Want to take a leap
into the world of entrepreneurship, but you also desire to serve the people
better so that they can lead a happier healthier life? Setting up your own
medical delivery business with a medical delivery app development on the way can give you a chance to fulfill both of these dreams of yours, where you
will be able to not only fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams but also achieve
the satisfaction of helping people lead a better and healthier life. The idea
behind an online pharmacy is focused around the concept of offering a wide
choice of non-prescription OTC (Over The Counter) drugs and medications, filling
out prescriptions, delivering those drugs to patients on time, thus making
their lives easier to a great deal.
And still, the concept of online pharmacy – also known as a distance-selling pharmacy – is largely an under-explored, surprisingly an underrated business even today. In 2016, prescription drugs to the tune of $158 billion were sold online in the USA alone. Compared to the entire pharmacy market, which is estimated at a little above $100 billion, the online sales stand at a mere 0.15% of the entire pharmacy business. This suggests huge untapped potential.
The widespread application of eCommerce has benefited ePharmacy to attract a wide customer base both in the developed and developing countries. Based on the world population prospects, approx 2.05 billion people of the world population use eCommerce for the procurement of commodities out of 7.8 billion.
The number was 1.32 billion in 2014 and was foreseen to reach 2.14 billion by the year 2021. Moreover, there are a number of countries where 70 to 80% of internet users make purchases from online stores.
Online medicine delivery app is way more essential to ill patients and elderly citizens because it reduces their dependency on a third person. The app delivers the ordered medicine and healthcare supplies at customers’ doorstep with an online payment facility. A fresh example is the current situation of the world during the pandemic of Coronavirus.
Right now where people are lockdown into their houses and forbidden to come out to stop the spread of this COVID-19 virus, the government has allowed eCommerce to be active. So, during these days, people are ordering medicines, sanitizers, and other healthcare supplies on pharmacy delivery apps.
The increasing growth of the ePharmacy market and numbers of internet users, state that the demand for e-prescription technology and on-demand medicine delivery services are going to be high on the demand draft. Therefore, investing in a medicine delivery business can generate a huge profit in the future.
Even if there is a drug store nearby, there is little guarantee that all the medicines are available. What if this problem is eliminated by listing all the available drug stores in a common marketplace like the mobile app and buying medicine with just a tap on the mobile.
With ordering and delivery app for medicines, you no longer need to wait in the drugstore to buy medicine. This saves you time and money.
Benefit for pharmacists are...
Pharmacists who have a small outlet can improve their growth by listing their drug store in the medicine delivery app marketplace.
Now that you are aware of the online medicine market, let us get you to the point without further ado. So, all ears here!
The Business Model for the Medicine Delivery App Development
The premise sounds simple. Just like any other eCommerce business, you can sell products online – OTC and prescription drugs in this case – and make a profit.
Online pharmacy store business models are mostly classified into two categories, based on how they operate and make money.
The first kind is where the online pharmacy store itself stocks a huge number of medications. A customer-first submits a valid prescription for the medicines they wish to purchase. The online store confirms the availability of the items required and the customer makes the payment. The online pharmacy then ships the medicines to the customer.
The second kind is different in that they don’t stock the medicines themselves. Instead, they partner with local brick-and-mortar pharmacies. When the customer makes an online request the online pharmacy store checks which partner pharmacy is closest to the customer’s shipping address or can best deliver the order. They collect the payment, instruct the partner physically deliver the drugs, and share the revenue as per conditions agreed upon.
Startups are bringing in various changes to introduce in different levels of value additions. For instance, while online pharmacies require customers to submit the prescriptions online, some startups also arrange to have the prescription physically collected from the customer’s location. Apart from value addition, this method lets the pharmacy better verify the authenticity of the prescription.
Features of an Online Pharmacy Store
An online pharmacy, at the end of the day, is a commercial enterprise. That means it must have all the features that are common to the business.
The following features are the ones that are unique to online pharmacies.
Display clearly your must-have certifications
Firstly, you must
build trust about your legitimacy. On your website, display all affiliations
and licenses clearly so that first-time visitors can easily find them.
Show complete product information
Display as much
information as is required and advisable. Customers, present and potential,
should be able to spot products easily. Highlight all that information that is
statutorily required as well as information you, as a pharmacist, belief should
be shared with consumers of medical formulations.
Carry a customer credentials section
Customers base many
decisions on genuine reviews. Place the reviews so newcomers can check out what
kind of service you are offering.
Instill trust by safe
payment features
Customers must feel
completely safe when they may payments. Show prominently how your payment
gateway is superior in terms of ease and safety.
Consider having an app
An online store can
be wonderfully complemented by an app. Customers will find an app a lot easier
to buy from. At some stage you’ll want an app, so why not earlier than later?
