Purchasing trends products

Track purchasing trend of different products for each customer based on different indicators... 

Purchase-trend report—describes the quantity purchased of OTC products or prescription drug products by month or by quarter. 

It may be possible for a company to negotiate the purchase of a material at a cost per unit that is significantly lower than the current pubhshed price. This is particularly true if large quantities are involved. Thus, estimates should be presented for both minimum and maximum costs. Price trends, availabihty, and quality are other factors that should be considered. A knowledge of price trends is particularly important for a product that a company may not manufacture for sever years. 

A previous trend in the paper industry of limiting starch purchases to unmodified grades and effecting modification on-site in the paper mill has changed. The variance in products thus obtained was frequently wider than in products supplied by the starch manufacturer. As a result, there is now more preference to utilize modified starches with specific application properties. Growth in paper recycling should lead to an increased use of starch as a coating binder in place of synthetic materials. 

The expansion of direct-to-consumer advertisements during the past five years has only served to reinforce this trend of putting patients into the role of informed purchasers of health care products.47 Critics argue that this can run counter to patients best interests. For example, physicians have noted a rapid increase in requests for specific drugs, including cases where patients ask for completely inappropriate treatments.48 A recent report to the pharmaceutical industry on ways to improve direct advertising thus recommends depth of content, accuracy, and objectivity as key to personalized health solutions and... 

OTA extended the sales curve beyond the 9th year after U.S. market introduction based on these trends and also made adjustments for sales to other countries and to purchasers other than hospitals and drugstores (see chapter 4 for details). Figure 1-9 shows the projected worldwide sales for NCEs introduced in the United States from 1981 through 1983. OTA assumed that the originator compound would stay on the market only 20 years and that the products are not sold in other countries before they are approved in the United States. Overall, then, the assumptions used to build this projected sales curve were conservative. 

Latin American Markets. Flexible polyurethane foam for premium as well as inexpensive mattresses has been the major growth market in most Latin American countries, and often represented 50% of the flexible demand. Growth prospects to 1990 are good as consumers upgrade some of their previous purchases, and increased market penetration is realized in some countries (e.g. Mexico) that have considerable potential. Furniture demand for flexible polyurethane foam is relatively modest compared to bedding end uses. Styling trends and the proliferation of small furniture producers have not opted for flexible urethane foam cushioning. Upholstered furniture demand will continue to be constrained by low consumer income, as well as small artisan production facilities. 

But the challenge presented by the trend toward larger farms, with the heavier investment in equipment and the employment of sophisticated farming methods, will go far beyond the supplying of more sophisticated chemicals and formulations. Whatever shape the farm of the future may take—family farm or corporate, specialized or multi-crop, contract production or free choice—the small farmer will become less and less influential in the key buying decisions. The decision-maker on purchases will be more and more a professional. His purchases will be made in large lots, and he will insist on buying as directly as possible... 

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