The market for protein and DNA purification kits is maturing, and the pace of technological innovation has slowed, but dozens of companies companies continue to fight for market share
BioInformatics, a provider of market research to the biotechnology industry, recently announced the publication of two reports that explore the dynamics of the purification market: 'Protein Purification Systems: Market Opportunities for Research Product Suppliers' and 'The DNA Purification Market: Keys to Success for Commercial Kit Suppliers'.
Each report is designed to help suppliers develop satisfied, loyal scientific customers in a market where switching costs have been shown to be low.
The first report-based on a survey of over 580 researchers who purify proteins-examines the protein purification segment in terms of its value chain: cell lysis, vectors, resins/columns and primary antibodies.
"Companies with complete protein purification systems reap the rewards of unified technologies in their ability to maintain their customer base throughout all areas of the value chain.
This is best exemplified by companies such as Qiagen that implement an 'integrated solutions' approach to their product portfolio," notes Robin Rothrock, director of market research at BioInformatics. With offerings in all four product categories, Qiagen supports a loyal following of customers at each phase of the protein purification process.
Invitrogen and other leading companies are pursuing a similar strategy of product integration.
The report shows how suppliers who fail to offer an end-to-end solution make themselves vulnerable to customer defections.
In the second of the two studies, over 1000 life scientists were surveyed on their use of DNA purification kits.
With almost two-thirds of the market, Qiagen continues to dominate the DNA purification kit market.
Qiagen's success can be attributed to many factors including their strong focus on the nucleic acid purification market, first-mover advantage and broad product offering.
Qiagen cultivates loyalty by satisfying customer needs and then reinforces its position through a ubiquitous presence in labs and stockrooms that stresses convenience and availability.
The report shows that scientists are extremely reluctant to switch suppliers once they begin using a DNA purification kit, with only 6% of respondents having switched to a different kit in the last six months.
The scientists participating in the survey also answered a series of questions designed to evaluate the relationship between satisfaction, loyalty and the barriers to switching suppliers.
Highly satisfied customers are the norm-a large majority of scientists stated they would happily recommend the kit they currently use to a colleague.
However, the top suppliers have not yet created a situation where customers are locked-in - consequently, opportunities still exist to win new customers. "Preferential pricing is often a major barrier to switching, yet we found that most scientists don't feel they're getting low prices as a result of being a loyal customer," says Rothrock.
"Most of these highly satisfied customers also believe that it's easy to find competing products that offer similar value-another sign that on any given day some segment of a supplier's customer base is at risk."
