Digg It - Internet and Businesses Online

As a manufacturer, importer or distributor, you are facing today's difficult business challenge in how to compete and succeed in the Internet economy. Your traditional channels of sales and distribution are being or s

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

hould be recast to take advantage of the Internet and this implies new ways of utilizing your reseller or channel assets.

While you and many other companies feel the pressure to sidestep competitors with a first-to-m

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

arket advantage, there is little benefit in aimlessly building and implementing e-commerce systems. Many companies are taking a haphazard approach to the Internet, trying to shoehorn existing business practices into

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

simplistic e-commerce capabilities or worse, drastically changing current effective business practices.

A more sensible approach is to determine how to use the Internet to optimize and extend your company's establis

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ed sales methods and align your e-commerce strategy with your company's overall goals. The question is not whether you should utilize Internet sales channels, but how can you do so in a profitable way without alienat

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

ing your existing distributors, resellers, dealers and clients.

But where do you start and what are the essential elements of a collaborative commerce solution? Before embarking on an e-commerce strategy you need to

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ask yourself a few important questions on how you will relate your business needs with those of your reseller partners.

The Gartner Group estimates that over 90% of manufacturers, importers or distributors do not sel

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

their primary branded products online. Why? The primary reason is channel conflict; fear of the consequences of going into business against your own selling partners.

Therefore, typically many manufacturers or prima

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

ry distributors establish a website that simply helps customers gather product information and build a shopping list, which they can then take to the nearest physical store. Ultimately, your website does not close th

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

e sale and has no visibility into whether these customers actually purchased your products from your reseller.

Not only do you give up the rights to a new revenue stream, but you also lose control over, and insight i

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

to, the commerce activities within your own customer base.

But, what if you could provide customers with a unified and guided selling experience across your sales channels by presenting a seamless selling experience

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

to your customers and site visitors while integrating the value-add of your reseller network? Your customers could access real-time product information including pricing and availability through resellers directly f

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

rom your web site and their respective web sites.

And what if your e-commerce system could ensure that products were properly configured and orders routed to the appropriate sales partner? This way you would remain

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

intimately involved in the e-commerce activities of your resellers, while maintaining influence over the sales process and customer experience.

You must determine which of your sales channels to take to the web. You

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

ay presently utilize multiple channels to respond effectively to your customers' needs such as your direct sales teams plus a mix of resellers, retailers, OEMs, and dealers who deliver value to your customers and st

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

rategic value to you by providing you with global and vertical reach, logistics and additional value-added services.

It will be necessary to formulate an integrated strategy that provides a common infrastructure for

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

all of these sales channels that you take to the web and then provide an e-commerce infrastructure that integrates all of them within a single cohesive system.

This online collaboration will allow your active partic

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

pation in all aspects of your customer's sales and marketing experience, from shopping and product configuration to fulfillment and feedback. Short-term rewards include reduced costs through process automation and ef

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

ficiencies. Long-term rewards include increased revenue, greater customer and partner loyalty, and the ability to create strong sell-side partnerships that help differentiate products.

Your resellers want to work wit

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

h you, yet an Internet business strategy that does not consider all your relevant sales channels, including their sales and distribution models and related business processes is a recipe for failure.

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tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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