Pharmaceutical marketing on the internet: marketing techniques and customer profile

Attempts to investigate the perceived advantages and risks associated with online pharmaceutical transactions, and on this basis, to propose a specific segmentation of consumers.

Analyses the marketing procedures applied by pharmaceutical sites to emphasise the specific advantages and to minimise the perception of transactional risks, as well as the segmentation techniques applied online.

The results of the study indicate the existence of four main consumer categories. This schematic categorisation needs further development, in order to define more precisely the decision taking process and the online shopping behaviour for each customer segment, as well as the level of post‐purchase satisfaction. On the other hand, the paper demonstrated that the marketing approach of various online pharmacies is determined by the transactional model applied.

The empirical analysis presented in this paper should be complemented by future qualitative study, in order to facilitate a deeper understanding of the factors determining the growing success of online pharmacies.