Mehrzad Mahjoub - Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services
mahyar polroudi moghaddam - Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services
Farzad Peiravian - Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services

Introduction: In today s highly competitive market of food supplements, the importance of smart marketing is becoming more and more evident. In this regard, companies need a scientific analysis of the needs and characteristics of their present and future consumer. In thecurrent study, the authors develop a formative measurement instrument for examining the factors that influence the choice of food supplements by the customers in Tehran s urban pharmacies as a second-order construct that indicates how intensively each factor affect customer’s choice.Methods:The authors has implemented a thorough literature review and modeled customer choice as a function of 10 formative dimensions – product reputation, product characteristics, appearance and packaging, physician and pharmacist advice, media and advertisements, pharmacy-related factors, safety label, pharmaceutical form And type of formulation, previous experiences and price – measured by several formative indicators. The data from the survey enable an estimation of the CEM model with both smart PLS 3.00 and SPSS 23. The PLS 3.00 approach applies a bootstrapping method (1000 samples, sample size 300) to calculate the t-values. Results: This study showed that among the factors that affect the choice of supplements, product safety label and pro duct characteristics are among the most important factor. On the other hand, the price factor can be considered as the least effective factor. Conclusion: Food supplement manufacturing companies should pay more attention to the product safety label and Specialization.

food supplement, marketing, Second-order construct, Formative indicators, customer choice