E-PHARMACY IN

INDIA
Submitted by:
Garima Kumari
2021SMT6599
 INTRODUCTION
The blooming of the e-commerce business in India has
given birth to one of the innovative practice of selling
medicines online. The online sale of medicines in India is
still in the budding stage. E-pharmacy means selling of
medicines online which differs from the traditional brick
and mortar retail stores which demands the physical
presence of the customers.

Factors which lent a sudden push to the e-pharmacies

business in India
Increasing internet penetration: At a
CAGR of 18.17% between 2015 and
2019. The no. of internet users is
expected to increase at a CAGR of
8.78% in 2020-25. Rising internet
penetration will directly boost the e-
commerce business in the country.
Changing consumer preferences: While
consumers were already inching towards
e-commerce, the pandemic has spurred
adoption. According to a Razorpay survey,
e-commerce transactions increased by
71.3% between April and September
2020. Also, in 2020, Tier III markets have
recorded a 53% YoY growth in e-
commerce adoption.
Government initiatives: Programmes
such as Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya
Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) are
bolstering growth in the sector by
enlarging the canvas of the
pharmaceutical market. The
programme aims to ensure
availability of quality and affordable
medicines across the country.
 E-Pharmacy Growth
Drivers 1. Increasing internet penetration
Internet penetration is increasing courtesy of affordable smartphones and 4G internet
penetration. With the Digital India push, the country is expected to have 850 Million
internet users by 2025.
2. Increasing e-commerce adoption 
With changing consumer preferences and adoption of the digital
channel, e-commerce penetration is expected to reach 11 per
cent in 2024.

3. Push to organized channels 

Increasing awareness around counterfeit drugs is driving
people towards organized and digital channels that provide
assurance against the risk of counterfeits.
4. Changing disease profile 
E-Pharmacies primarily cater to the medical requirements of chronic patients. Changing
lifestyle of the masses is leading to a rise in chronic and lifestyle disease amongst the
Indian population.  
 Current Scenario
Currently, there are close to 50 e-Pharmacies in India and
estimates peg the market size (2019) at $ 0.5B –
approximately 2-3 per cent of the total Indian pharmacy
sales. The market is expected to grow at a compounded
rate of 44 per cent to reach $ 4.5B by 2025.
In May 2019, a leading consulting firm predicted the
Indian e-pharma market to grow >7 times between 2019
and 2023—expected to reach US$ 2.7 billion (Rs. ~199
billion) by 2023, from US$ 360 million (Rs. 26.5 billion),
at a staggering CAGR of 65.5%.

After the order is confirmed, it immediately reflect in
internal supply chain app. This app, viewed on company-
provided mobile phones all warehouse workers wear around
their necks like ID badges, provides exact, detailed
information about where the products are located inside the
warehouse.
The workers collect the products and pack them in
appropriately-sized boxes, which are examined by
pharmacists. The boxes then are deposited in the outer
part of the warehouse reserved for ready-to-deliver
packages. This entire process will typically be
completed in 15 minutes.

A customer upload a
All the driver for that location of delivery
are notified to pick up. The nearest
prescription on the app, which
gets vetted and approved by
NETMEDS driver can accept the request and find
one of the pharmacists that the ONLINE MEDICINE the optimum route to reach the
company employs. The company centre and then to reach to
company attempts to automate DELIVERY MODEL the customer.
the digitization of prescriptions
by using artificial intelligence
and machine learning.
Some precriptions are hand
Either a delivery worker or their counterpart from one of the company’s external
written and not detected by Ai
logistics partners will pick up the packages from this area and delivers them to
and hence manual verification
customers. The bags used by workers should also equipped with ice boxes to
is done
maintain the temperature for specific medicines.
 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN SUPPLY CHAIN AND LOGISTICS
OF ONLINE MEDICINE DELIVERY
1. Prescription is mandatory to purchase medicines as
per the law.
2. Registered pharmacist at the pharmacy should verify
and certify the medicines being delivered.
3. Users are reluctant to order alternative of a
particular brand prescribed by their doctor. If one
brand is to be substituted by another, a registered
pharmacist can only do the substitution, adding to
complexity and cost of each transaction.
4. Cases where prescriptions are not digital
5.There are more than 650+ branded manufacturers in
India however only around 200 are available in a given
city.
5. A lot of the brands which a particular doctor
prescribes is available in the geographical area
around the doctor.
6. The current fill rate of any local pharmacy is
<60% which makes the hyperlocal models very
difficult to execute.
7. There is a huge problem of counterfeit
medicines which needs to be addressed. Users
will be reluctant to order medicines if they
don’t trust the source.
8. Some medicines need temperature control
and there is no way to control and detect if
temperature excursion occurred.
METHODS USED BY E-PHARMACY COMPANIES TO IMPROVING LOGISTICS

