Evaluation of the Indian Wound Care Market

This chapter discusses the results and findings of this research and also gives an insight to the opportunities and risks associated with entering the Indian wound care market. It also sights some recommendations to MediGlobe Corporation, based on the findings.

5.1. Significant Findings and Interpretation

Evaluation of the Indian Wound Care Market

The Indian wound care market is evaluated to be a Rs.5210 millions, competitive market, where the products are available across a wide range of quality and price points. The smallest segment in the Indian wound care market is the advanced wound care, because it is perceived to be of high cost and low benefit. The trend is now shifting from traditional wound care to advanced wound care. Advanced wound care is practiced in only large private or corporate healthcares that can afford to pay for the high costs advanced wound care materials

Demand for GLYCOcell products in India

This research has been conducted on such healthcares where advanced wound care is affordable. There exists a demand for GLYCOcell wound care products in the small advanced wound care segment of Indian wound care market. GLYCO-cell has all the features most desired by the respondents in their wound dressings, such as properties of absorbance, painless dressing changes, possibility of using with various catheters and infection control. As evident from the research, there is a demand for wound care products that can assist in the healing of chronic wounds, reduce the frequency of dressing changes, and can be used with various catheters. German quality standards are regarded high in this industry, and most doctors have shown interest in using samples for better understanding of the effectiveness of the product GLYCO-cell, so that they can decide upon further purchase.

Awareness about MediGlobe

Most purchase officials agree to have least awareness about the company. The doctors interviewed, said that they have never heard of this company before. Efforts need to be made in this direction to spread awareness about the company through journals, medical conferences, etc.

Perception of the German quality

The German quality standards hold a high regard in the minds of all purchase department officials. It is believed that German products are highly priced due to their high quality standards. Majority of the hospitals aim to provide affordable healthcare to their customers. So they do not intend to purchase expensive materials.

Potential Customers

All the top private healthcares and major corporate hospitals can be potential customers for GLYCOcell. These healthcares have high reputation and strive to provide high quality healthcare services. They also have high purchasing power, and therefore can afford expensive and more effective medical supplies.

Purchase Decision Process

The purchase department replenishes the stock of wound care supplies based on price factors or quality factors. They usually opt for the existing suppliers or brands. Sometimes, doctors recommend for purchasing the products of a brand, either based on their previous experiences or may be to try new products, under the influence of Sales and Marketing Representatives. In some of the hospitals the doctor’s had no, or very less participation in influencing the purchase decision of the purchase officials. The purchase was mainly based on price or sometimes brand.

The parameters that most influence the purchase decisions of the target market are Price and Quality followed by Doctor’s recommendation.

Competitors

The major competitors of MediGlobe in the Indian wound care market are 3M Healthcare and Johnson and Johnson.

Products offerings

The wound care products of 3M Healthcare consist of 3M Surgical Tapes, 3M Tegaderm I.V. and 3M Transparent Dressing, and 3M Tegaderm Transparent Dressing with Non-Adherent Absorbent Pad.

3M Surgical Tapes- This full line of hypoallergenic, latex free surgical tapes from 3M includes paper, silk, soft cloth, plastic and foam tapes – with backing and adhesive characteristics to address specific taping needs.

3M Tegaderm I.V. and 3M Transparent Dressing is designed to secure the catheter in challenging I.V. applications, reduce edge lift and to seal around the insertion site.

3M Tegaderm Transparent Dressing with Non-Adherent Absorbent Pad- This composite dressing is a sterile, waterproof bacterial barrier which consists of a non-adherent absorbent pad bonded to a larger thin film transparent dressing.

The wound care products of Johnson and Johnson are Band-Aid, and JohnsonPlast.

Band-Aid is a medicated dressing available in regular and wash proof forms. JohnsonPlast is a non-medicated adhesive tape plaster used to stick surgical dressings on boils, burns and large wounds that cannot be covered by medicated dressings.

Modus Operandi

The primary methods of sales opted by the competitors is the wholesaler-stockist channel or through institutional business.

In the pharmaceutical distribution business, first the manufacturer supplies goods to a CFA (Carrying and Forwarding Agent), a super stockist or a company-owned depot. These, in turn, supply to stockists from where goods are routed to wholesalers, medical institutions, hospitals and retailers. Manufacturers can directly supply to institutions and hospitals but never to retailers. Refer Fig.5.1.

Fig 5.1- Distribution system(Source:- http://www.domain-b.com/industry/pharma/20000107distribution_channels.html)

Promotions are mainly done to the doctors and purchase officers. Several marketing programs are used, to maintain close ties with a huge number of their customers. Efforts are made to educate the customers regarding the usage procedures of new products to ensure better benefits and further appreciation from their customers.

Main focus is on strengthening the distribution to ensure that the customers can easily access them.

Risks of entering the Indian Wound Care Market

Advanced wound care is still a small segment of the Indian Wound Care market. GLYCOcell being an advanced wound care product, may face some obstacles initially.

High competition from already established players, like 3M Healthcare and Johnson and Johnson. These players have strong distribution systems and promotion strategies to keep hold of their market share, and ward off any competition. The top healthcares believe in the existing brands and are reluctant to change to new brands.

Least awareness about the MediGlobe Corporation, is a potential risk, in the highly competitive Indian wound care market. Awareness about the company and its products should be spread, to doctors and purchase officers.

The market is price sensitive. The purchase officials often base their purchase decisions on price. MediGlobe intends to price GLYCOcell at a premium level for the Indian markets. Purchase officials are reluctant to purchase such products because even the large healthcares aim to provide affordable healthcare services to their customers.

Opportunities of entering Indian Markets

Indian wound care market is a 5210 million market, and the trend is now shifting from traditional wound care to advanced wound care. It is therefore, a good opportunity to capture this segment.

Demand for better wound care products in the medical fraternity who are currently using traditional wound care products and desire for more efficient and effective new wound care products. Mediglobe can meet these demands by introducing its GLYCOcell products.

German quality is highly regarded in Indian medical supplies industry. This can give some advantages to GLYCOcell as a German brand, in terms of reliability. It can be noted that quality plays an important role along with price in influencing the purchase decisions.

GLYCOcell has all the features desired most by the healthcare providers. Therefore it can sustain competition from the players if efficient market entry, awareness and distribution measures are taken by MediGlobe Corporation.

Recommendations to MediGlobe

Limitations of this Research

This research has some limitations which have been mentioned below.

Some sources cited in the Chapter 2, Literature Review are not from technical documents such as journal articles, reports, or books, because least information is available in online library databases, journal articles, reports or books about the Wound Care Market in India.

Budgetary constraints affected the survey. Respondents located in Chennai, Goa, and Delhi had filled the questionnaires online. This could not provide personal interaction with the respondents, to clear their doubts, if any, regarding the questions. This could have led to some misleading responses.

Time constraints prevented from doing an elaborate competitor analysis and finding the possibility of selling the GLYCOcell products in pharmacies.

Although qualitative research requires small and focused samples, the sample size for interviews conducted is quite small.

The above constraints and assumptions may have lead to some errors or anomalies in the results.

Recommendations for Future Research

In the course of this study I could identify some areas where further research is possible.

An elaborate competitor analysis can be carried out, to have a better insight into the competitor’s product offerings, strategies and modus operandi.

The possibility of selling certain products of GLYCOcell via pharmacies can be assessed.

This qualitative research can be followed by quantitative research to estimate the market share of competitors and expected market share or expected sales of GLYCOcell in the Indian wound care market.

Research can be carried out to establish concrete market entry strategies for MediGlobe to enter the Indian markets.