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Describe the decision-making process for purchasing Metabical? Who isinvolved in the process?

The decision makers in purchasing Metabical are over weight people with BMIbetween 25 and 30 and healthcare providers. Healthcare providers are one of 

the decision makers because Metabical is a prescription drug unlike itscompetitor Alli which is an over the counter drug.Customers go through a five-stage decision making process in any purchase.These five steps are

  Need Recognition & Problem awareness

  Information search

  Evaluation of Alternatives

  Purchase

  Post purchase Evaluation.(Tutor2u Limited)

Need Recognition and Problem AwarenessOver weight people: From the case we can suggest that 65% of Americans are over weight, obese or severely obese. There are many health andsocial issues around being over weight. From the case we can also get theinformation that 35% of the respondents are trying to lose weight and 15% of the 35% are comfortable using drugs to reach their weight lose goals.Healthcare providers: Obesity or over weight is the major reason forDiabetes and heart diseases. Health care providers are not successful incounseling the patients with healthy diet plans and exercise routines.

Information searchOverweight people: Once the need is recognized information can besearched through personal sources like family, friends, neighbors etc. orcommercial sources like advertising, sales people etc. or public sources likenewspapers, radio, television etc. (Tutor2u Limited) or they can take expert helpby contacting healthcare providers.Healthcare Providers: It is not very difficult to search information forhealthcare providers as they are in the medical field and they can get information by medical journals, talking to experts in the regarding science andmedical representatives.

Evaluation of AlternativesOverweight people: The alternatives for Metabical in this case are Alliand Ephedra. Alli and Ephedra has severe side effects. Alli has negative effects ingastro intestinal conditions and abdominal pains. Ephedra was linked with casesof sudden cardiac death and other serious health risks. Other weight losssolutions like hoodia, chromium, chitosan etc. were categorized as herbal and arenot regulated by FDA. Healthcare Providers: All other alternatives for Metabical either havenegative side effects or are not regulated by FDA. Metabical is the only FDAapproved drug which can reduce weight in over weight people.

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PurchaseOverweight people: Once all the alternatives are evaluated and the priceof Metabical is confirmed the person will buy Metabical with a prescription from

healthcare provider.Healthcare Providers: After evaluating all the alternatives healthcareprovider will suggest or recommend Metabical to the patient if the Body MassIndex(BMI) of the patient is between 25-30.

Post purchase EvaluationOverweight people: The support program provided by Metabical for aperiod of 24 months will provide the customers to have manuals to track theirweight, food diary, nutritional and calorie calculator and community forums.This helps the customer to stay on track to continue with the process of weight loss.Healthcare Providers: Healthcare providers were unsuccessful or had littlesuccess to counsel the patients with diet and exercise plans. Metabical can solvethe problem to an extent.

How should Printup think about the segmentation of potential Metabicalconsumers? Who is the optimal target customer?

Printup should segment the potential Metabolical consumers based on thefollowing consumer characteristics.

  Demographic

  Psychographic  Behavioristic

(NETMBA.com)

The variables that should be considered in Demographic segmentation are

  Age

  Gender

  Income

  Education

The variables that should be considered in Psychographic segmentation are

  Attitudes

The variables that should be considered in Behavioristic segmentation are

  Benefits Sought 

Demographic SegmentationFrom the exhibits in the case study we can see that 65% of Americans are over

weight. Exhibits also provides the information that more female (75%) aredissatisfied with their current weight and more female (55%) wanted to change

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