INTRODUCTION

Dr. Shah is a renowned practicing dermatologist who has come up with a herbal product derived from
the leafs of the plant Samudra Shosh. He has named the product Mayaderm and claims that the
product can heal a range of cuts, burns and wounds. Dr Shah has tried various marketing strategies to
sell his product but the sales are not as per his expectations. With the increase in costs for promotion,
distribution and production, the profit margin for Dr. Shah has declined.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

Dr. Shah wanted to conduct clinical trials at Civil hospital but was not permitted on account

of it being called quackery.

The test results to test for safety and efficacy of Mayaderm at a center in Ahmedabad did not

reveal anything about the efficacy of the product.

All medical representatives appointed by Dr. Shah quit their jobs.
Retailers and Chemists were not having enough stock of Mayaderm.
In spite of having patents for a mouth gel and an itching cream, these products were never

considered for launch by Dr. Shah.

Dr. Shah prepared different compositions of the cream for different ailments but still launched

only one product to treat multiple ailments.

Atra pharmaceuticals itself produces Herbal products. Giving non exclusive marketing rights
for selling mayaderm to such a company may prove dangerous.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
How can we increase sales of Mayaderm and in turn net profit for Dr. Shah?

OPTIONS
1. TARGET AUDIENCE:
a. Dr. Shah first had the chance to experiment with Mayaderm when he got to treat Dr
Somnath Shukla. Later at VS Hospital, Mayaderm was so useful in treating foulsmelling ulcer that nurses started requesting their doctors to use the product.
There is no doubt that Dr. Shahs Mayaderm is highly effective while treating ulcers.
However, on further research, Dr Shah was also able to prepare different formulations
of Samudra Shosh which could be used to cure many other diseases. Its also worth
noting that Dr. Shah also has two similar patents to his name, namely Maya Mouth
Gel for conditions of mouth and Anti Pruritic Paint (APP) for itching.
Hence Dr. Shah to churn out these two products too in the market. With three

products under his belt, it would hence be easier for him to find new distributors and
therefore reach the masses.
b. Generally, Herbal and Ayurvedic products are not prescribed by doctors to patients. It
is high reputation that Dr. Shah enjoys in Gujarat and the word of mouth that has
made many Doctors prescribe it to their patients. However, if we are looking at a
broader picture, this word of mouth strategy will not work at national level. Hence,
Dr. Shah has to start directly pitching his product to the masses instead of doctors and
chemists through medical representatives. For that Dr. Shah will have to do a
marketing campaign whereby describing the unique feature of the product through
various channels like television, radio and newspaper.
c. Get certification about the efficacy of the product from various labs and rating
agencies. This will increase the goodwill of the product in front of doctors and they
will then be easily convinced by the medical representative to prescribe the product to
their patients.
2. Distribution Chain Issue:
a. Dr. Shah should terminate his marketing contract with Atra Pharmaceuticals as it is
the case of conflict of interests. There have been repeated complaints from
retailers/chemists that they are not able to honour the prescriptions given by doctors
as they have no stock with them. Atra Pharmaceuticals is also into the manufacturing
and sale of generic products, herbal formulations and pharmaceuticals intermediaries
and hence they have all reasons to prevent Mayaderm reaching the retailers/chemists.
Also, when Dr Shah plans to expand in the future, his products may again clash with
those of Atra. Hence Dr. Shah should terminate the contract. He should follow the
same model like he did during the early 2000s with the help of Tuton
Pharmaceuticals. However he needs to make sure that what happened at that time is
not repeated. Hence he should make sure that the medical representatives that are
hired are nicely paid and he should arrange frequent meeting with them to understand
b.

the market scenario and keep the representatives motivated.

Dr Shah can sign a contract with a new company to market it through them.
However proper care should be taken to ensure that the stock with retailers/chemists

is in sync with the market demand

c. Maintain the status quo with Atra Pharmaceuticals. However as an incentive to make
them distribute stock to retailers/chemists, there margin on the sales should be
increased.

CRITERIA
All the options in Target Audience have been rated on 4 basic criteria, namely Sales, Operating Cost,
Customer Perception and Investment required.

Similarly, for Distribution Chain issue, the 3 criteria are Sales, Operating Cost, Risk factor and Future
Prospects.

EVALUATION PROCESS
Sales

Operating Cost

Customer

Investment
Required
Not Much
Too High

1. A)
1. B)

Increases
Substantial

Marginal Increase
Substantial

Satisfaction
Increases
Same

1. C)

Increase
Slight Increase

Increase
Same

Same

Not Much

2. A)
2. B)
2. C)

Sales
Increase
Increase
May/ May not

Operating Cost
Reduces
Same
Increases

Risk Factor
High
High
Same

Future Prospects
Good
Good
Not Good

increase

RECOMMENDATION
As we can see, for the targeting a bigger audience, strategy (1. A) needs to be adopted. Funds are not
something that very readily available with Dr. Shah and hence it would be recommended that he first
increases his reach to the masses by providing more products and once he has set his foot firmly into
the regional market, go for strategy (2. A) by targeting the masses.
As far as the issue of distribution chain is concerned, its better that Dr. Shah adopts a similar
marketing strategy as he did in early 2000s again. Its a tried and tested formula and was working for
Dr. Shah until the resignations from representative. He should take care that that situation is not
repeated again.