12 Features you Cannot Avoid While Developing Pharma Mobile Apps

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Going online is being working for almost all industries be it fashion, electronics, spa and salon, laundry and now even pharmacies are opting for the online channels. The purpose being the convenience and customer’s adaptability towards buying online.

The below statistics supports the fact that enabling online channels now a day is a must for pharmacies.

The search for the “online pharmacy” keyword as per Google Trends across worldwide ranges averagely up to 100 within last year and Belgium (100) being the highest interest region followed by New Zealand (97) as depicted in the below graph.

online pharmacy
Source: Google Trends
Also the searches for the keyword “buy medicine online” is quiet high looking the past 12 months data depicted as below.

buy pharmacy online
Source: Google Trends

Well as you can clearly see the importance of having online pharmacies, many pharmacists have already enabled their web and mobile channels but still are facing challenges. Taking your Pharma store online now a day is not a big task as many service providers are available in market which gives the full-fledged ecommerce solution. The biggest challenge is how to make the most out of it.

If you are chemist/pharmacists and facing issues like such, just see to it that your online pharmacy app is equipped with required features as below.

1) Drug Information: Your online pharmacy store or app should give access to critical information on the prescribed drugs, their side effects, and consumption details. This would help your patients/customers take medicines in a safe and informed way.

2) Online Chat: There should be someone always who can guide and help out the ones visiting your online store whenever they are stuck or confused same like one on one interaction. Like giving guidance to your customers to order medicines rightly if they are having mild fever or running nose or any other.

3) Rating and Review: As medicines are relevant to critical drugs, review and ratings would help the customers to build trust and order medicines without thinking much.

4) Upload Prescription: Some medicines could not be sold without doctor’s prescription. Give ease to your customers to upload prescription and order medicines without any barriers.

5) Request for a Drug/ Medicine: Facilitate your customer to request for a medicine which is not available in your e-pharmacy. This will keep him coming back to your store rather than browsing other pharmacies.

6) Suggest Substitutes: When customers does not get the required medicines from your store, give them the added advantage of alternative medicine or substitute so that in case of emergency, they do not have to wait for longer time to get the particular medicine available.

7) Refilling Prescription/ Medicine Subscription: Ease their task of refilling prescription or re-ordering same medicines weekly or monthly by giving them the subscription option. The subscription commerce is trending these days and pharmacists should leverage the benefits of it.

8) Push Notification: Send reminders to your customers and keep them updated. You can send notifications when a particular drug is in stock or monthly medicine refill alert or any discounts and offers or any vaccination alert.

9) Find nearby Hospitals: Your pharmacy app should give all the necessary information to drag the customers to your app. Let your customers browse the local health care centres and hospitals near them right from your app.

10) Consult a Doctor: Give benefit to your customer by giving them access to a doctor online whenever needed.

11) Pill Identifier: This helps customers to identify about a pill by entering the information such as shape, color and imprint. They can get the entire description about that particular pill/medicine.

12) Pill Reminder: Show your customers that you care for them by giving them a feature which reminds them to take medicines even if they are not operating the app. Give them the facility to set reminder times, repeat dates and dosages.

When you already know that above features are mandatory ones for your online pharmacy, get them integrated right away. You can also get the pharmacy app developed according to your store specific requirements.

Rakesh Jain
Rakesh Jain is CEO and Co-founder of MobiCommerce, an eCommerce web & mobile app development company to build Magento Mobile App and PrestaShop Mobile App for online eCommerce stores. With an entrepreneurial experience of 14 years, he is a visionary who proactively look out for the next big thing.

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