Client Name

Reckitt

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Usman Nazir

SBS Thought Leadership Areas

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

SBS Thought Leadership Area Justification

Thought Leadership Area: Behavioral Studies

The ELP aligns strongly with Behavioral Studies because it focuses on understanding how consumers, pharmacists, and healthcare stakeholders make decisions within the OTC digestive health category. The project examined consumer purchase journeys, pharmacist recommendation behavior, factors influencing brand choice, and the impact of trade incentives, visibility, and trust on purchasing decisions. Since the study analyzes decision-making patterns and behavioral triggers that influence healthcare product selection, it falls directly under Behavioral Studies.

Secondary Thought Leadership Area: Entrepreneurship & Innovation

The project also relates to Entrepreneurship and Innovation because it explored innovative competitive strategies used by emerging brands such as Peridots and Wholly. The study evaluated how new trade engagement models, pharmacist incentive programs, and product format innovations create competitive advantages and disrupt established market players.

Aligned SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being

Aligned SDGs Justification

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being (Primary SDG)

This ELP primarily aligns with SDG 3 because it focuses on improving access to effective digestive healthcare solutions. By identifying opportunities to improve product availability, pharmacist engagement, consumer education, and supply chain reliability for Gaviscon, the project contributes to better health outcomes and supports consumers in managing common digestive health issues such as heartburn, acid reflux, and indigestion.

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth (Secondary SDG)

The project also aligns with SDG 8 because it examined pharmacy trade dynamics, retailer incentive structures, and commercial relationships within the healthcare retail ecosystem. The recommendations aim to strengthen partnerships between Reckitt and pharmacies, supporting the economic sustainability and growth of local pharmacy businesses.

NDA

No

Abstract

The Retail and Digital Commercial Effectiveness Study of Gaviscon has been carried out for Reckitt Benckiser Pakistan from January 2026 to May 2026 as part of this Experiential Learning Project (ELP) report. The main aim of the study was to assess the commercial performance of Gaviscon through the 40 pharmacies in Karachi and to gain actionable insights which would help enhance the brand visibility, pharmacist engagement, trade execution and sales performance in the digestive health category. The study was a primary mixed methods study using structured questionnaires completed by the pharmacists, in-store observational analysis, digital analysis and e-commerce assessment in 10 geographic clusters of Karachi: Gulshan-e-Iqbal, DHA, Clifton, Malir Cantt, Dhoraji, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Rashid Minhas Road, Maskan, Tipu Sultan and Askari 4. Forty (40) pharmacies were visited with the pharmacists as the main respondents due to their critical role as “recommendation gatekeepers” in the OTC digestive health market. The presence of competitive brands and the availability of eCommerce on digital platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Dvago and Pandamart was also assessed. Among the main findings of the study is the paradoxical situation of Gaviscon in the Karachi pharmacy market. The brand is structurally limited by five key operational and commercial barriers to success: a product format limited to liquids, out-of-stock in 12.5% of pharmacies surveyed, due to supply chain issues, a commercially uncompetitive retail margin, a lower retailer coverage of the trade scheme than competitors (10% versus 25%) and less than optimal sales representative coverage (45.9% versus pharmacies). The competitive analysis revealed that there are main competitors such as Risek (Getz Pharma), Peridots, Wholly and Mucaine, all of which used different trade engagement techniques that were not effectively addressed by Gaviscon's current one. Digital-wise, Gaviscon is a first-mover advantage brand, as it is the only brand currently active on multi-platform with posting frequency and platform coverage that needs improvement.

The study ends with strategic recommendations in six areas: trade activation and tiered incentive structures, improving pharmacy relationship and rep coverage, expanding market penetration via product formats (sachets and tablets), expanding the brand into digestive wellness, investing in digital marketing (TikTok and influencers), and a dual push and pull go-to-market strategy. The key takeaway for Reckitt is that the growth challenge of Gaviscon is not about consumer demand, but trade execution. The opportunity to close the structural gaps is very real and time sensitive, offering a clear path to substantially increase the rate of pharmacist recommendations, market share, and long-term category leadership. Keywords: Gaviscon, Retail Pharmacy, Trade Execution, Pharmacist Recommendation, OTC Marketing, Digestive Health, Reckitt Benckiser, Karachi, Competitive Analysis, Digital Marketing

Document Type

Restricted Access

Document Name for Citation

Experiential Learning Project

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