San Jose Community College

San Jose Malilipot, Albay

As a requirement for Final Exam in International Business and Trade

Marketing Opportunity Assessment

(Local Company)

Mary Grace B. Mabalot

HRDM 4-B

Mrs. Aurora D. Ceruelos

(Instructor)
Mercury Drug
(Local)

Mercury Drug began from a bottle of sulfathiazole, which was considered a wonder drug after the war.
It was 1945, and Manila had just been liberated from the Japanese occupation. The city was devastated
and medicines were scarce and expensive. Mariano Que, who worked in a drugstore before the war,
saw the need. He went to Bambang St., Manila, where the action was then, on advice of a friend, and
saw a peddler selling sulfathiazole there. He recognized it as the 'wonder drug' believed to cure all
diseases. Seeing a 'W' on the tablets, he knew it was the genuine sulfathiazole. He tried to buy a bottle
for P100, the only money in his pocket.
The peddler wanted more but as Mariano Que had only P100, the peddler agreed to sell to him. He then
sold these tablets by piece or “tingi-tingi” to make the medicine more affordable. With some profit, he
was able to purchase other medicines and eventually a pushcart, which he loaded with his growing
supply of pharmaceutical goods.
From these humble beginnings, the first Mercury Drug store opened on March 1, 1945 in Bambang St.
Mercury Drug Corporation is the Philippines' dominant pharmacy group. The Quezon City-based
company operates a national chain of more than 450 drugstores, including company-owned and
franchised stores. Mercury Drug is estimated to sell as much as 60 percent of all medicines sold each
year in the Philippines (the country's hospitals sell about 12 percent of medicines). Mercury Drug's
pharmacies follow the American model, combining drug and medical equipment sales with over-the-
counter medicines, personal care items, basic household needs, cosmetics and other beauty products,
and the like. Most of the company's stores also are equipped to store and sell serums, blood plasma,
albumin, and similar biologically active medical products. In addition to its drugstores, Mercury operates
a chain of Mercury Drug Superstores. Generally attached to the company's pharmacies, the Mercury
Drug Superstores extend the group's assortment to include convenience store and fast-food items. By
the mid-2000s, Mercury Drug Corporation operated more than 150 Mercury Drug Superstores. Founded
by Mariano Que, who first sold pills from a pushcart in the 1940s, Mercury Drug Corporation remains a
privately held company. Leadership of the company also remains in the family: The company's president
is Mariano Que's daughter, Vivian Que-Ascona. Mercury Drug is a subsidiary of the Mercury Group of
Companies, which governs other Que family interests, including the 10*Q convenience store chain and
the Tropical Hut fast-food group. In 2003, Mercury Drug's revenues amounted to nearly PHP 43 billion
($8.8 billion).
Founding a Filipino Pharmacy Giant in the 1940s
Mariano Que started his career working in a Manila drugstore in prewar Philippines. There he came into
contact with many medications, including the newly discovered class of sulfa drugs, including
sulfathiazole. These new drugs, developed by German scientists in the early 1930s, were quickly hailed
as new "miracle" drugs. Indeed, the sulfa drugs enabled the treatment of many illnesses, such as
pneumonia, gonorrhea, and other bacterial infections, that previously had been difficult, if impossible,
to treat. Despite the fact that the sulfa drugs later were shown to have a number of undesirable side
effects (they formed deposits in the kidneys, and bacteria quickly became resistant), they were credited
with saving millions of lives around the world through World War II.
The end of the war and the liberation of the Philippines by U.S. forces brought new business
opportunities in the country. During the occupation, supplies of medicines had become scarce, and the
immediate postwar period saw a surge in demand for sulfa drugs, and sulfathiazole, considered by many
to be a virtual cure-all. With most of the country's businesses, including its pharmacies, destroyed during
