The global online pharmaceutical retail market has seen significant growth in recent years, and the trend is set to continue even in India. As more people prefer the convenience of ordering their medication online, especially post COVID-19, traditional pharmacies must adapt to stay competitive. During the pandemic, increased demand due to lockdowns and social distancing measures led consumers to rely more on e-commerce platforms for essential needs. Coupled with increased health consciousness, and a need for a robust healthcare system, e-pharmacies became a preferred convenience. However, even with increasing demand, the entry of new players in the online pharmaceutical retail industry can be challenging without the right market entry strategy.

According to this report by Research and Markets, the online pharmacy market in India was valued at INR 25.50 Bn in 2021 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 22.20% from 2022 to 2027, with an estimated worth of INR 89.47 Bn.

Market entry strategy for Online Pharmaceutical Retail

Market entry strategy is crucial for any business, and even more so for online pharmaceutical retail due to the unique challenges and regulations within the industry. Here are 5 reasons why a well-planned market entry strategy is essential for success in the online pharmaceutical retail sector:

1. Regulatory Compliance: The pharmaceutical industry is heavily regulated, and online pharmacies must adhere to strict guidelines to operate legally. Failure to comply with regulations can result in fines or legal action, which can be detrimental to the business. A market entry strategy can help ensure that all regulatory requirements are met before entering the market.
2. Competitive Advantage: Entering a new market can be challenging, particularly in a crowded and competitive industry like e-pharmacy. A well-planned market entry strategy can help a business stand out from its competitors and gain a competitive advantage by identifying unique selling points and differentiators.
3. Target Market Identification: A market entry strategy can help identify the target market and create a marketing plan that resonates with their needs and preferences.
4. Risk Management: Entering a new market involves risks, and a market entry strategy can help identify and mitigate those risks. By conducting thorough research and analysis, businesses can make informed decisions and reduce the likelihood of failure.
5. Allocation: A market entry strategy can help allocate resources such as time, money, and manpower effectively and efficiently to maximize return on investment.

Also, take ideas from our previous blog on: The KENTRIX Advantage

Why Data Analytics?

Data analytics can play a crucial role in developing an effective market entry strategy for online pharmaceutical retail. Here are some ways data analytics can help:

Market Research

Market research is essential to understand the market size, customer demographics, and competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. With data analytics, e-pharmacies can gather and analyze data to determine the potential demand for their products, identify their target customers, and determine their pricing strategy.

Product Selection

Product selection strategy enables e-pharmacies to offer products that meet the needs of their target audience while adhering to regulations. With data analytics, trends can be tracked and the most popular products can be identified, ensuring that the product selection is in line with customer preferences.

Customer Segmentation

With data analytics, companies can analyze customer data, consumer purchase behavior, and demographic data to segment their customers into groups. This can help them tailor their marketing strategy to each group’s specific needs, resulting in better engagement and conversion rates.

Marketing Strategy

With data analytics, the most effective marketing channels and tactics can be identified to reach the targeted customers. The performance of the marketing campaigns can be tracked and the strategy can be adjusted accordingly to maximize ROI.

Impact of AI on Market Entry Strategy

AI and Big Data can provide valuable insights to help online pharmaceutical companies make informed decisions about market entry strategy in e-pharmacy retail. E-pharmacies can use AI to improve consumer profiling, market analytics, pricing optimization, inventory management, and fraud detection. This can help companies to increase their chances of success and gain a competitive advantage in the market. 

AI and big data can also impact market entry strategy greatly through granular market segmentation analysis, especially in a country like India where regional nuances make a huge difference in the consumer psyche. In a country as diverse as India, geospatial consumer data can contribute to a robust market entry strategy by:

Targeting specific geographic areas by identifying regions where there is high demand for specific products, allowing businesses to focus their marketing efforts and tailor their product offerings to meet the needs of those regions.

Identifying customer demographics by providing insights into the demographics of customers in different regions, such as age, income, and education level to predict consumer behavior and trends. 

Forecasting demand by analyzing historical sales data, and using this data to plan inventory levels and optimize pricing strategies.

Geomarketeer by Kentrix is a tool that provides geospatial analysis and market segmentation to help businesses build their market entry strategy and expansion. For e-pharmacies, it can help in identifying the most profitable regions, local customer needs, and preferences. With Geomarketeer, businesses can also gain insights into competitor activity and market trends. The tool uses a combination of data from various sources, including geospatial data, social media, and business intelligence, to provide accurate and detailed insights into market segmentation and consumer spend behavior, which can strengthen market entry strategy and ultimately lead to increased profitability and success.

Also, take ideas from our previous blog on: How do I get the most out of consumer data?

