Online Pharmacies

[Pharmacist123]

what do people think of the emergence of all of the new online pharmacies?

We all know about the Big ones like Pharmacy2u and Chemist Direct, and the obviuos ones like Boots and Lloyds.

But what about the new ones like Pharmacy First and Online Chemist 4 u?

I think that it is good for the customers because prices go down, but it can be detrimental to high street shops as it takes away our sales!

What does everyone else think? Is this good for the pharmacy industry?

[johnep]

Are you sure you are not a spammer?
johnep

[Pharmacist123]

I am sure! lol

I am just thinking about starting one myself and looking into it...

[LeftArm]

They are detrimental to bricks and mortar pharmacies but are currently held back by the need to get a physical prescription. They will take off big style when EPSr2 is implemented.
They don't keep prices down for NHS services as these are fixed fee or free to the customer. As the system takes time they are only really suitable for chronic prescriptions as acute medicines are required more urgently (eg Antibiotics). This means they will cream off the profitable repeat business while leaving old fashioned community pharmacy to deal with the special orders and trusses and palliantive care and flu pandemics and people who only want the green capsules..
In terms of OTC I would guess that sales are not all that as the cost of items is too low to warrant the postage. The exceptions to that will be Regaine and items for sexual health or embarassing conditions.

On the internet there are usually a few winners and a large number of also rans. I would guess that pharmacy2u have spent hundreds of thousands on their site development and similar amounts on marketing. If you have this kind of money to spend then get a web designer, a programmer, a quality hosting company, a warehouse etc and you'll still be forever trying to catch up.

[LeftArm]

PS. You sir are the troll and I claim my five pounds! ;-)

[Pharmacist123]

Thanks for the response. You make some good points.

Maybe it may be worth looking at the retail side though and trying to use wholsaler contacts to be competitive on some big lines...

We'll see

Cheers.

[johnep]

The lesson from the wholesalers is that you use the resources you have. Waitrose teamed up with a company (Ocado) spending millions on a wharehouse and not yet made a profit, and not covering all areas.
Tesco just used existing stores and only cost was a van driver and picker. I live in the sticks and yet the local Tesco has 8 vans working contantly and I order regularly.
If you are a pharmacy, then possible. If you are just someone trying to get in on the act then best way to make a million is to start with two million.
johnep

[Pharmanaut]

This weeks PJ ; Rowlands advertising for an online pharmacy manager.
Don't worry about competition for the job from me.

[Phorumator]

myrepeats.com (myrepeats.com: repeat prescription service) is available to current community pharmacies for a one off fee of just £100. It offers professional online ordering for existing community pharmacies that can compete with the internet pharmacies. By getting patients to use it now it should make it easier to retain them in the future.

[roper]

All this so far has focused on scripts. I wonder how effectively P sales can be supervised. I have used them myself for heavy discounts on hayfever stuff but required bulk purchase to offset the postage and wondered if such bulk should really be approved. I did plead my case and give my RPSGB no to prove who I am (as a locum I don't get discount and was working in shops which I felt were overcharging) but it would be much easier to overlook a pregnant asthmatic's request for ibuprofen etc if the order was online and they did not volunteer the info. I often feel silly refusing such sales when I know that ibuprofen is also available OTC but I wonder how seriously such requests are supervised in the online environment.