Whether you are taking a PCD franchise or launching your own brand, the product list you choose determines what your business can become. It is also the decision most often made backwards — by starting with what is available rather than with what the territory needs.
Start with the territory, not the catalogue
Before looking at any price list, get clear on what your area actually consumes. Which specialities are well represented among the prescribers you can reach? Which segments are already saturated with entrenched brands? Where is there demand that is being served indifferently?
A portfolio that matches a real prescribing pattern in your territory will outperform a technically superior range that nobody near you prescribes.
Pick segments you can actually service
Different therapeutic segments demand different things from you:
- Acute segments such as cough and cold or analgesics move fast, are seasonal, and reward availability above all else.
- Chronic segments build slower but produce repeat demand once established.
- Dermatology and topicals often depend on a smaller set of specialist prescribers, which makes them easier to work but narrower.
- Nutritional and supplement ranges face broad competition and usually compete on price and presentation.
Choose segments where you can realistically call on the prescribers often enough to build a habit.
Size the range honestly
New partners routinely take on too many products. A long list feels like opportunity; in practice it fragments your stock investment, complicates your storage, and means you never detail any product often enough to build prescriptions.
A tight range you can carry properly, supply without gaps and talk about with authority beats a catalogue you can only half service. You can add later — and adding from a position of reliable supply is far easier than recovering from stock-outs.
Check the practical details before committing
- Pack sizes — do they match how your market buys?
- Availability — can the supplier hold consistent supply on the fast movers?
- Shelf life on receipt — short-dated stock at the point of delivery is your problem, not theirs.
- Competing presentations — is the same composition available locally at a price you cannot match?
Review it annually
A portfolio is not a one-time decision. Once you have a year of real sales data, you will know which products move, which sit, and which segments are worth deepening. Prune what does not sell and reinvest that working capital in what does.
Frequently asked
There is no fixed number, but starting focused is almost always better than starting broad. Choose a range you can stock reliably and detail regularly, and expand from there.
Margin only matters on products that actually sell. A modest margin on a fast-moving line usually contributes more than a high margin on stock that sits.
This article covers pharmaceutical business practice in India and is provided for general information. It is not legal, regulatory or medical advice. Licensing requirements vary by product category and by state — confirm your own position with your licensing authority before acting.