Highlight events
Part promotional,
part social responsibility. You can have a section or run a banner dedicated to
health-related events or articles. This can include schedules of vaccinations,
notifications of flu in a particular area and so on.
Respect privacy
Your customers buy
online because they want convenience. A number of them also seek privacy while
buying from you. Make sure your systems are geared towards ensuring the privacy
of your customers. This is not only ethically appropriate but also legally
required.
Act responsibly and ethically
Respect the law of
the land. Take every reasonable precaution that you’d take if you were a
physical store.
Offer to stay connected
An online pharmacy
can offer newsletters for better engagements. In return, it will connect email
addresses to build a mailing list.
Essential Features of a Medicine Delivery App
The set of features is the frontline of any mobile application. At this point, you will know what features a medicine delivery app must have and some advanced features that can enhance your app functionality.
Features of the Customer Panel:
Registration
Users can create a
new account with an email or they can use social media credentials to log in to
the app.
Explore Medicines
There are thousands
of medicine available in the app stock. Users can search and order the
preferred medicines with just a few taps on the app.
Upload Prescription
Users can upload the
prescription on the app so that they can order medicine in a better and the convenient way in the future also.
Add to Shopping Cart
Users can add the
required medicines into the cart and can purchase them whenever they need it.
Chat with a Doctor
Users can discuss their
health problems with the doctor or an expert directly from the in app
communication feature.
News and Blogs
Users can view all
the latest blogs and pharmacy-related news, various articles and researches
related to fitness trends.
Track Order
Users can track the
real-time location of the delivery executive. They can also check the order of
status whether it is accepted or out for delivery.
Multiple Payment Options
Users can pay for
their order by cash or by various integrated payment gateways like e-Wallet,
Credit/Debit Card, etc.
Refund & Return Policy
Users can return the
medicine if it is not appropriate for them and they can also ask for a refund.
Push Notification
Users are notified
with their order status, trending fitness articles and latest discounts &
offers by in-app notifications.
Loyalty Reward
The app allows users
to earn loyalty and reward points by referring the app to friends and
relatives.
Rate and Review
Users can rate the
services of the pharmacy and the delivery executive for a better future
experience.
Features of the Pharmacy Panel:
Registration
Similarly, like the
user, the vendor can also register with an email id or social media
credentials.
Maintain Information
The retailer
maintains all its information as well as the user’s information to provide the
best services to them.
Listing Products
The store manager
lists the available products according to category and deletes the unavailable
items from the list for better user flexibility.
Maintaining Product Details
The vendor manages
all the information and details related to the product and its benefits.
Filtering Similar Products
The store displays
related items based on the user’s search. This allows the user a better
experience while shopping.
Managing Orders
The pharmacy manager
can manage all the past and ongoing orders with the help of the medicine
delivery app panel.
Maintaining Cost
The store owner
manages and sets the price of the medicines according to market policies.
Providing Discounts
In order to keep your
user engaged on your app, you can provide offers and discounts on medicines
from time to time
Reviewing Users
Dealers can keep
track of feedback on the customer, on delivery executive and even on the
products that the customer has purchased.
Features of the Admin Panel:
Admin Dashboard
The admin manages all
the pending requests, orders, customers, and the store details from the
dashboard.
Promotional Tools
The admin controls
all the marketing templates, advertisement and campaign activities from this
section.
Controlling Payments
All the payments made
by the users through COD or by the in-app payment methods are verified by the
admin.
Maintaining Users and Dealers
All the registered
users, pharmacy dealers, and manufacturers are managed by the admin.
Notifications
The admin notifies
the users and the dealers with the latest updates and news related to the app
with the notifications being received through SMS or email.
App Analysis
The admin keeps a
real-time analysis of the app by maintaining reports about total orders
received, user feedbacks and, retention rates for managing the growth of the
app.
Value-Added Features
Apart from the above-mentioned features, there are some other features that you can integrate into your app to make it more interactive and user-friendly. So binding your app with these features is surely beneficial for your business.
In-App Camera
Using the phone
camera to take a picture of a prescription and then later upload it from your
phone gallery is a tricky cumbersome task. The in-app camera feature will help
users to directly upload the picture of the prescription in an easy manner.
Multilingual
The users of the app
will be from every corner of the globe. So you should integrate a
multi-language feature in your app, to achieve flexibility. This can be
achieved by allowing users to choose their preferred language to use the app.
CMS
Editing or managing
the content of the website is quite exhausting. An adaptable CMS or Content
Management System will help the admin in maintaining and managing the content
of the website and the app.
CRM
In order to keep your
app users engaged, it is important to have a good relationship with all your
users. A CRM or Customer Relations Management system helps you in keeping a
long relationship with users and customers of the app.
Chabot
Sometimes users are
not able to understand some features. In this instance, users can get answers
for all of their queries and FAQs from the Chabot.
