Medicines are essential especially wherein we are confronted with limitations imposed. Online pharmacy app is a good solution for pharmacy with its customers.
The coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed the world’s healthcare systems. The number of sick people and the number of deaths it has caused are tragic. But the one thing that has become abundantly clear is that improvements are greatly needed in healthcare systems. That’s why now is the best time to build an e-health startup. It’s also a good time to develop an e-pharmacy app. We can guide and support you through this process.
The second wave of COVID-19 has brought on the biggest healthcare challenge the world has ever faced. With high caseloads and a shortage of oxygen, vaccines, and life-saving medicines, a palpable sense of fear is ever-present. And the barrage of misinformation transmitted through messaging platforms only makes this situation all the more dire.
Medicines are essential in every household especially these days wherein we are confronted with limitations imposed by the COVID-19 threat. In particular, it makes us face challenges associated with purchasing medicines.
There are also numerous inconveniences one may face in a physical pharmacy like waiting in long lines, not knowing the price or the medicine or its pharmatheutical usage.
It comes as no surprise that pharmacy app development comes forefront for addressing these issues. Hence, it should be regarded as the promising business strategy that benefits both the customers and the pharmacy owners.
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An online pharmacy is an application or a website that allows a customer to search for and order medicines, and have them delivered. This kind of app can take one of two forms:
A pharmacy marketplace. With this app, customers can order their prescriptions through any pharmacy that has registered on the marketplace. As for the benefits of this business model, it offers customers more choice and allows them to compare prices. The pharmacies can skip creating their own branded mobile or web application. This is a good option for new companies as it can drive customers to them.
Branded online pharmacy app. An online pharmacy app is created by a company using its branded name, style, and other elements. This solution is a good bridge to connect the pharmacy with its customers.
Different retailers have started seeing the advantages of having an app for their businesses, and pharmacies have realized this too. They found out in a survey that customers who use chat and email features do not make a difference between digital and face-to-face interaction with pharmacists. In fact, 20% of customers that use a pharmacy's app have reported their satisfaction with a 23 percentage points higher compared to those who don't use apps.
As expected in any retail business, Pharmacy performance is one of the key metrics for customer loyalty and retention. It increases multifold when shoppers are able to pick up or have their prescribed medicines delivered hassle-free.
Online medicine ordering and apps to deliver medicines have drastically changed and revolutionized customers' capabilities and dependency on other people, especially the elderly people as well as people with medical conditions.
In 2018, the global online pharmacy (ePharmacy) market was estimated to be worth 49.7 billion US dollars and by 2026, it is predicted that the market will grow to reach about 177.8 billion US dollars.
For the last decade the global ePharmacy market size has continuously grown with a constant increase in demand for mail-order medicines. It has opened new doors of convenience for customers enabling them to save time and effort on visiting pharmacies.
An online pharmacy app works as an eCommerce store. The only difference is the type of goods the customers' purchase. Sometimes online pharmacies are medicine delivery app that follows the best practices of modern eCommerce. There are some differences though between an online pharmacy and a traditional eCommerce store because there is a need to have a prescription.
Online pharmacy app development is a good decision to make since it delivers benefits to both customers and the business.
Complete privacy: Some customers may be hesitant to buy specific drugs to treat a private medical condition in a traditional pharmacy because others can overhear them. An online solution solves this problem because customers can order everything they need in the privacy of their own home, get their prescriptions delivered right to their door, or pick them up by giving a pharmacist the order number to get their package.
Contactless ordering: During the pandemic, minimizing human contact became crucial. There are also other diseases besides COVID-19 that have a high risk of infection through contact. Online pharmacies are a good way to avoid contact. Some of the leading pharmacies already use robotic solutions for issuing and delivering orders. That solution was developed in China under the influence of the pandemic.
Less waiting: This is an obvious benefit since the customers can pick up their already-packaged orders in a pharmacy, or get their orders delivered with the help of an app to deliver medicine.
Better prices and price comparisons: Branded apps developed by pharmacies for their customers offer a lot of promos, discounts and may even have lower prices compared to those in the physical drugstore. Medicine marketplaces offer even better opportunities to save through price comparisons since there are competing vendors to choose from.
Better choices: Sometimes a medicine isn’t available at a local pharmacy, but it can usually be found and ordered online which makes online pharmacies a good place to fill prescriptions for patients who need difficult-to-find drugs.
Customer experience boost: According to research by Raconteur, an online medicine delivery app makes the life of a patient easier especially when the app is integrated with the National Health Service (NHS) electronic prescription service in the UK for example. This allows pharmacists to be sure that they are selling potentially dangerous drugs to the right patients who have been prescribed by their doctor.
Profit increase: Pharmacy app development is also a way to boost your profits as a logical consequence of the increased sales from mobile customers.
Cutting-edge advantage: The e-pharmacy market is growing rapidly, and online ordering is already widely accepted by many of today’s customers. This is also an investment in your reputation and a way to establish your company as an innovative, customer-centric, and caring pharmacy.
The opportunity to upsell additional goods: With the help of additional features, in your online delivery app for medicine, you can suggest other medicines or over-the-counter options, offer appointment scheduling for doctors, and develop smart marketing strategies that depend on customer behavior, global health trends like the current demand for drugs potentially helpful in coronavirus treatment, seasons like cold and flu or allergy season, and other factors.
