Metropolis Healthcare to push regional growth with micro market focus: CEO Chemmenkotil

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Leading diagnostics chain Metropolis Healthcare is focusing on improving its footprint across key regions by customising its services and offerings for these micro markets, chief executive officer Surendran Chemmenkotil told Mint in an interview on Wednesday. This will likely enhance regional performance and push sales in the near term.

“What we've done is we have divided the entire country into 100 plus micro-markets…markets which behave similarly or the competitive position, growth levels and opportunities are similar," he said. The company has introduced market-relevant pricing in different regions, tweaked its partner and distribution model depending upon the needs of the area, and tailored its test menus according to disease patterns and needs in specific regions. With diagnostics traditionally being a hyper-regional business, this strategy could boost the company’s strong hold over key markets.

These micro-marketing strategies are estimated to contribute an additional 2% revenue growth in the next quarter. “This will be our way of working going forward in this company," Chemmenkotil said. Also Read | Healthcare gets a push: ₹99,858 crore allocated, but still below 2% of budget “Usually diagnostic companies have pan-India pricing…they don't see any fluctuation or major difference in the pricing," Tausif Shaikh, lead pharma analyst at BNP Paribas, told Mint.

Metropolis will adjust the pricing according to the patients’ needs based on their data. “Micro marketing strategies should be seen as realignment of pricing, in regions where opportunity exists for price hikes in certain tests and packages," he said. This may benefit the company in the near term only, Shaikh pointed out.