Identifying Customer Profiles through new trends in Market Research 

With the increasing penetration of the internet and smartphones in India the way a customer behaves is changing. This influences purchase and consumption patterns. TO be able to understand this changing pattern in customer behavior , market research as we have traditionally known is changing. To be able to accomplish this understanding  , digital transformation has become an important focus area for market research. Companies are looking to understand the changing consumer behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns in the digital space.

Market research is an important aspect of any business that wants to succeed in today’s competitive landscape. It helps companies identify market trends, understand customer needs and preferences, and make informed decisions that drive growth. In India, market research has become increasingly important as the country’s consumer market continues to evolve and expand. Here are some of the new trends in market research that are helping businesses identify customer profiles in India.

1. Use of advanced analytics

Advancements in analytics technology have made it easier for market researchers to collect, analyse, and interpret large amounts of data. This has led to the development of more sophisticated models and algorithms that can identify patterns and trends in customer behaviour. By using advanced analytics, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviours, and use this information to create targeted marketing campaigns and promotions that resonate with their audience. This is all possible by through large availability of granular data and is changing the way we think aboutvthe possibilities within Market Research. 

2. Focus on mobile research

India is a mobile-first country, with more than 80% of internet users accessing the web through their mobile devices. This has led to an increase in mobile research, which involves using mobile devices to conduct surveys, collect feedback, and gather data on customer behaviour. Being a digital media , Mobile research allows businesses to reach a wider audience and gather real-time data on customer preferences and behaviour. 

Also, take ideas from our previous blog on: What are the changing trends in Consumer Behaviour?

3. Integration of social media data

Social media has become an integral part of the lives of millions of Indians. Businesses are now integrating social media data into their market research efforts to gain insights into customer behaviour and preferences. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide a wealth of data on customer preferences, behaviour, and sentiment, which can be analysed to gain insights into customer profiles which also provide insights on customer affinity. 

4. Focus on regional diversity

India is a diverse country with 29 states and 7 union territories, each with its own unique culture, language, and customs. Market researchers are now focusing on regional diversity to gain a deeper understanding of customer behaviour and preferences. By taking into account regional differences, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with their audience in specific regions. Over and above this is the Neo Indian who has multiple cultural identities woven in one . This becomes and interesting study for Market Research . 

5. Use of artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize market research by automating data collection, analysis, and interpretation. AI-powered tools can help businesses collect data from multiple sources, analyze it in real-time, and generate insights that can inform business decisions. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can also be used to collect feedback from customers and provide personalized recommendations based on their preferences.

Also, take ideas from our previous blog on: Data Analytics with Individual residential building precision

6. Increased focus on customer experience

Customer experience has become a key differentiator for businesses in India. Market researchers are now focusing on understanding the customer journey and identifying pain points that can be addressed to improve the overall customer experience. By gathering data on customer preferences, behaviour, and sentiment, businesses can create personalized experiences that resonate with their audience.

6. Inclusion of sustainability in market research

Sustainability has become an important factor for many Indian consumers, with more and more people looking for environmentally friendly products and services. Market researchers are now including sustainability in their research efforts, gathering data on customer preferences for eco-friendly products and services. This information can help businesses create products and services that are more in line with customer values and preferences.

7. Collaboration with startups

India has a thriving startup ecosystem, with thousands of startups operating in various industries. Market researchers are now collaborating with startups to gain insights into customer behaviour and preferences. Startups can provide valuable data on emerging trends and customer preferences, which can help businesses stay ahead of the curve and create products and services that resonate with their audience.

In conclusion, market research is essential for businesses that want to succeed in today’s competitive landscape. New trends in market research are helping businesses identify customer profiles in India, by using advanced analytics, mobile research, social media data, regional diversity, AI, customer experience, sustainability, and collaboration with startups.

KENTRIX is a solution provider mapping more than 91.5 crores Indians to their average monthly household-level income, urban and rural differentiated classes, providing a deep identification of the consumer variety of the country. This is  the future of Market research . 

How Market Research Boosts Profits 

India is a land of diversity . We rejoice in the culture of multiplicity . Given the diverse work opportunities that have been created in the booming economy , people now have a multi dimensional profile . How do marketing teams then create customer segments ? 

Creating customer segments in now dependent on a variety of factors depending on the nature of the business.  It is common sense that a jewellery retailer would segment the market differently as compared to an FMCG retailer. The entire exercise of customer segmentation would be conducted differently for either of these businesses.  

A popular new age business that is known for its success is the Food Delivery business. Let us understand how we can look at Customer Segmentation for this business.  

In today’s fast-paced world, food delivery companies have become an integral part of our lives. With the convenience of ordering food from the comfort of our homes, it’s no wonder that the food delivery industry has grown rapidly over the past few years. However, with the increasing competition in this industry, it has become crucial for food delivery companies to understand their customers and cater to their needs effectively. It is not just about the allocation of delivery resources but also important to understand the placement of partner cloud kitchens . This is where customer segmentation comes in.

