Step-By-Step Guide For On-Demand Pharmacy Delivery App Solutions

How Can Pharmacy Business Start, Execute, And Launch The App

Mobile shopping (due to added convenience) has become people’s psyche that they expect in every sphere of their lives. Be it apparels, furniture, clothes, electronic items, or pharma products.

The on-demand economy has increased the appetite for instant gratification needs. The pharma industry has experienced an increased demand for on-demand app development due to the drug requirements on an urgen basis and the hassles involved with medicine purchases from the pharma store. The immense growth of NetMeds, NowRX, and Capsule Pharmacy in a limited time is an instance of their demand across the globe.

Especially in the recent pandemic, people have witnessed how on-demand pharmacy delivery solutions have turned out a great remedy. When the people are locked in the houses and can’t go out to buy the medicine and sanitizers during a lockdown or quarantined, the apps are the biggest rescuer that has helped in checking the medicines’ availability, ordering the medicines, and getting the order delivered at the doorstep. The contactless delivery worked as extra cherries on the cake.

The statistics proving the same facts:

• The Global mHealth Apps Market grow at 21.1% CAGR and reach $11.17 billion in value by 2025.
• After the corona outbreak, 47% growth, that’s 656 million apps are downloaded in Q2 of 2020.
• The revenue for health apps has swelled by 13%, that’s around $328.5 million.

The highest growth showcases how vital mobile health apps have become and creating a lucrative opportunity for everyone.

The business models for Pharmacy Delivery App.

• Independent pharmacy solution: The single pharmacy store gets the app to increase the customers’ reach beyond the locale people.
• Pharmacy marketplace: The platform builds a network of pharmacies where a multitude of pharmacy stores can display and sell the products. Individual stores own and maintain the inventory.
• Retail pharmacy chain: The pharma companies having a chain of pharmacy stores across various cities of the nations can collectively sell the products online. The inventory is maintained centrally.

How to build an on-demand medicine delivery app?

The successful on-demand solution has 4 different interfaces where each interface comprises a unique set of features.

Features of customer app:

• Profile creation: The users can create and manage the profiles by adding information like- billing address, payment information, prescription details, and others.
• Medicine search: With the in-app search button, the users can directly find the medicine and be redirected to the medicine detail page by typing its name along with vital information.
• Advanced search: Various categories like- locality, proximity, medicine alternatives, and others are created to filter medicine and stores so that users can easily get the medicine they are looking for from the particular pharma store.
• Prescription upload: To authorize the prescription provided by the HCPs, the users need to upload the scanned copy of the prescription for chemist verification.
• Payment: Facilitating multiple modes of payment such as cash, credit card, debit card, mobile wallets, and other payment gateways to the users for easy and faster checkout.
• Refill prescription: For the medicines that are used by the users regularly, they don’t need to follow the process repetitively. By saving the prescription, they can simply tap on the refill feature and enter the delivery date.  
• Order tracking: The ETA is already defined to the users at the time of ordering the medicines but the users are also allowed to track the medicine delivery status in real-time.
• Reviews and ratings: The users can write a review or rate the medicines delivered and services offered by the store on the app.

Features of pharmacy store app:

• Medicines management: The chemist can access, add, remove, and edit the drugs and their details listed on the app.
• Notification for every new order: Whenever a new order is placed by the customers, the chemist received a notification against the same order.
• Digital prescription: Access all the prescriptions uploaded by the customers for the verification purpose.
• Order management: Manage all types of orders and their status like- order processing, return and refunds, and others.
• Price management: Dynamically manage the prices of the medicines listed on the app.
• Discount management: Every chemist can provide discounts, promo codes, and loyalty points and enable the redemption seamlessly.

Features of driver app:

• Order delivery notification: The delivery agent receives a notification to deliver the medicine whenever a new order is placed by the customers.
• Order details: The complete order delivery information like- customer’s name, address, directions, and others are provided.
• Toggle status: Share the availability by making the availability status- offline/online as per their convenience.
• Track earnings: Keep tabs on the performance and earnings on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
• Real-time navigation: With GPS functionality, the agent gets the direction and optimized route suggestions to easily locate the customer’s address.

