Consumer buying behavior: A study of Over the counter(OTC) drugs

The consumer buying behavior is very important for any product that consumers¿ purchase on their own.In recent times there has been an increase in the number of over the counter medicines available in the market.The prescription based drugs are entirely dependent on the doctor detailing.Over the counters are slowly gaining momentum with the consumer.Due to this preference of people towards self medication becoming stronger, hence comes a need for identifying what factors are leading to a shift from prescription to self medication(over the counter drug segment)and also identifying the buying behavior of the consumers with over the counter medicines.The study also aims at identifying the buying behavior of consumer with respect to OTC¿s.The study is supplemented with certain hypothesis tests on the relationship shared by various independent attributes,to determine the factors influencing behaviors along with divulging the unmet needs of the consumers in the segment.The study has found that the key factors influencing purchase decision of OTC¿s are the side effects for the medicines, the availability, the information on the labels, brand name etc.