Effective Determinants of Consumer Buying Decision on OTC Medications: Digital Marketing, Brand Experience, and Reference Groups

Abstract

The growing over-the-counter (OTC) medication sector within the pharmaceutical industry gains competitive advantages through digital marketing where the companies must reevaluate their infrastructure and their marketing techniques to get through this evaluation. This study aims to analyze the influence of developing pharmaceutical marketing on consumer purchase decision of OTC medication. An empirical online survey was conducted based on a self-administrated questionnaire to assess the impact of pharmaceutical digital marketing, reference groups, and brand experience toward consumer decision on OTC purchase. Primary data were collected using the questionnaire from 158 pharmacies’ consumers in North Cyprus (Famagusta, Nicosia, and Kyrenia), and SPSS software is used to analyze the data. Eventually, the findings indicated that consumers in North Cyprus are aware of the use of OTC medications for common ailments and that pharmaceutical companies, the government, and other health stakeholders have a responsibility to increase consumer knowledge and awareness about the safe and effective use of OTC medications, particularly through the digital channels.

Who Are the Online Medication Shoppers? A Market Segmentation of the Swedish Welfare State

“…Unfortunately, there is a high multicollinearity between the psychographic variables (see method discussion). The benefit with psychographic variables is that they theoretically explain phenomena better than demographic, geographic and behavioral factors, in other words why the phenomenon occurs [8]. Therefore, it is interesting to notice from additional analyses (although not presented here) that certain psychographic variables are subordinate to gender, and therefore can help us understand why women buy more medicines online than men-women are, for instance, more extroverted and perceive inner harmony as more valuable.…”

“…Research from other countries has indicated that the perception of risk versus trust towards online pharmacies are important for the consumers experience towards buying medicines online [8] and that digital pharmaceutical marketing as well as convenience are important factors for the consumers decision making when it comes to buying OTC medicine online [9,26].…”

“…Among the Swedish public, there is a tendency that more and more people purchase medicines online [7]. However, knowledge about the demand side is scarce and insufficient to delineate reasons why people choose to purchase medicines online instead of at physical pharmacies [7][8][9]. In the present study, we draw on findings from a national representative survey with the aim of examining the characteristics of the Swedish public who buy medicines online.…”

The Effect of Lifestyle and Reference Groups on E-Cigarette Purchasing Decisions

“…Members of a group that has a substantial impact on a person's views and conduct are referred to as reference groups (White & Dahl 2006;Yan-mei et al 2011). Reference group affects their member ideas, attitudes, and decisions (Aghaei & Alarsali 2022;Daud 2022). When a customer purchases a product, the reference group establishes a style that will be emulated or used as an example (Lutfie & Hidayat 2017;Miswanto et al 2020).…”

“…For instance, Anoraga and Iriani's (2014) research found that the reference group influences the smartphone buyer's purchase decisions. Aghaei and Alarsali (2022) discovered that the reference group has a favorable and considerable influence on customers' decisions to purchase medications. According to certain studies, the reference group influences purchasing decisions favorably (Anoraga & Iriani 2014;Daud 2022;Harnoto & Silintowe 2018;Lutfie & Hidayat 2017;Miswanto et al 2020;Oktavianingsih & Setyawati 2020).…”