How Life Scientists Buy Products: Implications for Effective Channel Management

Report #04-012
Publication Date: March 2004
Page Count: 303

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Because researchers purchase billions of dollars worth of products and services every year, it is critical for life sciences suppliers to understand the many ways in which orders are placed. Suppliers have invested enormous sums of money into the development and maintenance of their Web sites in the hopes of attracting more scientific customers to make their product purchases online. Many scientists, however, continue to purchase their products internally through their research organization while others order directly from suppliers, distributors and/or public scientific marketplaces via traditional means--such as email, fax, mail or phone. Based on a 40-question survey of more than 1,400 life scientists, How Life Scientists Buy Products: Implications for Effective Channel Management is designed to help suppliers understand how researchers place orders and what drives them to use one method over another. Examining the ways in which scientific customers prefer to buy products--via internal supply centers, internal purchasing hubs, traditional methods or online--will help suppliers identify which channels are more important over others and determine where future investments should be directed.

The major objectives of this report are as follows:
* Identify the ways in which researchers purchase life science products and determine their level of satisfaction with each
* Gauge the impact that institutional regulations have on purchasing options for life scientists
* Recognize the perceived advantages of internal purchasing hubs (“hubs”), traditional methods and supplier Web sites
* Determine the overall level of “sophistication” of the hubs in place
* Ascertain which advanced features of hubs and supplier Web sites are perceived as most useful
* Understand what reservations life scientists have in regards to ordering products online
* Find out which life science supplier Web site has provided researchers with the best overall “ordering experience”
* Understand how buying behaviors may change when examined by region, market segment and product type
* Determine which purchasing resource—hubs or supplier Web sites—is considered superior for researching products vs. purchasing products