High-level patient assistance: Customers are provided with drug reference materials, pharmaceutical consultations, and medicine trackers.
Better chronic illness management: Patients with chronic illnesses can track their medicines and order up until 90 days worth of supply online instead of the usual 30 days supply in the physical store.
Customer loyalty: Given the fact that your app offers reminders, discounts, and promotional offers online in an unobtrusive manner, it makes the interaction easier and builds customers’ loyalty.
Convenience and privacy: Time and cost savings are important for consumers. Aside from that, some customers find it uncomfortable buying their medicines in front of other people. With pharmacy apps, consumers feel more confident and appreciative that their privacy is respected.
Driving new customers: Having a pharmacy app, you can work with some of the best app marketing services to help drive more customers in your business. The online presence also maximizes your customer base that translates into more profitable business.
Building your app must correspond to the existing online pharmacy business model and align with the strategies you implement in your pharmacy business. You may choose among the following types:
Having a marketplace business model for medicine ordering and delivery services allows nearby pharmacies to list their store in the app avoiding monopoly while benefiting all the business included. This makes it easier for consumers to order their medicines from the local providers.
An online pharmacy store is best for independent pharmacies and medical businesses wherein the company can directly connect and interact with their customers. The products are directly sold through the app and the stores accomplish delivery directly.
Having an application for a pharmacy network under one brand can help increase sales and customer loyalty.
When it comes to your pharmacy app development, defining the list of features needed is essential for the best customer experience and your future return on investment (ROI). Below are the basic and additional functions you may want to include.
Inventory management: Pharmacists can track inventory and stay updated on the number of drugs available using this feature.
Order management: Using this feature, the pharmacist will be able to package the order, assign it to a courier or schedule it for pickup and track the status.
Prescription checking: There should also be a feature for checking and verifying drug prescriptions to avoid drug scams.
Billing features: With this feature, the pharmacist can track the payment status of the order. For example, the customer may want to pay online in the app, pay in the pharmacy, or on or after delivery.
Discovery phase: At this stage, it is important to study the competitors and know exactly what they lack so you can get ahead. Aside from that, the preferences of your target market are listed for a more efficient marketing plan.
Requirements collection: This stage involves detailed discussions and meeting with specialists from the technical and design departments. Its goal is to provide a detailed specification with the functional and non-functional requirements of your pharmacy application.
Feature list: Make sure that the development backlog is filled with features that match your application and meet your users’ needs.
Prototyping: having an interactive app prototype aims at showing how product features are defined on the user's end.
UI/UX design: the design of your pharmacy app should have a user-friendly and functional interface responsive to the latest UI/UX trends in the market.
If you want to make your online pharmacy application truly innovative and very useful for your patients, you can come up with the following advanced features.
In-app consultation: Your app may provide the opportunity to schedule an appointment with a doctor or even an instant consultation. To make this work, you should partner with a clinic and come up with a strategy that allows a patient to buy the suggested medicines r in your pharmacy.
Local store search: Sometimes there is a need to visit a physical pharmacy, for example, to see how a device works before purchasing it. For this purpose, a map of your stores will be helpful.
Multi-language support: This is a must-have option if you are going to scale your business and make your pharmacy available internationally. Also, there should be multi-currency and multi-weight features for different countries: Keep in mind that some medicines may be prohibited in certain countries, so check the legislation in advance.
Chat-bots: This is a must-have feature to facilitate your customer support staff and pharmacists.
Lab test bookings. In addition to a consultation with a doctor, you can offer your customer the opportunity to schedule a lab test at a better price.
Photo prescription recognition: If a patient has a handwritten prescription, it would be nice to use a feature powered by artificial intelligence (AI) for prescription recognition and to automatically add the necessary drugs to the shopping cart.
Smart recommendation engine: You should also think about s smart recommendation engine which may even come in the form of an application programming interface (API). For example, you may suggest the customer buy probiotics in addition to an antibiotic, seasonal vitamins, or a two-for-one product.
Notifications and reminders: If you want to make your application truly advanced, there is also an opportunity to create a personal treatment section for the patients and send them reminders to take their medicine.
The global e-Pharmacy market is expected to reach $109,2 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research. For comparison, this figure was $45 billion in 2019. Even with such good prospects, you should still research your market and assess its specific needs. To do this, use economic and sociological analysis methods such as PEST, SWOT, The Five Forces, and focus groups. It is also critically important to research your competitors and develop a unique advantage that aligns with the expectations of potential users.
Even after comprehensive market research, you still need to do a lot of business idea testing. For example, you may come up with a pilot solution created with an online pharmacy app builder, then test it with a focus group and get their feedback before building a full-fledged application with a lot of actionable insights in mind.
Choosing an online pharmacy app development company can be challenging. Below we offer two suggestions to help. Choose a vendor with experience in medical solutions development. For example, Cprime Studios has a lot of projects implemented in this field and is well-versed in the best development practices, healthcare regulations, and standards. Consider offshore outsourcing (we can be your partner as well) to cut costs on your pharma app development.
This is a purely technical stage during which your mobile and web solutions will be created. There are a lot of specifics at this stage, but the main advice we give and the core practice we always follow is the Lean methodology for software development, which allows you to invest only in those features that are needed by your target audience.
Even after your app is launched, the work isn’t over. Pharmacy app development companies usually offer solution maintenance as part of their services. You should allocate some part of your budget for this stage as well.
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