Trade Marketing in the pharmaceutical industry: the process of category management

<p style="text-align: justify;">The test objects of the research of this paper are the customers of pharmacy chain, which was involved in the project of category management. The project was initiated by &ldquo;Sanofi&rdquo; company, which is a global diversified pharmaceutical company dominating on both global and local Russian market.</p><p>The work objective is to develop a plan of deployment and implementation of the process of category management in one of the Russian largest pharmacy chain, as well as analysis of the effect of the process on customers&rsquo; behavior.</p><p>In order to accomplish the objective in view, the following list of missions was carried out:</p><p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sales analysis of all drugs (SKU) of GIT-category;</p><p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Based on preceding research, the conclusions concerning the names of categories and subcategories of drugs, most transparent to ultimate customers, were drawn;</p><p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Appropriate recommendations were made to the retailer on the grounds of sales analysis.</p><p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The recommendations were implemented by mutual agreement between pharmacy chain and our company.</p><p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The obtained results were used for subsequent conclusions and recommendations for the subject of the research.</p><p>The framework methodology of category management of the process was based on the information, obtained during workshops in &ldquo;Sanofi&rdquo; company. The methodology planning and implementation of the process management, described is that paper, was examined in practical terms during the execution of the project.</p><p>The result of the research is instantiation of key hypothesis: the implementation of category management process enhances customers&rsquo; retention to the chain in question, which used better navigation in retail point, as well as elaboration of stocks, shelf space, pricing and promo-planning.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>In the course of practical study, recommendation concerning the construction and expansion of category management were formed.</p><p>The survey comprises three chapters:</p><p>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Theoretical suppositions of category management genesis.</p><p>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Methodological approach described in eight steps &ndash; from planning to implementation and analysis of the results.</p><p>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Practical application of the methodology with the evolvement of pharmaceutical producer and pharmacy chain.&nbsp;</p>