Customer segmentation refers to the process of dividing customers into groups based on their characteristics, needs, and preferences. By segmenting customers, food delivery companies can better understand their customers’ behaviour and tailor their offerings to meet their specific needs. In this blog post, we will discuss how food delivery companies can use customer segmentation to their advantage.

Geographic Segmentation

One of the most basic forms of customer segmentation is geographic segmentation. This involves dividing customers based on their location. For example, a food delivery company operating in India can divide its customers based on areas in the city or region they are in. This allows the company to tailor its offerings to meet the specific needs and preferences of customers in each region.

For instance, customers in certain pockets of Mumbai may prefer spicy food, while other pocket customers may prefer milder flavours. By understanding these area wise differences, food delivery companies can offer menus that cater to the specific tastes of their customers. Moreover, they can also target their marketing efforts to specific regions for a specific kind of cuisine to increase their reach and visibility.

Demographic Segmentation

Another important form of customer segmentation is demographic segmentation. This involves dividing customers based on demographic variables such as age, gender, income, education, etc. For example, a food delivery company may find that its customers in the age group of 18-25 prefer fast food or trendy cuisines, while customers in the age group of 40-50 prefer traditional cuisine.

By understanding these demographic differences, food delivery companies can offer menus that cater to the specific needs and preferences of each demographic group. 

Also, take ideas from our previous blog on: Consumer Profiling Can Help You Elevate Your Business in 5 Ways

Psychographic Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation is another important form of customer segmentation. This involves dividing customers based on their lifestyle, interests, and personality traits. For example, a food delivery company may find that its customers who are health-conscious prefer organic or low-calorie food, while customers who are adventurous may be more willing to try new and exotic cuisines.

By understanding these psychographic differences, food delivery companies can offer menus that cater to the specific needs and preferences of each psychographic group. They can also target their marketing efforts to specific psychographic groups to increase their reach and visibility.

Behavioural Segmentation

Behavioural segmentation involves dividing customers based on their behaviour or purchasing patterns. For example, a food delivery company may find that its frequent customers order food at least twice a week, while customers who have not ordered in a while may need a little incentive to come back.

By understanding these behavioural differences, food delivery companies can offer personalized discounts or loyalty rewards to their frequent customers to keep them coming back. They can also target their marketing efforts to customers who have not ordered in a while with promotional offers to entice them back.

Occasion-based Segmentation

Occasion-based segmentation involves dividing customers based on the occasion or reason for their order. For example, a food delivery company may find that customers ordering food for a party or special occasion may have different requirements and preferences than customers ordering food for themselves on a regular basis.

By understanding these occasion-based differences, food delivery companies can offer menus and packages that cater to the specific needs and preferences of customers for each occasion. 

In conclusion, customer segmentation is an important strategy for food delivery companies to effectively cater to their customers’ needs and preferences.

Kentrix offers a simple solution which provides data up to an  individual residential  building precision. 

Kentrix is an Inclusive Business Intelligence Platform for consumer data-driven solutions in B2C and D2C, operating on data of 91.5 crores of Indian consumers.

They are identified down to the precise residential place of living.

Geomarketeer from Kentrix is a granular market segmentation analysis tool. It supports companies in India with geo-location-based intelligence, using micro-market-focused data and tools to sustainably grow their business.

Also, take ideas from our previous blog on: How Data plays a key role in D2C businesses

By delivering this information on the Software as a Service (Saas) platform, Geomarketeer allows organizations of any size to quickly get started with market research and data-backed insights.

The important part of the tool is that it will not just allow you to check Customer-Product Affinities but also Understand where, up to an individual  residential building precision, is the right target for a specific product.

5 Ways Karma Can Help You Elevate Your Business Through Consumer Profiling

Increasingly for businesses the world over, consumer profiling is emerging as a powerful tool to gain insights into the behaviors, preferences, and needs of their customers. By analyzing data from various sources such as social media, e-commerce platforms, and mobile apps, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their customers and tailor their marketing and sales strategies accordingly.

Karma by Kentrix is a comprehensive customer profiling and analytics tool that can help businesses gain insights into consumer behavior and preferences. In this article, we will explore 5 ways in which consumer profiling can help elevate your business, and how tools like Karma can help you achieve these goals.

1. Personalized Marketing in consumer profiling

One of the biggest advantages of consumer profiling is to help you create more personalized marketing campaigns that resonate better with your target audience. By analyzing customer browsing and purchase history, you can gain insights into their interests and preferences. You can then use this information to create targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to convert. When a brand offers tailored experiences, consumers are 80% more likely to make a purchase, according to Epsilon. This shows the effectiveness of personalized marketing campaigns.