A central WAREHOUSE present in cities which stores

01 WAREHOUSE medicines only to be delivered and not to be sold to retailors.

Drivers who know the area well i.e., local drivers should be hired to
02 DRIVERS provide fast delivery who knows multiple routes
NETWORK

03 TEMEPRATURE CONTROLTemperature-controlled airfreight stations at strategic locations where

there is more demand of temperature-controlled medicines
Partner with who provide with a broad range of shipments in
04 PARTNER WITH LOGISTICS conjunction with temperature-sensitive packing solutions, including
TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE SOLUTION active and passive packaging and out of gauge goods.
PROVIDERS part of our product offerings, provide with leading visibility and monitoring solutions for
SELECT THE RIGHT
05 SERVICE FROM PARTNER real-time decisions through embedded location and temperature IoT devices and
supply chain management tool,
 equip drivers with dedicated handheld scanning devices that enable them to
06 LAST MILE DELIVERY record that a package has been delivered and perhaps even take a picture
showing “proof” that the package was dropped at the correct address
PACKAGE STACKING designs service to have drivers make multiple deliveries in one trip, a practice known as
07 ‘package stacking.’ As a result, the price for businesses are on average 30-50% lower than
traditional courier services.
COUNTERFEIT detect counterfeit medicine and diagnostic devices through Crypto Anchors and
08 MEDICINE Blockchain.
 How e-pharmacy companies are Integrating Advanced Route Planning Software

Routing software can help optimize
every step of the delivery process—from
pick-up at the distribution center or
warehouse all the way to the patient’s
doorstep.
assign a small pool of drivers or even
specific drivers to specific patients, in
order to meet medical requirement of
driver continuity.

Dynamic In case the original delivery partner is

Pair those functionality with software
Routing not available in a particular pincode
that can handle quality assurance
for order pick-ups, the software
monitoring as easily as it can report
should have program interface in
key details, including trailer
place to switch to other third-party
temperature en-route, length of time
logistics players within 30 minutes,
inside the delivery vehicle, and proof
when the need arises.
of temperature upon delivery.

Accommodating changes while ensuring

For example, if a delivery truck breaks down in between deliveries,
that promised delivery windows are met is
fleet dispatchers or managers can re-optimize routes quickly by
only possible with a dynamic route
reassigning jobs to nearby drivers. This is possible with the right
planner. 
real-time dynamic routing software. The software can also redirect
drivers to other roads or find the most efficient routes when there are
sudden downpours, road closures, or vehicular accidents.

9
 New Innovation-“Medicines from the sky”
DRONES
Even in less extreme Drones have the
cases, drones are potential of being both
appealing because faster and cheaper than
route density and drop delivery costs for cargo
size are less relevant. that is small, light,
Instead, drones just valuable, and time-
need to beat the cost sensitive, cost is much
of private couriers less of a factor. 

Comparing a drone network to

roads that can transport buses,
delivery trucks, and bulldozers More specialized cases
is not an apples-to-apples like delivering
comparison. But given that vaccines that need to
building and maintaining be refrigerated to
roads is a long and expensive regional hospitals .
process, drones could offer a Niche deliveries where
quick and cheap way to speed is critical,
(imperfectly) connect the Drones can be best
billion people who needs option
medicines urgently 10
THANK
YOU