"Price war" alternative play: retrograde high price strategy in the context of centralized procurement

With the normalization of centralized drug procurement, more and more drugs will inevitably start a "price war
.

For products or brands that are not selected in the centralized drug procurement, whether there are other ways out has become a mandatory question for all pharmaceutical companies
.

I "moral" goes: "anti-movement of the Tao"
.

The more developed the business, the more divided, and the "price war" is no exception
.

However, to build a high-end product or brand is not just a simple setting of high prices, but a complex system engineering, at least the following four points need to be paid attention to
.

Credible reason

Even consumers who prefer high-end brands will not buy high-priced brands casually, and can only make a deal if they think it is “worth it”
.

Chinese patent medicines are very likely to be included in the scope of centralized procurement in the future
.

High prices are a direct manifestation of high-end brands, and are the common characteristics of high-end brands, and the reasons for their high prices are different
.

For example, the Chinese patent medicine Liuwei Dihuang Wan, which nourishes yin and nourishes the kidney, has obvious price differences between different brands
.

For medicines, especially traditional Chinese medicines, the difference in raw materials is an excellent and credible reason for support
.

Other common reasons for supporting high-end products or brands include: the inventor or pioneer of a certain technology, authentic, special craftsmanship, and special origin
.

Relatively high price rather than unattainable

High-end products or brands must be expensive
.

After the centralized procurement of drugs, many original research brands were not selected
.
However, there are also some original research brand drugs in the OTC channel (including online pharmacies and offline pharmacies) sales volume and sales amount is not significantly lower than before the centralized procurement, one of the important reasons is that their prices are relatively "friendly to the people", consumption The consumers have accepted or recognized their prices.
Although the prices of the selected brands in the centralized procurement are lower, these consumers have not “empathized” because of the low prices of other brands
.

Therefore, to build high-end products or brands, high prices are standard equipment
.
If the price of a high-end product or brand is close to or even lower than that of a cheap product or brand, it is a failure, or the high-end positioning of its own product or brand has been changed
.

How much higher the price of a high-end product or brand is than a cheap product or brand depends on multiple factors such as the competitive environment, its own advantages, consumers' willingness, and consumers' ability to pay.
It needs to be determined after comprehensive consideration
.

Necessary publicity

Publicity mainly involves two aspects: one is the way of publicity, and the other is the content of publicity
.

Propaganda methods include public relations, advertising and conventional methods
.
Public relations use independent third-party media to introduce and comment on the brand, which is usually applied in the early stage of brand establishment
.
Advertising is usually used for the maintenance of the brand after it is established to remind consumers not to forget themselves, which is somewhat similar to the "protection fee" of the brand
.
Other conventional methods include websites, WeChat, and product promotion color pages
.

Today's world has entered the era of mobile internet, and information has long been flooded
.
Consumers face all kinds of information noise, and their natural choice is to avoid it
.
Therefore, to establish a brand, both high-end and low-end need to be promoted
.
Only after the brand is implanted in the brains of consumers through publicity, can the brand-building be counted as an initial success
.
Even if the product is sold to the customer, if the brand has not yet been implanted in the customer's brain, such a product can only be regarded as a "goods", and cannot be called a "brand" in the strict sense
.

Due to the explosion of information, consumers' brains are overwhelmed, and the content of brand promotion must be condensed
.
Condensed into one word or sentence, the propaganda message can break through the blockade of the consumer's brain and reach the destination
.

Promotional information is best condensed to the brand's positioning or selling point, and vice versa, it is half the effort or even completely ineffective
.
Moreover, the more dramatic the way of expression, the better, because this can better attract target customers and deepen their impression of the brand
.

Never pedal two boats

From a product perspective alone, it is of course easy to occupy the low-end market with high-quality products represented by high-end brands, and rapid sales growth can be achieved in the short term
.
However, this will bring about a long-term marketing problem
.
Because in the eyes of consumers, a brand cannot represent both high-end and cheap and affordable at the same time
.
You can only choose one of the two .

Therefore, if high-end brands both occupy the high-end market, but are not willing to lose the low-end market, it will cause confusion and confusion to consumers
.

Some pharmaceutical brands participate in the centralized drug procurement at low prices, occupying part of the hospital market, and are not reconciled to the centralized procurement market.
They want to use the same brand to occupy the out-of-hospital market at a significantly higher price in an attempt to build a high-end brand image
.
This operation is impossible to successfully build a high-end brand
.

On the other hand, quite a number of original research drug brands voluntarily abandon the centralized procurement market, not because they did not study the market seriously, but made rational decisions after careful study of the market
.

Concluding remarks

Against the irresistible background of centralized drug procurement, the scope of the "price war" for drugs will continue to expand
.
In addition to the usual price-cutting strategy, adopting a high-price strategy in the opposite direction is another way to survive
.
However, this involves a series of comprehensive measures, paying particular attention to pricing, publicity, and credible reasons and benefits
.
The high price strategy is not simply a high price
.