Following the example and write the competition

COMPETITION:

There is less than 100 dermatology practices that have web sites, but there are no venture capital supported dermatology web sites. There is competition for site visitors and sponsorship, survey and other forms of e-commerce revenue.

There are two types of competitors:

· Medical destination web sites

· Dermatology practice sites that sell products

Destination Sites:

Destination medical sites such Drkoop.com, Webmd.com/Healtheon.com and Medconsult.com don’t have a specific focus on particular medical need, but cut across the board thereby being a mile wide and an inch deep. All three sites are mass market destination sites who look to control the patient relationship, thereby cutting the doctor out and not sharing with the doctor any revenues derived from his patients purchases of products or viewing of advertising.

Drkoop.com:

Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former Surgeon General of the United States, is a well-known and nationally respected physician. Below is a breakdown of the company’s strengths and weaknesses.

Strengthens:

· Great name recognition

· Early medical content provider

· Rich content

· Public company with substantial cash

· Quality advertisers

Weaknesses:

· No focus on dermatology products.

· No substantive information on dermatology

WebMD.com:

WebMD, formerly Endeavor Technologies, is headquartered in Atlanta, GA and has focused on “Internet-based healthcare services,” while offering, “an integrated suite of communication, information and education services designed to optimize practice management and patient care”. In addition to its web page, WebMD is soliciting hospitals and physicians for answering services, secure email, voicemail, fax messaging, electronic data interchange, continuing medical education and physician-only healthcare bulletin boards. Services range in price from $30 to $1,000 per month.

WebMD has signed several co-promotional agreements including deals with: CNN, Readers Digest, and DuPont. WebMD is scheduled to merge with Healtheon, an “Internet-based information and transaction platform that facilitates and streamlines interactions among the myriad participants in the healthcare industry” in the fall of 1999. The June 24 market capitalization of Healtheon was $6.175 billion.

Strengths:

· Strong content

· Strong financial backing

· Content and continuing education for doctors

Weakness:

· No focus on dermatology products.

· No substantive information on dermatology.

Medconsult.com:

Medconsult.com is a Consumer Health Marketing company specializing in using Internet tools to improve health outcomes and business performance. We are completely independent of any hospital, drug company, HMO, hospital, or other health care organization.

Their mission is to provide timely, comprehensive, and accessible medical information on chronic medical conditions, utilizing the latest available technology to deliver information efficiently. They are independent of any hospital, drug company, HMO, hospital, or other health care organization in order to ensure unbiased, objective, credible information. All information that appears on our site must pass a rigorous clinical review process before they post it.

Strengthens:

· Strong content

· Partnerships with AOL, IBM and Yahoo

· Strong cash position derived from a recent public offering

Weaknesses:

· No focus on dermatology products.

· No substantive information on dermatology.

Competitive Advantage:

Our competitive advantage is that we have a board certified dermatologist putting his stamp of approval on the site and our products can’t be found on common cosmetic sites such as eve.com and reflect.com.