the war, much of the country's trade shifted to its busy marketplaces. Mariano Que, inspired by the new
entrepreneurial spirit, used his drugstore experience to launch his own business.
At first, Que bought and sold medical vials and capsules. After he had generated sufficient savings,
however, he took PHP 100 (worth about $1.50 at the time) and bought a bottle of sulfathiazole tablets.
Que brought the sulfathiazole bottle to Manila's busy Banbang market and sold the pills—in single
doses. The method of selling, known as "Tingi-tingi," became extremely popular in the poverty-stricken
Philippines, bringing life-saving medications within financial reach of many more people than before.
Que invested his profits in purchasing more pills, and before long he had generated enough revenue to
buy a pushcart, which he filled with an expanding assortment of pharmaceuticals. The unregulated
nature of the country's drug market, especially its pharmaceutical black market, led to abuses by sellers,
who sometimes peddled fake or dangerous formulations, or sold medications long out of date, often at
extortionist prices.
Que, however, built a reputation for the quality and freshness of his products, and also for the fairness
of his prices. Before too long, he had built up a steady clientele, and in March 1945, Que opened his first
store. Que named the Bambang-located store Mercury Drug, after the Roman god and bearer of the
caduceus, the symbol of the medical profession.
Branching Out in the 1970s
Mercury Drug remained a one-store operation into the 1960s. In the meantime, Que continued to drive
innovations in the Filipino pharmacy sector. In 1948, for example, Que began a drug delivery service,
becoming the first to use motorized vehicles for swifter delivery times. In the 1950s, Que expanded his
store hours, introducing a 17-hour-per-day, seven-days-per-week opening schedule. Part of the
motivation behind the move came in recognition of a Filipino tendency to auto-medicate their illnesses.
By remaining open longer, Mercury Drug responded to its clients' demands for increased access to
pharmaceutical products. Launched in 1952, the new opening schedule was expanded to 24 hours per
day in 1965.
Mercury Drug began its drive to become the Philippines' dominant drugstore group in the next decade.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the company was contacted by the Ayala Corporation, which was building
a shopping center in Makati. Ayala offered to lease space to Mercury, in order to include drugstore
services at the center. Mercury agreed, and once again revealed its penchant for innovation, opening
the country's first self-service pharmacy in 1963.
Two years later, Mercury opened its third drugstore, in Quiapo, which became the company's flagship
and set the model for its further development. In 1967, the company opened a centralized warehouse
to serve its growing store chain, introducing computer-guided temperature controls to safeguard its
products. Then, in 1969, the company became the first to introduce biological refrigerators in its stores.
This permitted the company to assure the quality of its life-saving medicines.
Mercury Drug began building out its network of drugstores, staying close to the Manila market for much
of the early 1970s. The company also began branching out beyond pharmaceutical sales. A significant
early purchase was that of Medical Center Drug Corporation (MCDC). Founded in 1946, MCDC focused
on sales of pharmaceutical supplies, equipment, and basic surgical instruments.
The purchase of MCDC, complementary to its existing drugstore business, led Mercury Drug to change
its structure. In 1972, Que created the Mercury Group of Companies, Inc., which in turn oversaw
Mercury Drug and MCDC. Both companies remained independent of the other; in 1980, MCDC changed
its name, to Medical Center Trading Corporation (MCTC), in order to highlight its difference from
Mercury Drug. MCTC then grew into the Philippines' leading importer and distributor of medical,
hospital, laboratory, and related equipment, with branches throughout the Metro Manila and
surrounding region.
