June 11, 2020
By Trevor Gore
The UKs National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently said “Collaboration within the healthcare sector can overcome some of the challenges of remote treatment by pooling together the expertise and resources of the NHS, pharmaceutical companies and other organisations within the industry. Successful partnerships and joint working initiatives can lead to improved patient experiences and outcomes.”. For example, there have been trials into the use of drones to deliver medicines to patients who are self-isolating.
We, in the Consumer Healthcare Industry, are not immune from the spread of a new challenge, the need to have a digital strategy, and, for one of the treatments, COLLABORATION”
Our consumers are ahead of many Consumer Healthcare companies in their adoption of digital health. The telehealth market had already been expected to grow by $95.72 billion between 2020 and 2024, and this was before the Corona -19 pandemic.
Many of the habits we’ve established during the pandemic are likely to stick as we have seen that it is possible, in most cases, to receive the same level of medical care from the comfort of our own homes. But will this have an impact on Consumer Healthcare brands?
Well first, many of us have realised that online shopping isn’t the gateway drug to massive over consumption, and that shopping trends are likely to continue. So what? Well our friends at Amazon have already launched ‘Basic Care’, an exclusive line of Perrigo OTC health products. Then, there are patients with chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, where it is estimated that sufferers of diabetes spend around 1/3 more on OTC medication than non-sufferers. So what happens when they no longer visit the retailer to get their diabetes meds? No exposure to our OTC brands. No examination and recommendation from the friendly neighbourhood pharmacist for skin products!
Competition, by its very nature, is wasteful of resources. Duplication of POS, consumer leaflets etc. How about learning to collaborate? Here at XPotential and The Consumer Healthcare Training Academy, we always talk about a WIN-WIN-WIN scenario. The brand, the retailer and the consumer all must benefit from any initiative. Imagine collaborating with a diabetes brand to provide the pharmacist with information on skin care, that they can then share with their patient when they remotely order their diabetes medications. Everyone’s a winner.
Did you know that Collaboration is a professional business discipline, with an international standard (ISO44001) and you can ensure you don’t make many of the mistakes that some partnerships encounter? And be honest with yourself. Does your organisation have the talent and infrastructure to deliver an omni channel, consumer friendly, digital experience? Or are you going to need outside help?
Trevor Gore Owner of Maestro Consulting and XPotential Senior Associate