Smart Searching
This feature helps
users to search for nearby pharmacies, diagnosis centers, and medical shops
easily. Users can also search the preferred medicines by directly entering the
name of the medicine.
User-Friendly
Integrating the app
with the latest features makes it more flexible and user-friendly. This will
help users to easily order their preferred medications.
Lab Aggregation
With this feature,
users can easily search the nearby diagnosis centers for various categories
such as a blood test, full-body checkups, regular checkups, and many more. The
user will also be able to get the approximate fee for a particular checkup.
Reminder
The most beneficial feature of these apps is for aged patients. They can set a reminder in the app and the app will remind them when they have to take their medicine.
How does the application work for customers?
For using the app, here are the steps you should give a quick view about, to users to follow:
- Download the app and register yourself first. Users can register themselves in the app that is free of cost. They will have to enter their details such as contact number, email address, and come up with a unique password. Once they have completed the registration process, they will have to log into the app using the same email id and password.
- Create a profile by adding all the basic information that is required such ascontact number, name, addresses, etc. Also, mention all the details of the drugs that you consume every day. You will have to give access to the pharmacies, so that the doctors can review the prescriptions. They will then deliver them as per the dose that they want as committed.
- Submit the doctor’s prescription by uploading the document online. Doctors can easily connect with their patients using the app in real-time with the data that they can get from the prescriptions uploaded by you.
- Choose the drugs as per the prescription and order them online.
- You can also choose to cancel the order if you don’t need them.
- Once you have selected the drugs, you can add to the cart to complete the Booking.
- You can complete the payment by choosing your preferred payment methods to get the drugs delivered at your doorstep.
In the case, if you are confused, you can get in touch with our expert nutritionists or doctors to discuss further the medicine, and then place your order. Using the online map feature, they can find nearby pharmacies and visit the medical store personally. This will help you during emergencies to fetch medicines immediately. With an intuitive feature, users can get a reminder for their medicine time.
When it comes to health-related data, you have to ensure that the data never gets manipulated. And hence, the app features have a two-factor authorization security protection option for all the user accounts. Moreover, you can keep your data encrypted, so that any third-person can not use the data for their benefits.
For all administrators, they will have to follow the below steps:
Dashboard – The admin will have to verify the requests that customers are placing and for that, he or she can easily find it on the dashboard. Once he or she has registered, he/she can see the requests from customers on the dashboard.
Tools – Admins will get access to marketing tools like banners, posters, etc. They will have to provide the same to the owners who are requesting it.
Manage Payments – Admins will have to manage various payment modes that are made by the customers and clients. Moreover, they can also save the list for all the clients.
Team Structure and Technology Stack for the Medicine Delivery App Development
Selecting an eligible firm for the development of your app is a quite difficult task. You must choose a company that has previously worked on these projects and that can understand your requirements easily. For developing a robust Medicine Delivery Application, choose a company with a team of experienced and skilled developers.
Here is a list of most prominent members required for developing an on-demand medicine delivery app.
- Project
Developer
- Android
Developer
- iOS
developer
- UI/UX
Designer
- Backend
Developer
- Tester
Various technologies have been introduced in the market. So sometimes it’s difficult to choose the right technology stack. We have come up with the best technology stack you can use to develop a robust and interactive Medicine Delivery App with the most advanced features.
For Front End Development: Swift, Java, CSS, Bootstrap
For Backend Development: JavaScript, Ruby, Angular JS, Python
- Twilio,
Push.io - Push Notifications
- Nexmo,
Twilio - SMS and Phone Verification
- Braintree,
Paypal, e-Wallets - Payments
- MongoDB,
Postgress, Cassandra - Database
- AWS,
Google, Azure - Cloud
- Hadoop,
Cisco, IBM, Big Data - Real-Time Analytics
Let's Do The Cost Estimation!
After the technology stack has been confirmed, comes the cost estimation part. Calculating the exact cost of developing an On-Demand medicine delivery mobile app is not an easy task. As the cost depends on various factors like features, platform, functionality, complexity and many other dependencies, An app with basic features will cost you less, but an app with most advanced features will probably cost you significantly more.
To know more about these factors in detail that can give you a fair idea on the complete cost estimation of Bus Booking app development, please go through our blog,
How Much
Does An APP DEVELOPMENT COSTS? LET’S ESTIMATE!
Are you ready to Kick Start Your Entrepreneurial Dreams with Your Own Uber for Pharmacy App?
We have reached the very end of this lengthy discussion of developing a robust Medicine Delivery App. The era for the flourishing of the ecommerce industry has entered a new phase with medicine delivery apps paving the way and we with our expert team of designers and developers are here to guide you every step along the way and deliver you the app of your dreams.
Want to create an app just like 1mg or Medplus? Get your Quote and Lets jump start brainstorming!