MCTC was not the only venture by Que (who was joined by daughter Vivian Que-Ascona, later president
of Mercury Drug) to expand beyond his drugstore empire. The introduction of the convenience store
concept in the Philippines in the early 1980s represented both a new source of competition for Mercury
Drug and a new opportunity. Mercury developed its own convenience format in response to the growth
of competitors such as 7-11. Typically located next to its drugstores, the Mercury Drug Superstores
expanded the company's range of goods beyond drugs and into wider consumer categories, such as
beauty and personal care products, fast-foods, and the like.
Separately, the Que family added other interests, including the Q*10 convenience store format and the
Tropical Hut fast-food restaurant chain. Nonetheless, Mercury Drug Corporation remained the focus of
the family's holdings.
"Oligopoly" in the New Century
Mercury Drug, meanwhile, continued to grow strongly. In 1976, the company expanded beyond the
Metro Manila market for the first time, and over the next decades added locations in the Luzon, Visayas,
and Mindanao regions of the Philippines as well. Supporting this network was the implementation of a
fully computerized warehousing, inventory, and order processing system, installed in 1985.
Mercury Drug's growth was impressive: By 1995, the company operated more than 270 stores. Less than
ten years later, Mercury had expanded its number of branches to more than 450, giving it a near
monopoly grip on the country's drug sales. By 2004, Mercury controlled as much as 60 percent of all
drug sales in the Philippines.
Ironically, Mercury's dominant position led the group, which had achieved its early growth based on its
low prices, to be criticized for what many considered as its restrictively high prices. Indeed, as some
critics pointed out, similar drugs could be purchased in India and other markets for as much as one-third
the price Mercury Drug charged.
In the early 2000s, the government began taking action to force the Philippines' drug industry, including
Mercury Drug, to lower prices on many life-saving medicines. As part of that effort, the country's Trade
and Industry and Health departments began encouraging the parallel importation of pharmaceutical
generics from India, which had earned worldwide recognition for the quality of its generic equivalents.
Company Perspectives:
The company's mission is continuously be the leading, trusted and caring drugstore.
In 2004, the government stepped up its pressure. In September of the year, the government passed
legislation expanding drug discounts for the country's senior citizens. The country's smaller independent
drugstore owners protested the decision, in part because it was expected to serve only to increase
Mercury's dominance over the market—as the country's largest retailer of pharmaceutical products,
Mercury was easily able to negotiate discounted prices from its supplies. Also in that year, President
Arroyo established the lowering of drug prices as one of the government's priorities.
In December 2004, the Filipino government announced a new plan to break what some were calling
Mercury's "oligopoly" on the country's retail market. The Philippine International Trading Corp. (PICT),
owned and run by the Filipino government, announced its intention to organize up to 300 of the
country's independent pharmacies into a new network of privately owned and operated drugstores,
dubbed "Botika ng Bayan." The new network would then sell drugs, sourced by PICT directly from drug
companies, at prices as much as six times less expensive than "market"—i.e., Mercury's—rates.
Despite these pressures, Mercury Drug Corporation remained a fixture on the Philippines pharmacy
market. The company also remained one of the Philippines' largest corporations, ranking in eighth place
among the country's largest corporations and third place among the corporations in the high-quality
services/products bracket. Mercury Drug appeared to have discovered its own "miracle drug" for
success.
Key Dates:
1945. Mariano Que begins selling sulfathiozone out of a cart, then opens a store in Manila and founds
Mercury Drug Corporation.