With Karma, businesses can gain deep insights into their customers’ buying patterns, preferences, and interests. This information can be used to develop marketing campaigns that are tailored to individual customers’ needs, resulting in better retargeting, and a more personalized and engaging experience. The software can segment customers based on various factors such as demographic information, past purchase behavior, and browsing history. Additionally, Karma enables businesses to track and measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, allowing them to refine their strategies and optimize their ROI.

2. Customer Segmentation

Another important benefit is being able to segment your customers into different groups based on their behaviors and preferences. By analyzing data from various touchpoints, you can create customer profiles that are based on demographics, browsing behavior, purchase history, and more. This allows you to tailor your marketing efforts to specific segments of customers, increasing the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Karma’s customer analysis segmentation capabilities are powered by AI and ML algorithms that can identify patterns and correlations within customer data. This enables businesses to group customers into segments based on common characteristics. Once customers are segmented, you can then create targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with each group. For example, you can choose to show your ads to new parents from a certain income group only, knowing that new parents have previously made a purchase or shown interest within your product category. The chances of repeat purchases or of trying a new product will be higher in this case. You can also use customer segmentation to create customized product recommendations, loyalty programs, and targeted promotions.

3. Improved Customer Experience

Sentiment analysis is a technique that can be used to evaluate customer feedback and extract insights into their opinions, emotions, and attitudes toward a product or service. By analyzing customer sentiment, businesses can identify areas where they are performing well and areas where they need to improve to enhance customer experience.

With sentiment analysis through data collected over various digital touchpoints, you can:

• Improve product and service offerings by understanding customer sentiments towards specific products and services and making data-driven decisions to provide a better customer experience.
• Enhance customer support by analyzing sentiment in customer service interactions and identifying areas where your agents are performing well and areas where they need additional training.
• Monitor brand reputation by observing sentiment across various social media channels and online review platforms, proactively addressing negative sentiment, and protecting brand reputation.

Karma offers sentiment analysis as one of its key features and uses natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to extract sentiment from customer feedback in real-time. This enables you to quickly identify issues and respond proactively to customer concerns as well as track sentiment trends over time, identify areas of improvement, and take corrective action to enhance customer experience.

4. Optimized Pricing Strategies

Consumer profiling can also help you optimize your pricing strategies by analyzing customer spending behavior. By understanding customer spend potential and willingness to spend on certain products or services, you can optimize your prices to maximize revenue.

Karma analyzes customer behavior, purchasing patterns, and market trends, to provide insights on the pricing points that will be most effective for a particular product or service. With this tool, you can understand customer engagement, sentiment, and purchase history, and use it to identify pricing strategies that are most likely to drive sales and increase customer loyalty. The platform can also help you determine which products or services are most profitable, and which may need to be adjusted to meet changing market conditions. A key feature of Karma is its ability to perform dynamic pricing, which allows you to adjust prices in real-time based on market conditions and customer behavior. This can help your business stay competitive and maximize revenue by offering the right price at the right time. With predictive analytics, Karma can help your business identify pricing trends and patterns over time, allowing you to adjust pricing strategies to better align with market conditions and customer preferences. By tracking these trends and patterns, you can make better-informed decisions on pricing, and improve your bottom line.

5. Fraud Detection

You can detect fraudulent activities through consumer profiling by identifying patterns and anomalies in consumer behavior that may indicate deceptive activity. By analyzing various data points such as purchase history, location, the device used, and other behavioral data, fraud can be detected before it causes significant financial losses to a business.

Karma can play a vital role in fraud detection through consumer profiling by providing advanced analytics tools that can identify unusual patterns and deviations in consumer behavior. Karma’s ML algorithms can analyze large datasets and provide insights into consumer behavior and flag suspicious behavioral changes. Additionally, Karma can also integrate with external fraud detection tools and provide a more comprehensive view of consumer behavior.

Consumer profiling has become a crucial aspect of any successful business strategy. It helps businesses understand their customers in a more meaningful way, leading to better decision-making and ultimately improving their bottom line. Karma Consumer Profile is a powerful tool that can help businesses of all sizes create comprehensive customer profiles by leveraging big data analytics. Businesses can then use this information to tailor marketing campaigns, personalized product recommendations, optimize inventory management, and improve customer service. The benefits of consumer profiling are clear, with increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability being just a few examples.

As the retail industry continues to evolve and consumer expectations change, businesses that fail to invest in consumer profiling risk being left behind. With the increasing amount of data available, now is the time to explore tools like Karma to unlock the full potential of consumer profiling and take your business to the next level.

If you would like to know more about the product, click here.