Sustaining growth in Taiwan's respiratory equipment market amidst stiff competition
The global respiratory equipment market is expected to experience stable growth and is estimated to reach USD 27.1 billion in 2015. This market is currently dominated by seven multinational drug companies representing over 70% of the global sales. Despite the healthy outlook of the industry, our client, a global respiratory equipment manufacturer, has been experiencing serious threats in the Taiwanese market, apparent in decrease of sales volumes over recent years, due to the emergence of new competitor products that are perceived to be 'superior'. Synovate was engaged to further understand specific underlying reasons for the decrease in demand for our client's product, and also to identify the key success factors of the new competition.
Synovate first engaged with the relevant regulatory bodies for respiratory equipment (Taiwan National Bureau of Controlled Drugs and the Department of Health) to understand both current and upcoming regulations that may potentially impact the sales of our client's product, then proceeded to conduct interviews with leading doctors in the corresponding specialty areas to understand product preferences and unmet requirements.
On the direct competitor side, Product and Sales Managers were targeted to understand unique selling points of available products, and business development and expansion strategies for the market. Synovate also engaged with key distributors in the market to better understand the overall process flow and to identify associated challenges.
Equipped with comprehensive understanding of the customer needs, and detailed intelligence of key competitors, our client was able to revise its business strategies, and to ultimately limit the growth of competitor market share through a series of sales and marketing initiatives for its products.