How to Create an Online Pharmacy Application? 

This blog post will help you how you can create an online pharmacy App. But before that, we need to know some important points as well.

In recent years, we have seen that technologies have changed so much the way we used to purchase goods & services. With the help of online pharmacy mobile applications, now people can buy medicines and healthcare products on the go.

As we all know, the Healthcare sector has a significant role in our daily lives. The Online Shopping Experience is spreading in all major sectors. However, there is a need for the e-Health care business model everywhere. 

During the coronavirus pandemic, one thing that we observed is that there is a huge need for improvement in the healthcare industry. 

The bricks and mortar based pharmacy shops are running in major numbers worldwide. 

In the event that we all have seen the importance of this e-Pharmacy section during the Corona-19 pandemic when all are at home. However, some online delivery-based businesses still worked to deliver to our doorsteps. 

There is a vast market opportunity in this e-Pharmacy section to grow more. As per the ResearchAndMarkets site report, It’s estimated a good number of data. The global e-Pharmacy market size will reach a value of USD 166.1. billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 17.0%.

In this blog, we will explore the most popular online Pharmacy Apps, must-have features, and Advanced AI-based features. Also, it will cover steps to build Apps to create an online pharmacy App, and, development costs, etc.

First, Let’s discuss some of the most popular apps for ePharmacy. Especially which are running in the USA, Europe, the Middle East, and India. 

e-Pharmacy Mobile Apps in the USA: 

• NowRx – Pharmacy On-Demand at your doorsteps 
• CVS Pharmacy – is currently the largest pharmacy chain in the United States
• Walgreens – Shop the medicines & manage the prescriptions.
• GoodRx: Prescription Coupons App. It compares the medicine prices & provides the lowest cost pharmacy for your prescriptions and coupons to save money on medications.
• MyTherapy – It’s a pill reminder and Medication Tracker App

Online Pharmacy Mobile Apps in Europe: 

• Doctolib: It allows users to book appointments with doctors and pharmacists and provides the feature to manage prescriptions.
• DocMorris: It’s well known online medicine delivery app in Germany.
• mySugr: It is a diabetes management app. 
• SHOP APOTHEKE: Online Pharmacy App 
• Onfy: Pharmacy market – It’s an E-health pharmacy marketplace App 

e-Pharmacy Mobile Apps in the Middle East: 

• Vezeeta: Online Pharmacy & Telemedicine App 
• Yodawy: Online Pharmacy App in Egypt
• Altibbi: Online Telemedicine App in Arab Region 
• Labayh: It’s an app for online therapy and well-being services
• Sanar.sa: It connects Specialists and doctors online through Telemedicine

Online Pharmacy Mobile Apps in India: 

• 1MG: Online Pharmacy, consultancy & Health content App
• PharmEasy: e-Pharmacy & telehealth App 
• Practo: Online Pharmacy & Doctor / Health Practioner consultancy App
• NetMed: Online Indian Pharmacy App 
• Flipkart Health + : Online Pharmacy App 
• Apollo Pharmacy: e-Pharmacy & Telemedicine App 

There can be N number of features for an online eCommerce mobile App. However the blog will cover the features required for an online Pharmacy App. 

Need to have features for online pharmacy Apps:

Prescription Upload – The Patient / Customer can upload the Prescription easily via the mobile App by using the Mobile camera/gallery. 

Medication Reminders – It’s a very useful feature to remind the patient about their medicines. For example – when to take whether it’s OD (Once Daily), BD (Twice Daily), TD (Three times daily), etc. 

Multi Payment Options– Cards / COD / POD – The App should have all major payment method options based on localization. 

Wallet System – eWallet System can be more useful to introduce to engage the customers. So that you can engage them with Cashback offers / Easy quick refunds via wallet 

Real-Time Tracking – The patients should know about their order status in real-time via a mobile Application. The Live Tracking feature is a must-have feature in such mobile Apps. 

Additional Features:

Customer Support – Live Chat/Phone Support for quick queries about medicine and patient/customer queries. 

Discounts & Offers – To create a competitive advantage, the app should offer discounts and offers to customers/patients. If the patient/customer is doing recurring orders for their routine medicines/pharmacy prescriptions then the app should provide the discount/offers accordingly. 

Multi-Shopping List – The patient can create multiple lists for their different sets/use of medicines

Family Accounts – It’s not necessary that every person in a family will have an account on the apps. So it’s better to introduce Family account creation and management in the same App.

The customer can order some prescriptions for their family members then the customer can assign the respective family member. So that the respective order/shopping list can be recognized easily in the future. It helps the users to do the recurring order for their family members. 

Easy Signup via Phone & Email/ Social Logins – For hassle-free signup/sign-in Processes, always use a quick sign-up / sign-in process. For example – Social logins via Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Another way is to provide a Login/register via mobile number & OTP.
 

More Features list:

In-app Chat with Pharmacists – The patients can chat with pharmacists for their queries related to medicines or prescriptions/orders. 

Live Video Call Support – To provide a service for doctor/pharmacist consultancy, the App must have this feature.  In a situation like Covid-19 when everyone wanted the contactless service for their routine checkup/consultancy. Whichever Pharmacy App will have this feature can create a competitive environment for other competitors. 

Integration with Wearables – The app should connect with the most useful devices. Like Smart Watches for medicine reminders and to track the patient’s Heath / Daily Routine. So the App can suggest different types of meditation/Yoga / Health Tips, etc. 

Multi-language Support – Based on different localization, the App should have multilingual features. So every type of user can find it easy and user-friendly. 

