Demand cycle: the high incidence of hyperlipidemia has not been translated into purchasing power.
The huge market and the successful precedent of hypolipidemic products in the international drug market have greatly stimulated the nerves of Chinese entrepreneurs.
However, in theory, reducing blood fat is a market of10 billion yuan, but the actual performance of this market is far from the theoretical value-although from the outside, this market seems bustling and has unlimited opportunities.
According to the data retrieved from the Ministry of Health, by the end of 2002, among the nearly 3,000 kinds of domestic health foods approved by the state, 2/3 of them mainly regulate immunity, regulate blood lipid and resist fatigue, and there are no less than 1000 kinds of health products with the function of regulating blood lipid.
In the OTC market where the market and health care products are highly coincident, the total number of hypolipidemic drugs is not less than 200. In addition to domestic health care products and OTC products, the market is flooded with a large number of products without batch numbers, including "imported" foreign health care products and local health food.
What is the market performance of so many hypolipidemic products? In sharp contrast to many products aimed at the lipid-lowering market, the actual purchasing power of the lipid-lowering market is very bleak. Although there is no accurate statistical data, according to the comprehensive information, Platinum Planning estimated that the total sales of lipid-lowering products in the OTC and health care products market in China in 2002 was less than 654.38 billion yuan, of which it is estimated that more than 50% was divided by OTC drugs, followed by conventional health care products with multiple health care functions, such as Li 'ang Duobang and garlic oil, which only sought to regulate blood lipids.
Lack of education: the reasons for the poor performance of lipid-lowering health care products and OTC products
Since the end of 1990s, the attractive lipid-lowering market has frustrated many enterprises-among these enterprises, there are some small and medium-sized enterprises with average strength, and there are also some well-known enterprises, such as famous Madam Pharmaceutical, Chengdu Di 'ao and Panlong Haiyun.
200 1 Hanlin Qingzhi, who started the national market operation, once placed heavy expectations on Mrs. Yao. Taitai Pharmaceutical hired Yam Tat-wah, a Hong Kong star, as the image spokesperson, to shoot exquisite advertisements on TV for the target consumer groups with high positions, high income and high pressure, and to bombard the advertisements with the appeal of "clear every day, so that the blood lipid is no longer high". In half a year, Mrs. Pharmaceutical spent more than 30 million. However, the huge advertisement of Hanlin Qingzhi is not satisfactory. After nearly a year of operation, Taitai Pharmaceutical stopped the marketing of Hanlin Qingzhi.
Why did Taitai Pharmaceutical fail? This shows a major feature of the hypolipidemic market-the market is not yet mature.
Consumers in China are not very clear about what hyperlipidemia is and what harm it has. According to a survey, only 25% of people with hyperlipidemia know that they have hyperlipidemia, and only about 20% know the harm of hyperlipidemia. To make matters worse, even patients who know more about hyperlipidemia rarely take measures. This is the actual situation of the hypolipidemic market-the market is extremely immature. In this case, it is difficult to play a big role simply by "calling for lowering blood fat".
Dongyu Xuepingkang, which was popularized in Harbin at the end of 2000, adopted a completely different communication strategy from Hanlin Qingzhi. When the company started the market in Harbin, it adopted the media combination strategy of "soft text+hard advertisement" of Harbin Daily. Soft writing starts from social stories and social phenomena, threatening some symptoms of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; Hard advertisements placed on the same page turn hyperlipidemia into "blood viscosity" and directly appeal to improve blood viscosity and remove blood waste. The communication strategy of Dongyu Xuepingkang is direct intimidation, which makes consumers impulse to buy by comparing the symptoms of patients. In the terminal operation, Xuepingkang quickly digested the ground high-altitude publicity through the terminal SP promotion activities.
Dongyu Xuepingkang took this measure and produced sales in a short time. But Dong Pingkang.
After the market introduction period, with the decline of advertising volume, its sales volume shrank rapidly and failed to enter the growth period smoothly as expected. What is the reason?
Dongyu Xuepingkang's intimidation strategy, although avoiding the education of lowering blood lipid and saving a lot of communication costs, has a reasonable input-output ratio in a short time, but consumers are not really convinced-they are not buying products that lower blood lipid, but quickly eliminating symptoms. However, lowering blood fat is a slow-acting product, and it is difficult for consumers to feel the effect of advertising promises in the middle of taking it, so once the advertisement stops, the sales volume will drop rapidly-as long as consumers are not persuaded, lowering blood fat will not accumulate.