1963. Mercury Drug opens its second store, in a shopping center built by the Ayala Group.

1965. Mercury Drug opens a third, flagship branch in Quiapo.

1970. The company acquires Medical Center Drug Corporation (MCDC).

1972. Mercury Group of Companies, Inc. is set up as a holding company for MCDC and Mercury Drug.

1976. Mercury begins expanding beyond the Manila market.

1985. The company sets up fully computerized warehousing, inventory, and ordering systems.

1995. Mercury celebrates its 50th anniversary with more than 270 stores.

2004. Mercury operates more than 450 stores, with annual sales of nearly PHP 43 billion ($8.8 billion).

2005. Mercury Drug was named Outstanding Retailer of Pharmaceutical Products by the Consumers
Union of the Philippines and was inducted in the Philippine Retailers Association’s Hall of Fame as one of
the Outstanding Filipino Retailers.
2009. Mercury Drug partnered with Citibank for Mercury Drug Citi Card, the first health credit card
giving rebates on all purchases at Mercury Drug and other Citibank-accredited establishments as well as
joint use with Suki Card at Mercury Drug. The company also partnered with Rizal Commercial Banking
Corporation for Mercury Drug MyWallet, a Suki Card variant offering the convenience of an ATM card
with the rewards of Suki points.
2010. Mercury Drug started offering adult flu vaccinations in stores under the supervision and
administration of healthcare professionals.
2011. Mercury Drug’s pharmacy counseling service, in-store or call-in, was made available to help
customers with their medication queries on dosage, directions for use, precautions, potential side
effects and adverse reactions.
2012. Mercury Drug launched Suki Daybook, an all-in-one annual journal, planner, health and wellness
notebook, exclusive to Suki Card members through redemption with Suki points; and its official
Facebook and Twitter pages. Its first drive-thru pharmacy service was opened in its San Juan Greenhills
Ortigas store. Mercury Drug’s founder, Mariano Que was named “Father of Philippine Health and
Wellness Retailing” by the Philippine Retailers Association. /p>
2013. Mercury Drug activated its pharmacy information service which provides basic drug information,
written in easy-to-understand layman language, to supplement medical consultations.
2014. Mercury Drug opened its second drive-thru service at its Biñan Southwoods Ecocentrum store.
The company was honored with the 2014 Best-of-the-Best Award at Retail Asia’s Top 500 Awards, and
as one of the Meralco Luminaries (companies who share Meralco’s vision of nation-building).
2015. Mercury Drug celebrated its 70th anniversary and awarded P1M each to 70 lucky customers in its
Suki Panalo raffle promo. It opened its 1000th store in Taguig City Western Bicutan Bayani Road, and its
third drive-thru service in Makati City EDSA Danlig. This year also saw the launching of Mercury Drug’s
own mobile app to enable fast, easy, and convenient access to its store locations, promotional offers
and services. For the second time, Mercury Drug was named Best-of-the-Best at Retail Asia’s Top 500
Awards and given the Customer Service Excellence Award by the Federation of Asia-Pacific Retailers
Association (FAPRA). The company also entered Retail Asia’s Top 3 Ranking in the Top 10 Retailers’
Category by Economy. The Kantar WorldPanel Smart Shopper 2015 Study cited Mercury Drug as Retailer
of Choice. University of Santo Tomas conferred an honorary degree, Doctor of Humanities, to Mercury
Drug founder, Mariano Que.
2016. Mercury Drug received the Platinum Most Trusted Brand Award, Pharmacy/Drugstore Category, in
Reader’s Digest 2016 Trusted Brands Survey. It was also awarded Most Recognizable Filipino Brand,
Retail Category, in Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 2016 Consumer Research. Another drive-thru store was
added to its network with the opening of its Las Piñas Villar SIPAG store. The company achieved another
first with the launch of its sticker pack in Viber called Mercury Drug Healthy Vibes, the first Philippines
corporate animated Viber stickers.
2017. Mercury Drug opened its 1100th store in Cabuyao City, Laguna at 35 National Highway, Brgy.
Banaybanay. It reaped its second Platinum Most Trusted Brand Award (Pharmacy/Drugstore Category)
in Reader’s Digest 2017 Trusted Brands Survey, its third Best-of-the-Best Award at Retail Asia’s Top 500
Awards and the Silver Award in Retail Asia’s Top 10 Retailers – Health & Beauty. Campaign Asia-Pacific’s
March 2017 Survey named Mercury Drug as Most Recognizable Local Brand. Mercury Drug emerged as
finalist in the Employer of Year search by the People Management Association of the Philippines
(PMAP).
2018. Mercury Drug launched another first in the pharmacy retail industry – Get Well at Mercury Drug
Diabetes Care Corner - a diabetes specialty corner for diabetics and their families in selected stores
