Earning The Right To Grow – Part 2: The Importance of Channel

Recent INND news suggests that your company is reorienting its business model to better address emerging market
trends. It’s useful to drill down what’s apparent in hearing health (its traditional focus on hearing aids) as well as the rapidly
evolving digital health marketplace as a whole. The next few posts will examine these topics in greater detail.

InnerScope’s New Chapter – The Importance of Pharmacy
A critical starting point involves channel – where and how your product is sold. As a leader in hearing health
guidance, Summus Hearing has gained valuable experience with several avenues – family physicians, ENT
doctors, hearing aid companies and dealers, optical chains, noise-exposed populations among others. Each has
its incentives and processes which, in turn, alters the value proposition that needs to be offered. Focus is also
important to avoid getting spread too thinly, attempting to be “all things to all people”.
This accumulated experience suggests that the most promising current focus is Pharmacy. There are several
reasons including…

• Pharmacy chains and independents are represented throughout the country and serve many tens of
  millions of “patients” (their term for customers) across a wide demographic.
• They are a trusted healthcare providers, visited frequently, not just for prescriptions but also to acquire
  a wide range of products.
• Hearing health problems are common among their clientele. While up to 80% of their patients should
  know their hearing profile, few do and even fewer test.
• Pharmacies typically are under severe margin pressure and need to find other sources of revenue
  beyond their traditional offerings.
• Pharmacy staff are also busy so such new revenue sources ideally would not place new burdens on
  their operations – new staffing requirements or the burden of excessive inventory, for example.

InnerScope is well situated to take advantage of this opportunity. Access to hearing aids (of relevance to about
30% of pharmacy clientele) and other hearing health products is important. Harnessing the hearing health
guidance engine in the Summus technology (presently being branded as “Merlin”) is equally critical to identify,
test and motivate many customers to understand and take more control of their hearing health.
An elegant solution is evident – 1000’s of outlets serving millions of clientele, new revenue sources,
differentiated subscribable products and effective advice and counsel.

The importance of the pharmacy channel is highlighted by the following video – see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obC5Rgx94eQ

Terry Mactaggart
Chairman – Advisory Board