Automated Refills – If the customers/Patients are having recurring medicines weekly/ monthly basis then the patient can place a recurring automatic subscription-based order via eWallet / Available recurring payment methods. 

Telemedicine Feature – This feature will provide a booking appointment between the patient and doctors via video/Phone call appointment. 

WhatsApp SMS Notifications – Nowadays, everyone is more like to see WhatsApp notifications in comparison to standard SMS notifications. It’s good to go feature to engage the customer via WhatsApp notification for different events. Like order placement, New health Tips, Share offers, discount deals, etc. 

Most Useful Features:

Hyperlocalization / Zipcode-based Deliver – The App will provide the user with available doctors/pharmacists stores in their region. 

Quick Delivery / Store Pickup – In the case of Emergency medicines, no one wants to wait for a longer time.  App with Hyperlocalization can help with filtering the nearby options so that patients can book store pickup options as well. Also, the Store owner can deliver the thing from the nearest stores. 

Delivery Boy App – For Quick Delivery & Order Management. The Delivery Boy concept can really help to auto-assign the order to a nearby delivery boy to deliver the order. Most online hyperlocals are working on this concept. 

Push Notification – In-App push notifications for special promotions and offers, order status updates, personalized notifications Health Tips, Reminders, etc. 

Date and Time Slot – The patient can choose their preferred time and slot for delivery via mobile Apps. 

Covid Tracker – Getting updated information about the diseases and vaccine availability.

Doctor Panel App:

• Product Attachment – In the App, the customer can see additional details of products like Nutritional tables, medical equipment guides/manuals, etc. on the product page before buying. 
• Doctor / Pharmacist Panel Mobile App – The Pharmacy App should have a doctor panel as well for quick management. Like Appointment/Booking management, order & product management, profile management, low stock notifications, Bulk Inventory management, etc. 
• Doctor Web Panel  – There should be a web panel for doctors to manage the complete dashboard. Also, Doctors can write for knowledge sharing and health tips for their content- readers. The Content will be displayed to pharmacy mobile App users.  

There are some AI-Based features that can be added to an Online Pharmacy App:

1. Personalized Recommendations – To use AI algorithms, the app can examine the patient’s symptoms & history to provide personalised recommendations & treatments for over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, supplements, vitamins, etc. 
2. Natural language processing (NLP) –   With the help of this, the app can understand patient’s queries and can provide informative suggestions and advice
3. Text and Image Recognition – The App can provide the right medicine in the result by scanning the text and image of the product. 
4. Side Effect Predictor – The App can predict the upcoming side effect based on the ongoing or order history of medicine taken by the user. 
5. Fraud Detection – with AI integration, the app can identify non-authorized fake prescriptions. 
6. Inventory Management – The App can identify the top most to be sold medicine and alert the store owner in advance to keep it always in stock.

Steps to Build An Online Pharmacy App: 

1. Market Research: First, You need to check the current competitive Environment which Includes both direct and indirect competitors. The competitive environment is influenced by:
   
   – How many competitors are active?
   – What is the market share for each competitor?
   – How large their operations are?
   – How profitable are these firms?
   – How do they price their products?
   – What technologies they are using for their Pharmacy Apps like Native, Flutter, React Native, etc? 
   – Choose the right Development Company
   – Choose the right partner for payment gateways, shipping gateways, ERP, Helpdesk System, CRM System, Hosting Provider, or any other 3rd party API integration like EHR integration, SMS Gateway, etc. 

Based on these, you need to decide what is best for you and how you can create an online pharmacy App & a competitive advantage to differentiate your business model. 

What’s your Value proposition? It simply means to ask the following question to yourself.  Why should the customer buy from you? 

2. Wireframe & Prototype: After the market research, now business owners should have or prepare the wireframing & design layouts / Prototypes for the Apps. 
3. Development of the Pharmacy App: Once steps 1 & 2 are completed then the development will start based on the finalized tech Stack. A good team will be required with expertise in Server DevOps, Web and APIs development, and Mobile App development. 
4. Marketing: Based on the Mobile Apps features and uniqueness, you should plan your market strategy so that the customer love to use your solution. 
5. Feedback & Suggestions: Always keep and give importance to your customer’s feedback & suggestion to improve the App so that it can become a more user-friendly pharmacy App. 
6. Maintenance & Support: Need to have continuous maintenance & support for the live App. As the pharmacy App is live so you need continuous support & maintenance to avoid any issues.

How much does it cost to create a Pharmacy Mobile App?

– Developing / Creating a basic online pharmacy app can range from $10,000 to $50,000. But advanced features such as AI integration, AR, and telemedicine functionality can significantly increase the overall cost.

– Other than the Development cost, there are some costs for example: 

• Server/Hosting costs will be there which will be paid to the Hosting provider. 
• Support & maintenance costs will be there for continuous support for the Pharmacy App 
• Other 3rd party service costs like SMS gateway, payment gateways, Shipping methods, EHR integration,  etc. 

Summary:

In a Summarized way, you need to have good research-oriented work and detailed knowledge regarding the type of features, and a good Design & Development Team to work for you continuously during the development and post-development support.

Also, a good user interface matters a lot in creating a user-friendly pharmacy mobile app to create a competitive advantage.

With good business research, a tech stack, and a development team, you can surely build or create an online pharmacy mobile app.

You are not only helping the users to meet their needs in this healthcare industry but also will be contributing to the right sector to develop it more technologically way.

Thank you for reading this blog post, and I hope that this will help you to get valuable knowledge & understanding on how to create an online pharmacy mobile app.

If you have any further questions or need assistance with your Mobile App development project to create an online pharmacy App, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us at [email protected]

OR You can also reach us via our Webkul HelpDesk Support Portal.