nationwide, offering a complete assortment of products for diabetics, a counseling service manned by
pharmacists trained in diabetes management and on-site demonstrations of monitoring devices on
request. This year, Mercury Drug also introduced scan-to-pay technology in its stores via PayMaya and
GCash QR for added convenience of customers. Suki Senior Card was also introduced this year for easier
transactions of senior citizens, without need to present their senior citizen ID’s and LGU-issued purchase
booklets anymore whenever they purchase prescribed medicines in Mercury Drug. The company’s
founder, Dr. Mariano Que, was honored as one of the icons of Philippine retailing in the coffee table
book, “Legends, Lives and Legacies,” published by the Philippine Retailers Association. For the third year
in a row, Mercury Drug garnered the Platinum Most Trusted Brand, Pharmacy/Drugstore Category, in
Reader’s Digest 2018 Trusted Brands Survey. The company was hailed as Most Trusted Pharmacy Chain
in Asia by the International Brand Consulting Corporation, in the 2018 Most Trusted Brands Survey
conducted by Media Research Group.
2019. Mercury Drug clinched the Platinum Most Trusted Brand, Pharmacy/Drugstore Category, for the
fourth time, in Reader’s Digest 2019 Trusted Brands Survey. The new enhanced Mercury Drug Citi Card
was launched, with new and refreshed benefits for healthier life choices including a welcome offer of
5,000 Suki points for new applications. Its diabetes specialty corners expanded to 26 stores nationwide.
2020. Mercury Drug won the top award, Gold Quality Service Award, Pharmacy/Drugstore Category, in
Reader’s Digest inaugural Quality Service Survey in Asia. It opened its 1200th store in San Juan,
Alaminos, Laguna. The company celebrated its 75th anniversary, highlighted by the opening of its
Diamond Store at Hercules St. corner Makati Ave., Makati City; introduction of its new mascots Merc
and Rian and its new jingle “Sa Mercury Drug Ikaw ay Nakasisiguro.” The 75-day Suki Panalo Anniversary
Raffle Promo that will give away Php 7.5 million in prizes to lucky customers was also launched. Other
anniversary offers announced include the collectible Suki tumblers and the Suki drawstring bags
featuring iconic landmarks of the Philippines, redeemable with Suki points, available until supplies last;
special discounts and Buy 1 Take 1 offers on several products until supplies last; 20% off on Kidzania
entrance for all Suki Card members 1-31 March 2020; and P75 off on Enchanted Kingdom regular day
passes for Suki Card members 7-29 March 2020. Mercury Drug President Vivian Que-Azcona was
conferred as first recipient of the honorary degree, Doctor of Science, by De La Salle Medical and Health
Sciences Institute. For the fifth time, Mercury Drug garnered the Platinum Most Trusted Brand Award in
Reader’s Digest’s 2020 Trusted Brands Survey, Pharmacy/Drugstore Category. Curbside pick-up service
was launched in May 2020, while Call Order Delivery was launched in September 2020.
2021. For the second year, Mercury Drug won the top Reader’s Digest Quality Service Award,
Pharmacy/Drug Store Category. The company launched its 24-hour Call Order Delivery service on 20
March 2021. eGift, a gift card with a unique code and personalized message delivered to recipients via
email or text message for use in any participating Mercury Drug store, was introduced in March 2021.
For the sixth year in a row, Mercury Drug reaped the Platinum Most Trusted Brand Award in Reader’s
Digest 2021 Trusted Brands Survey, Pharmacy/Drugstore Category. On 9 March 2021, Mercury Drug
launched the Dr. Mariano Que Memorial Lecture in partnership with the UST Faculty of Pharmacy,
dedicated to the memory of the founder of Mercury Drug, to contribute to a richer understanding of the
issues and innovations in community pharmacy practice, focused on the theme “The Sustainable
Advocacy, Initiatives and Legacy of Dr. Mariano Que”. A fifth drive-thru was opened in October 2021 in
Malate, Manila.
2022. Mercury Drug joined the government’s vaccination drive against COVID-19 by enabling selected
branches as Resbakuna Centers. Launched at Manila Malate President Quirino Drive-Thru branch, the
very first pharmacy vaccination site in Manila, the Mercury Resbakuna Centers undertake the
administration of booster shots to categories A1, A4, A5 and the rest of adult population without
comorbidity, from 18-59 years old, by Mercury Drug Immunizing Pharmacists. For the seventh
consecutive year, Mercury Drug won the Platinum Most Trusted Brand Award in Reader’s Digest 2022
Trusted Brands Survey, Pharmacy/Drugstore Category.
Indeed, Mercury Drug has come a long way from its humble beginnings in Bambang St., Sta. Cruz,
Manila. In the years to come, its spirit of service continues to help keep the nation healthy.
Total customer experience
 
