Switch thinking on generic OTCs, says marketer

Graham Smith

Senior pharmacy marketer Ian Harris, of Hub Marketing, told delegates at the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice and Management conference in Norfolk Island that he believed pharmacists were sending the wrong message when they switched customers to OTC generics.

Mr Harris, who established Hub Marketing after most recently spending eight years working on community pharmacy brands such as Xenical with Roche, said, "When someone walks into your pharmacy and asks for Panadol, and you substitute them, you're basically driving people into supermarkets because you're conditioning them to shop on price. It is absolutely insane," he said.

He acknowledged pharmacists had the authority to advise customers, but believed brand requests by customers should be respected.

"Imagine if someone went to the information kiosk in your shopping centre and said, 'I want to go to John's Pharmacy' and they went 'Look, John's Pharmacy is good, but do you know, the one in the basement is cheaper and in fact, if you go online, it's even cheaper and you get the same stuff'? When you substitute a brand, it is exactly the same thing."

Mr Harris said suppliers were nonplussed by switching.

"Companies have said to me that when pharmacists start substituting our products, they become our competitors.

"And where do they move the battlefield? They move it to supermarkets where they don't get an active substitution. You've become the enemy."