Influence of social media marketing on UK consumers of pharmaceutical products

Social media is influencing various aspects of human as well as the interaction betweenbusinesses and customers. As a result, social media marketing has become popular. However,there is limited knowledge on how social media marketing is influencing the consumers ofpharmaceutical products in European countries with health services comprehensively fundedby the state. This study aims to investigate the influence of social media on UK consumers inthe pharmaceutical industry. The objective is to study whether it is influencing them to buypharmaceutical products such as over the counter or non-prescription drugs/medicines from theonline pharmacy based on the information obtained from the social media and other websites.Thus the main aim and objectives of this research study is to investigate how the social mediais changing the pharmaceutical industry and influencing its consumers and why thepharmaceutical consumers have accepted social media marketing networks for health relatedinformation and how it is influencing the pharmaceutical consumers to purchase over thecounter drugs and non-prescription drugs from the online pharmacy. The study evaluates thekey factors which influence how social media marketing contributes to the purchase of onlineand non-prescription drugs.The study used quantitative and qualitative methods for collecting and analysing the data.Accordingly, 200 consumers of pharmaceutical products were used for the quantitative studyand the data collected was analysed using SPSS to generate Spearman’s correlation, Chi squaretest and Ordinal Regression. For the qualitative research 15 healthcare professionals such aspharmacist and doctors were selected from across the England for the in-dept interview usingsemi-structured questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used to evaluate the responses.The study revealed that convenience was the main reason for purchasing the health-relatedproducts such as non-prescription drugs from the online pharmacy. Social media also providedknowledge on health-related issues. The study also brought out the facts that althoughconsumers used social media and other websites for getting health related information not allwebsites gave reliable health related information. As a result, it was suggested that theconsumers should always consult a healthcare professional in case they were not happy withthe information shared on social media.The main findings suggested that based on the information obtained from the social media andwebsite, consumers buy over the counter drugs, non-prescription medicine from onlinepharmacy, however, buying non-prescription medicines such as pain killers cough and coldand vitamins and protein supplements through the online pharmacy is considered to be safe. .Buying prescription drugs from online sources should be avoided. In addition, the studyrevealed that consumers between the ages of 30 and 40 purchased over the counter medicinesfrom online pharmacy more and that there were more female users than men. It is recommendedthat in order to ensure that consumers use appropriate websites, GP surgeries should providepatients with the list of the authorised online pharmacies and health related websites. AlthoughContribution to the study is how to make online over the counter buying experience safer alongwith convenience.