I have done some research some months ago on the users of traditional chinese medicine, alternative medicine and complementary medicine. This research may be helpful to you in determining who your target patients will be.

The main focus of disease management for Chinese medicine is often getting to the root of the problem, not just controlling the adverse symptoms. The ultimate goal is to maintain the well-being of the biological system by balancing the body’s systems. This is what most of my patients who came to see me are looking for

It has always been very common among Chinese and other Asians patients in countries like Singapore to use TCM (Lee, et al., 2004), But, it has been shown that although most Chinese patients usually seek help first from doctors trained in Western medicine for most illnesses, a large proportion (42%) consulted traditional Chinese herbalists for further consultation for the same illness. Some turn to traditional medicine as a complementary or alternative treatment.

Many studies had indicated that TCM users tend to be women and are more educated. Women are the major users of healthcare service because of their biological nature. So with more women who are more educated in this modern societies, they will have better spending power. Hence, women are more willing to spend to attain a better holistic health than men.

I believe that with their support, traditional medicines and alternative medicines are here to stay in this country

Reference:

Lee GBW, Charn TC, Chew ZH and Ng TP. (2004). Complementary and alternative medicine use in patients with chronic diseases in primary care is associated with perceived quality of care and cultural beliefs. Family Practice, 21(6): 654–660.