The operation of Dongyu Xuepingkang shows the second characteristic of the hypolipidemic market: this market is a slow-heating market. Because consumers can't feel the effect of the product, it is doomed to be unsuitable for the blood lipid lowering market to get to the point of symptoms, promise curative effect and unreasonable tricks.
Sue is a rare successful case among the products for reducing blood fat. The strategy adopted by Jinri is to ignore the education of lowering blood fat and directly resort to the consequences of lowering blood fat-protecting the heart and strengthening the brain. In terms of communication, Jinri put in a large number of newspaper and TV advertisements, all of which have the same characteristics, and directly called for protecting the heart and strengthening the brain to avoid market education.
The success of Jin Ri Yuan Xinsu shows the third characteristic of the market of hypolipidemic drugs. It is the patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases who are most likely to impress consumers with hypolipidemic products-but it also means competing with prescription drugs for the market.
Hyperlipidemia is a chronic disease with no external symptoms, only the silent consequences of "arteriosclerosis". When the blood vessel blockage exceeds 70%, patients can feel the symptoms-because hyperlipidemia lacks symptoms, once it comes on, it will bring serious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Hyperlipidemia is called silent killer.
It is difficult for consumers to perceive, which is a barrier to the development market of hypolipidemic products; Once hyperlipidemia is detected in the hospital, more people will choose drugs under the recommendation of doctors-in this case, OTC and health care products obviously have little chance.
Future development: polarization will appear in the new climax.
Although the market for reducing blood fat is still a bit depressed, although many powerful enterprises have won the battle in Chen Sand, and although the market is still immature, there are still a large number of manufacturers aiming at this rich market. According to our monitoring of the market, the hypolipidemic products in Beijing, Guangzhou and other cities have also started to heat up gradually, from the types of products to the amount of advertisements.
We believe that although the lipid-lowering market is difficult to develop, it is still full of opportunities, and it is still a rare rich mine, but it is buried deeper.
Lipid-lowering health products and OTC products are facing the squeeze of prescription drugs, but it should be noted that in South America, Asia and other markets at the same development level as China, the sales of over-the-counter drugs account for more than 40% of the total retail sales of drugs. From the perspective of foreign markets, healthy foods that can regulate blood lipids also have excellent performance. In the American market, the sales of healthy foods that regulate blood lipids are as big as prescription drugs.
How will the lipid-lowering market perform in the next few years?
In the next few years, there will still be a large number of health care products companies involved in the blood lipid lowering market. On the whole, the hypolipidemic market will maintain a rapid upward trend. The reason is that with the promotion of health education by relevant state departments, media, non-governmental organizations and manufacturers, consumers' health awareness has been improved, and people have gradually realized the harm of hyperlipidemia.
We believe that in the new upsurge of developing hypolipidemic products, health care products that regulate blood lipids will be polarized. For powerful manufacturers, the strategy of leading the total cost can be adopted, and the products can be positioned as low-cost conventional health care products, similar to fish oil products, to attract daily health care people at a lower price; Another kind of health care products will learn from the essence of service marketing, from simple product sales to providing consumers with comprehensive health services.
What factors should enterprises interested in blood lipid-lowering health care products pay attention to when exploring the market?
We recommend that these enterprises:
1. Combine the long-term development goals with the short-term sales plan. In the short term, such products should still adhere to the "sales orientation". At the same time, we should continue to explore low-cost market development, explore effective market education methods, and actively explore effective marketing models, waiting for the arrival of the lipid-lowering market boom;
Don't overestimate the market. It is best for new enterprises to adopt OEM and other forms, and it is best to avoid investing a lot in fixed facilities and concentrate resources on market development;
3. Pay attention to the regional differences in the lipid-lowering market. China's hypolipidemic market, southeast coast and underdeveloped inland, northwest and northeast markets have different market characteristics, which should be paid attention to;
4. Attention should be paid to collecting data of target consumer groups. In the hypolipidemic market, which emphasizes deep communication, whether we can master the data of the target consumer groups and provide perfect health consultation services for the target consumer groups will become the key to the success of the market.
5. Pay attention to channel construction. Today, with the emphasis on integrating resources, attracting powerful distributors is the key to the success of enterprises.