Targeted Marketing in Herbal Medicine: Application for Grounded Theory and K-Mean Algorithm

Abstract

One of the major industries to meet the expansion goals in human, social, and economic aspects is herbal medicine. Marketing departments, producers, and entrepreneurs play an important role in applying potentials in this industry, but, as herbal medicine scholars argue, herbal medicine market share in Iran is less than 4 percent. This might be due to neglecting executive targeted marketing. The participants of the study included all people going to pharmacies to purchase herbal medicines. Purposeful and classified sampling methods were used in qualitative and quantitative sections, respectively. As to the qualitative phase, grounded theory method was applied, while the K-means approach was used for quantitative data analysis. Qualitative findings resulted in the extraction of eight essential categories. Moreover, the results of the K-mean algorithm suggested that the best mode is segmenting this market (i.e., herbal medicine) into four segments. The segments differ from each other in terms of the selected categories. Results contribute to presenting an appropriate strategy for each segment in order to simultaneously create value for both customers and market in particular and create facilities for expansion and growth of the herbal medicine industry in general.