The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7310 p165
31 July 2004

Marketing concepts are simply presented and material conveyed logically

‘Marketing for pharmacists’, by David A. Holdford. Pp xi+298. Price $45. Washington DC: American Pharmaceutical Association; 2003. ISBN 1 58212 004 8

This book is about marketing to overcome the general lack of awareness of pharmacists’ changing responsibilities and limited expectations of pharmacists. But do not be surprised if you end up an advocate of pharmaceutical care and “concordance” as the book guides you smoothly through from the philosophy of patient/public centred service to developing a service delivery plan. Although necessarily technical at times the marketing concepts are simply presented for those who are not familiar with the subject.

The chapters on consumer behaviour and customers’ evaluation of service should be of particular interest to pharmacists concerned with improving patient care through meeting identified need and they offer a rare combination of insightful comments and practical examples combined with technical background and theoretical models.

The material is presented in a logical way with objectives of each chapter clearly highlighted to enable a reader to adopt a modular approach to reading. The examples suffer from the drawback of being entirely based on the intended American market. The book teaches relatively easily how to develop a marketing plan and a promotional plan without which no organisation should operate. The loss of resale price maintainance and introduction of cognitive services has created a need for guidance on fair pricing and the chapter on “pricing pharmacist services” should meet that need.


Hemant Patel

Hemant Patel is secretary, North East London Local Pharmaceutical Committee