Product Category Effects on External Search for Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs

Abstract

This mail survey compares the information search process for prescription and nonprescription drugs. Data were collected from 205 adults age 45 and older who used both prescription and nonprescription drugs. Results indicate that physicians and pharmacists are the most important information sources for both prescription and nonprescription drugs. However, a comparison between consumers' information search behaviors for the two drug types shows that consumers consider interpersonal sources and mass media sources more important sources for nonprescription drugs than for prescription drugs. Internet sources are considered more important for prescription drug information than for nonprescription drug information.

Moderating effects of contextual factors on relationship between pharmaceutical marketing strategies and physician prescription decision: A review

“…The findings indicate that (1) physicians are more concerned about brand name (2) promotion efforts are less effective on prescription (3) MRs have significant effects on prescribing behaviour.…”

“…The internet provides easy information on drugs to physicians [40]. The spread of the media, in general, has provided physicians with numerous sources of information for decision making when prescribing drugs [1]. Another resource is advertising in the medical journals which communication is the form of information used by firms to persuade the readers of medical journals to prescribe the drug being advertised [24].…”

“…This uniqueness arises from the fact that the marketing strategies employed in the pharmaceutical industry differ from those used in other types of industries [1]. The decision maker is the physician, who decides which drug a patient will purchase, so the main focus of pharmaceutical firms is to influence the decision of the physician.…”

“…The decision maker is the physician, who decides which drug a patient will purchase, so the main focus of pharmaceutical firms is to influence the decision of the physician. Since prescription drugs constitute the major source of revenue for the pharmaceutical industry [2], marketing practices for prescription drugs have received the most attention from the industry [1]. The industry invests heavily in marketing efforts, using 20 -40 % of its revenue [3].…”

A automedicação e a influência de grupos de referência: aplicação da técnica de análise discriminante no mercado de medicamentos over-the-counter

“…Os diversos tipos de propaganda existente têm ofertado informações precisas para os médicos. Uma vez que a busca por informações envolve a forma como o consumidor acessa informações, pode-se esperar que a proliferação dos meios de propaganda disponíveis para prescrição de medicamentos interfere diretamente no processo de decisão (Kim & King, 2009). …”