Features of admin panel:

• Central dashboard: A single dashboard where the admin can view and manage the vendors, customers, orders, delivery agents, and sales.
• Inventory management: Track and manage the products’ availability, and products’ expiry date so that no product runs out of stock.
• Order status management: View and manage the order’s status like- new, in progress, or completed.
• Payment and commission management: View and manage the transactions that occurred on the app, and the commissions earned from the payment.
• Marketing and promotions: Various marketing campaigns are launched to grab the users’ attention and make them order medicine using the app.
• Reports and analytics: The different types of detailed reports are generated and can be analyzed for rich insights.

The benefits of building an on-demand medicine delivery solution

The on-demand solution brings a slew of benefits to both- the pharma stores and the customers in distinct ways. Let’s dive in!

For customers

• It’s time savvy: There is no need to go out of the house and wait in the long queues to get the medicines. Just a couple of seconds and things are done.
• Save huge bucks: The promotional offer, referral points, and loyalty points save extra bucks to spend on the medicine purchase.
• Buy anytime, anywhere: Not all the pharmacies remain open 24/7 a day. With an on-demand solution, the users can order the medicine anytime, anywhere.
• Check availability from the couch: Sometimes, the pharmacies run out of stock of some medicines. That’s where the app helps in checking the medicine availability and order it accordingly.
• Get detailed information: The app not only provides descriptive information about medicines but also helps in knowing the benefits and side effects of the medicines that help in making the best decision.

For pharmacy stores:

• Increase customer outreach: By going mobile, the pharmacy store can extend the reach and keep the customers engaged with discounts and better communication.
• Improve shopping experience: By opening a mobile window, the customers can compare and buy the medicines from the comfort of the couch. Also, the offers and promo codes are the add-ons.
• Extend services beyond local area: The business expansion beyond geographical constraints is feasible with an online solution as it allows stores to sell the medicines to the customer seating far away.
• Auto-inventory management: The chemists are not required to keep an eye on the inventory like- the items understocked, items about to expire, and other essential details. The app will take care of everything.
• High ROI: The massive orders placed through the mobile app increase the sales and ROI for the store. Remember, the medicines delivered during recent pandemic times. 

The challenges that outdo the benefits

The on-demand pharma medicine delivery is a highly regulated industry where the chemists have to abide by several regulations. Also, some challenges are the part and parcel of it. Take a look at all of them:

• HIPAA compliance

Complying with HIPAA rules and regulations is all-important else the app is subjected to penalty or rejection. Developing and designing the medicine delivery app following the regulations means killing the app’s creativity and innovation. It limits the developers from adding wings to their creativity.

• FDA regulations

FDA has incorporated certain rules for a healthy lifestyle that can’t be ignored by the on-demand mobile app development solutions. The app must comply with FDA regulations that include- the addition of new features that enable customers to track the diet, identify how much exercise they need to do, and medication intake.

• The security threat to data

According to HIPAA regulations, no health-related app can disclose the patient’s data to anyone, even not for the clinical trials. The app must employ the technology so that data shared with doctors and hospitals remain confidential and not shared with third-party. Here, cloud integration poses a problem because cloud-based storage is not robust enough that ensures 100% data security.

• Legacy traditional systems

Many hospitals having an age-old traditional system for medicine distribution that can’t interface with and adopt the modern ways of delivering medicine. The adaptability issue pops-up here.

How can Nectarbits help you with pharmacy delivery app development?

The high growth, the plethora of benefits, and challenges handling with mobile solution makes perfect sense to build the future-proof medicine delivery applications. It’s not an easy undertaking, but when you partner with the right team on board, the journey becomes plain-sailing. That’s where the name of Nectarbits-like on-demand solution Development Company comes to the fore.

With over a decade of experience, the IT company has the required expertise and talent to help the brands go on-demand with custom development or a white-label solution approach. Either way, the brand prefers, the team of technicians, designers, marketers, and business analysts could help.

However, most of the brands prefer going on-demand using readymade solutions as it allows them to mobilize the business quickly and at affordable rates. With a breadth of customization options, the app reflects the brand’s identity and keep the customers satisfied. Let’s talk!