Are online pharmacies a threat to offline medical stores: Insights from KR4ALL

The comfort of ordering your medicine from home is immensely enjoyed by people, and it has turned the practice into a buying habit now; online pharmacy services have changed the shopping experience for people. So, is this bringing an end to physical medical stores?

Not really! The reality lies in a much broader perspective.

Certainly, online pharmacy services have gained organic reach during the COVID pandemic, but still, physical medical stores have much more to offer to society. The face-to-face communication builds trust, which is the main motivator for people to opt for medicine purchases at a physical store. Besides, neighbourhood pharmacies in India have another level of reputation that still cannot be contested by online pharmacies.

How physical medical stores are different from online pharmacies:

As recorded, many users who frequently used the online medicine delivery service app during the pandemic are no longer using the online medicine services the same way. Their orders have reduced, and the change in the buying trend is impacted.

Key factors that still help physical medical pharmacies to attract customers:

1. Prescription assessment: In a conventional pharmacy, pharmacists verify the prescription in the first place to check the stability and legality of the document. The person even helps patients in understanding the medication dosage and providing the correct quantity. Besides, the store assistant is able to provide alternatives available in terms of pricing and composition.
2. Minor sickness support: As we know, not every individual runs to a doctor when they face minor health complications such as fever, headache, cough etc. In such cases, people are dependent on their local pharmacies, which understand the minor symptoms and help them with the required medication. Accordingly, this medical store person recommends them to a specialised doctor if the symptoms remain for several days.
3. Flexibility in business: Due to the continued growth in the pharma industry, local pharmacies are also adopting different mediums to help patients with a flexible approach. That means, people can avail services such as medicine home delivery, blood pressure and diabetes examination; all from the local physical medical store. As these stores are located near to the patients’ residence, users can avail credit payment facility too.
4. Supplementary advice: In a physical medical store shopping, it’s more than just ordering and buying medicines. The store manager and other pharmacists are always open with their suggestions and guidance with the use of the prescribed medicine; they certainly tell you about the overdose related side effects. Many times, they also act as a first point of contact who talks to your doctor during the change in your treatment plan.
5. Providing sundry services: Offline medical stores are mostly recommended by people for its multi-service and not just medicine selling. Services such as exigency wound dressing or general blood tests are some of the notable favours that users receive from these conventional medical stores. Besides, patients can find various supplement products in the offline medical shops (apart from medicine), that they can buy without a doctor’s prescription.

Despite the gradual growth of the online pharmacies, local medical stores continue to grow in number; the medical services are expanding in different cities via franchise business modules. Moreover, online pharmacies are not fully operative in the country, especially in the rural areas. Consequently, there is a large business scope for these offline stores to attain customers where e-pharmacies have not reached yet.

Online Pharmacy India: Bottom-line

The innovation of online pharmacies in India is not developed to kill offline or physical pharmacies, but to help users with another medical channel that makes their medicine order experience agile and comfortable. It’s all about the customer’s convenience that drives them to the online platform. Plus, it makes them the perfect competitor that keeps the physical pharmacies matching the benchmarks set by the modern medical stores.

The upcoming era in the Indian pharma sector will walk through offline and online pharmacies side-by-side. The combination will lead to a seamless better customer support! 

Also Read: Why should you choose online doctor consultation

Download the KR4ALL mobile app for comfortable online medical services:

With the rising technology in the country, we help society with developed medical services that make everyone’s life easier. With the KR4ALL citizen app, you can book several medical services from your smartphone, such as online doctor consultation, medicine purchase, lab tests and much more.

We aim to build a nimble healthcare environment aiding people with expedited medical services, with not limited to home delivery, store discounts, offer and a centralised system.

Our hybrid medicine order system is highly favoured by people and will continue to grow forthcoming with the latest technologies.

Download our mobile app; available on both Google Play Store and Apple Store.