The success of MDC can be attributed not only to its excellent customer service but also to its
ability to innovate and provide easier and more convenient means of delivering their products, which
allowed MDC to thrive and flourish through rapidly changing times. Customer convenience has always
been one of the core tenets of the Mercury brand. As early as 1963, MDC introduced self-service in its
first store in Makati City. A mere two years later, in 1965, MDC introduced “Gising 24 Oras”, a 24-hour
service which allows customers to purchase much-needed medication at any time of the day. In 1999,
MDC launched its “Gamot Padala” Order Online. Today, “Gamot Padala” offers customers six (6) hassle-
free service options: (1) Order Online, (2) Call Order Pickup, (3) Call Order Delivery, (4) Order Anywhere
Pick-up Anywhere, (5) Curbside Pick-Up and (6) Drive-Thru. In 2018, even before e-wallets became
popular, MDC had already introduced the scan-to-pay system in all its branches.
Health programs 
Throughout its years of growth and success, MDC has never forgotten its ideal of uplifting the
lives of the people. Its social responsibility arm, Mercury Drug Foundation, Inc. (MDFI), undertakes
various initiatives and projects to provide free medicines and medical services to those in need and
promote health and well-being. Some of these initiatives include Operation Bigay Lunas, Operation Pa-
Tubig, and Bantay Kalusugan. 
Mercury Drug is more than just a pharmacy - it is the country's trusted and caring health and wellness
partner, providing the widest range of branded and generic medicines, as well as a complete line of
healthcare and personal care products, including medical devices, and basic everyday needs. Through
the years, Mercury Drug has opened store after store all over the Philippines to bring medicines within
easy reach of its customers. Today, it has grown into a vast network of more than 1,200 stores
nationwide with over 15,000 employees, who are continuously trained on product knowledge and
customer service.
Vivian eventually took over from her father and assumed the top position in 1998, as president and chief
executive officer of Mercury Drug.
Ms. Vivian Que-Azcona is the president of Mercury Drug Corporation, the Philippines’ leading pharmacy
retail business. The eldest daughter of the founder of Mercury Drug, Dr Mariano Que.
She was appointed Assistant General Manager in 1980, then Vice President and General Manager in
1984, and finally President in 1998. Under her leadership, Mercury Drug has grown into a network of
more than 1,000 stores nationwide. Altogether, the Mercury Drug network now employs the largest
number of pharmacists nationwide and absorbs the largest number of pharmacy student interns.
All of Mercury Drug’s over 12,000 employees enjoy a superior package of benefits. Everyone is a happy
Mercurian and justly compensated not only while employed but for the rest of their lives after
retirement. Continuing education is also provided to employees. Vivian put in place a highly-competent
training team and a modern training facility for the year-round training of pharmacists and store front
liners to ensure exceptional customer service.
Weekly, Vivian meets with her management team, to enable sharing of ideas, concerns and best
practices to further improve Mercury Drug’s services. Through these meetings, the company has
initiated various customer value-added services, which are now well in place and well-known among the
pharmacy’s customers.

For Filipinos, the name Mercury Drug has become a byword for medicines. Its slogan,
Nakasisiguro Gamot ay Laging Bago, is a guarantee of fresh and high-quality medicines sold in Mercury
Drug, whether branded or generic. Customers will always find what they need in Mercury Drug, and if
the medicine they need is not available in the branch they visit, Mercury Drug will only be glad to find it
in its other stores to ensure customer satisfaction. When the laws granting medicine discounts to senior
citizens and persons with disability were enacted, Mercury Drug readily implemented them, granting the
mandated 20% privilege discount, and exemption from the 12% VAT to all senior citizens. With its
millions of senior citizen customers, Mercury Drug could easily be one of the largest providers of this
privilege in the Philippines. Because of its exceptional customer service, Mercury Drug has kept a solid
customer base, making it one of the Top 10 Companies of the Philippines. It has also been cited as Top
Taxpayer in the communities where it operates. Vivian herself has been cited as the Philippines’ Top
Individual Taxpayer in 2012. Vivian strives to be a good citizen and a good corporate citizen. For her,
there is no meaning to success if she is not able to give back to those who have contributed to Mercury
Drug’s success.