute neck pain

Medication History similar symptoms before none

Preferred Application Format e.g. internal vs. external external

Expected Treatment Effects Speed / durationfast relief expected, plus long

duration

Possible Side-Effects Skin Allergy if topical none

Product Recommendation Product XYZHeat Plaster, as muscle

relaxant

Product Information Dosage 1x per day

Follow-Up Informationwhen to check professional

advicewithin the next 7 days

OTC Pain Medication in a Virtual Pharmacy:The pharmacist controls category access

behind-the-counter

Animated ‘pharmacist-

agent‘

Interactive product category ‚Analgesics‘

The Test Design: Contrasting 8 Test Cellsof systematically varied Patient-Pharmacist Interactions

Patient–Pharmacist Contact

Patient Purchase Decision

A B C D E F G

PATIENT

symptom-related

questions only

symptom-related,

+ 2 add-on,

questions

symptom-related,

+ 4 add-on,

questions

full question list

activated

PATIENT offer rejected offer accepted

PHARMACIST

suggests 'choice candidates'

patient-initiated medication selection

hands over requested product

offers addditional information

patient-requested medication selection

◼ Translate client ideas into experimental plan ◼ Specify relevant factors and their levels

◼ Define required number of test cells (i= 8)

◼ Build „Virtual Pharmacy“ + „Virtual „Pharmacist“ ◼ Build, and populate virtual product category for OTC

Analgesics in a „Virtual Pharmacy“with walkthroughs for consumers

◼ Program interaction scenarios with‚Virtual Pharmacist‘

◼ Conduct Virtual Experiment◼ Recruit n= 8 x 80 = 640 respondents as ‚Virtual

Shoppers‘

◼ Record shopper behaviour

◼ Measure sales

◼ Run exit interviews with shoppers

The ‚Virtual Pharmacy‘ Project

Virtual Pharmacy: Response Measures

Purchase Decision Process

• Pharmacist suggests

6 ‚choice candidates‘

• Customer makes choice

Process Measures• Time spent in category

• Time spent on purchase decision• Contact with individual products• Purchase Decision

Outcome Measures• Sales Volume + Value

• Purchase Decision Quality• Patient Satisfaction

Some Key Results

◼ For purchases of OTC analgesics, decision time shortens, and decision certainty increases when receiving pharmacist counseling

◼ More product options considered under prolonged counseling

◼ More patient compliance in following product instructions when counselled

◼ „More is not better“: Patient satisfaction with pharmacist counseling decreases after peak at 4 questions asked

◼ Sales of heat plasters critically dependent on length of counseling

Implications for Marketing

◼ Underlines the pivotal role of pharmacist as consultant

◼ Need to aggregate findings into‚ communication pack‘ for company-own sales force when visiting pharmacies

◼ Demonstrate, visualise, and explain critical dimensions of consultation roles to pharmacists

◼ Illustrate elements of pharmacist-patient interaction that differentially help sales of individual brands(e.g. ABC Heat Plasters)

◼ Show sales effects for the total category, and for individual brands, of different consultation styles

Project Evaluation: The Client‘s View

‚Virtual In-Pharmacy Research‘ able :

◼ To cope with even very complex research requirements and demands

◼ To provide a ‚protected‘ test environment for exploring many marketing options, no risks, and no competitor intrusion

◼ To yield diverse results,

• from micro-analyses of shopper in-store movements

• to aggregated sales projections

◼ To include other sources of information(e.g. shopper follow-up interviews)

◼ In a controlled test setting

◼ Within short time frames

◼ At reasonable and affordable budgets

Virtual In-Pharmacy Research: The Future

◼ Broadening acceptance base for ‚Virtual Pharmacy Research‘

◼ Expansion of virtual pharmacy research applications,

• from small-scaled one-category-only applications

• to large-scaled applications of entire pharmacy / drugstore environments

◼ Improved ability to build truly immersive retail test environments

◼ Fusion with computer-supported Advisor / Tutor / Agent systems

◼ Web-based solutions, and new business models

• Web-based pharmacy research for multi-country or global projects

ENDThank You.