As major segments in our industry get crowded and new players with analog molecules or generics enter the market, there is risk of price erosion and segment value reduction.
Prescription/purchase decisions based on lowest price carry no brand loyalty. Decisions based on unique product benefits generate brand loyalty, thus creating and promoting unique marketing claims really pays off. The parasiticide market is one example where those unique claims give a brand a competitive advantage. Zoetis has been differentiating the moxidectin-based products as the heartworm preventives that perform best in the face of resistant worms, leveraging work initiated when I was supporting Advantage® Multi (Bayer-Elanco). Finding out the unique features of the product/molecule, performing surveys or clinical studies to support this differentiating feature, and generating advocacy by customers and experts is critical. The marketing and sales teams can then leverage these claims and gain consistent market share.
I recently led the work on differentiating EASOTIC® (Virbac) as the otitis treatment that provides fast relief of otitis signs. When first launched EASOTIC® was positioned as “easy to dose”. Since then, Osurnia and Claro took that position from it. This repositioning allowed an older product to grow sales >20% for several years in a row.
Are you entering a competitive market, or have a mature product that is facing intense competition? Maybe price cuts aren’t the best option to gain/maintain share. You may want to consider a technical/market analysis to reveal alternative strategies to gain share at a profitable price.
Cristiano von Simson
Senior Consultant
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