Impact of Pharmaceutical Digital Marketing on Consumer Behaviors in Sari

Abstract

Background and purpose: Understanding consumer behavior has a crucial role in marketing process. Successful pharmaceutical marketing affects consumer behavior. In this study we aimed to identify the effect of social media purchasing behavior of patients in pharmacies in Sari, Mazandaran province, Iran. Materials and methods: This descriptive study was carried out in 427 people attending private pharmacies in three regions in Sari, September 2019. We collected data using a researcher-made questionnaire. In order to achieve a proper framework for designing the questionnaire, 16 articles were systematically reviewed. They were selected from 15855 articlrs published until Septemer 2020. Finally a questionnaire consisting of 20 multiple choice questions and an evaluation table was created. Results: Among the participants, 31.4% attended the pharmacies to purchase physicians’ prescription, mainly to buy cold medicines (20.6%) and vitamins and supplements (12.2%). Meanwhile, 58.5% of these people reported efficacy of drugs as the main reason for buying medicine from pharmacies. The most used social media was the internet (51.3%) and 28.2% of the participants believed that online advertising was the best marketing strategy that attracted them to buy high quality and low cost health products. Conclusion: Current study showed the influence of social media on consumer behavior. So, pharmaceutical companies are able to use these results for effective marketing and branding.

Keywords

• consumer behavior
• social media
• media marketing