MedPlus halts aggressive promotion of in-house prescription medicines after pushback
MedPlus, India's second-biggest pharmacy chain, has decided to stop aggressively promoting its in-house prescription medicines.
This comes after customers and doctors pushed back against staff urging people to swap their usual brands for MedPlus's own.
Now, MedPlus managing director and CEO Madhukar Gangadi says the focus is on explaining the benefits and letting customers choose: "We have asked them to stop at suggesting the alternatives available through the MedPlus brand, extolling the virtues of our brand... and leave the final decision to the customer,"
Apollo Pharmacy avoids switching prescribed brands
While MedPlus was pushing private-label products, which made up 20% of revenue recently, many customers were hesitant, especially for long-term treatments.
Meanwhile, Apollo Pharmacy takes a different route and does not try to convert patients from a doctor's prescribed brand to store alternatives, sticking instead to wellness products and over-the-counter items to keep trust strong with both doctors and shoppers.