O pharmaceutical sector has been changing in recent years, especially in retail, which is no longer a place that specializes in selling medicines and has become a place of welfare and services, thus increasing the margins of the segment and the convenience offered by pharmacies.
In the online environment, the pharmacies can further increase their product mix, offering new categories in their e-commerce through business partners and even services from their physical units.
Whatever the strategy used, it is interesting to show that omnichannel is an opportunity for pharmacies to get closer to their customers and become more relevant.
Here are some insights on how your online strategy can benefit your offline retail pharmacy.
Integration of offline and online channels
The digital environment already allows pharmacies to nurture their customers along the journey and complement the sale through new business models adopted.
The industry has great opportunities to engage the customer, both online and offline, investing in customer experience, personalized offers, actually getting to know the customer inside and outside the online environment to drive sales and create a long-term relationship.
If the intention is to integrate channels, know that logistics needs to be very well structured, developing fast delivery models. Working with centralized distributions can end up generating high costs for the company. The most valid answer is omnichannel, which allows you to integrate the stocks of physical stores to e-commerce, and ensure that the customer receives the product in less time, identifying the store closest to his address.
In addition, there are options that make the customer's life even easier, such as the click and collect, also known as pickup store, where the customer can choose to pick up his or her product at the nearest store in a shorter period of time. Ship from store, integration with loyalty programs and infinite shelf that benefits customers in the physical store, are interesting resources for the industry not only to migrate its operation to online, but to integrate its channels.
Marketplace In & Out
You may have read or heard the terms marketplace in or marketplace out and wondered what they mean for a business. And although they both carry the essence of the marketplace, they are totally different things.
The marketplace out is the most used strategy when it comes to marketplace, because it consists in selling products in third-party channels and more consolidated in retail, while the Marketplace In is the strategy that consists in bringing new sellers to your e-commerce and selling third-party products, transforming your current operation into a marketplace.
In the pharmaceutical sector, the Marketplace In can enable partnerships with cosmetics and personal care brands and increase your mix if you don't work with products from other categories yet.
In addition, if your brand has a considerable network of physical stores, it is possible to integrate the inventories and transform your e-commerce into a more robust operation by structuring a marketplace in.
Learn how to implement a marketplace at VTEX.
Learn more about the pharmaceutical sector in digital
Download now our "Checklist: Key features for pharmacy e-commerce" and have access to insights, trends and a complete list with features for the sector.
Although it is still a growing sector in the online environment, the pharmaceutical retail sector already brings many opportunities for brands that want to use digital in their strategy.
It is worth remembering that counting on a technology partner to help build your e-commerce can make all the difference, since your brand can count on specialists who will help, execute and even give you insights to improve the cost-benefit of your project and bring you more profitability.
Get in touch with our specialists and learn more about how we can evolve your project.
