How To Build The Best Online Pharmacy App?- The Ultimate Guide

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6 Minutes Read

Do you despise waiting in huge lines to purchase medications from traditional pharmacy outlets? We are sure you do. It is time-consuming, monotonous, and causes consumer discontent when there is a shortage of drugs. An Online Pharmacy App is the solution. 

The e-pharmacy market is one of the most promising avenues for business development. Furthermore, the global pandemic ushered in a sea change in the realm of online medical services, increasing the development, progress, and popularity of online pharmacy app development.

Projected market expansion adequately explains this sphere's current popularity. According to research, the global e-Pharmacy market was estimated at USD 60.8 billion in 2020 and is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4% from 2021 to 2028.

Table Of Content:

1. What is Online Pharmacy App?

2. Basic Business Model For Online Pharmacy App?

3. Online App Benefits

4. Basic Features for Online Pharmacy Applications

5. Cost of Pharmacy App Development

What is Online Pharmacy App?

Pharmacy Apllication

Without having to physically visit a drugstore, you can order and receive necessary medications through an online pharmacy app. These apps by custom mobile app development services are becoming highly popular among end-users because of the ease they give, the expanding ubiquity of the internet of things worldwide, and the growing use of smartphones and tablets.

Basic Model To Consider For Online Pharmacy App

  • A marketplace for pharmacies: Customers can order prescriptions from any pharmacy that has registered on the marketplace using this app. Customers have more options and may compare pricing because of this business model's advantages. Multiple businesses can register themselves. This is an excellent alternative for new businesses because it can help them attract clients.
  • Individual Stores: Customers place orders with internet retailers by submitting their prescriptions in this configuration. In this medicine delivery app, the retailers then check for product availability before sending them to their clients. The users can then pay for the drugs either online or offline.

Online Pharmacy App Benefits

Customers and business owners gain greatly from online pharmacy apps.

For Customers:

Privacy:

Some customers are hesitant to buy certain medications in a local store in front of other customers. It is much easier for them to retain their privacy with an on-demand medicine ordering and delivery app.

Contactless Ordering: 

Minimizing human interaction became critical during the pandemic. Other diseases, in addition to COVID-19, have a significant risk of infection through touch. Online pharmacies are an excellent method to avoid having to deal with people.

Save Time: 

Many times, a patient finds it impossible to obtain medication at a local store and must spend a significant amount of time and effort searching for it elsewhere. There's no such trouble with an on-demand pharmaceutical app.

Price comparisons and better deals:

Pharmacies' branded applications for their consumers offer a variety of promotions, discounts, and even lower pricing than those found in physical drugstores.

For App Owners:

Enhancement of the customer experience:

According to research by Raconteur, an online pharmaceutical delivery app, makes a patient's life easier, especially when the app is integrated with the National Health Service (NHS) electronic prescription service in the UK.

Improved Inventory Management:

Pharmacists do not have to manually update their inventory levels when using online medicine ordering and delivery software. Because orders are completed online, the stock in the backend is automatically changed after each sale.

Increase in Profits:

As a logical result of growing sales from mobile users, pharmacy app development is also a means to increase profitability.

Advantage of being on the cutting edge:

The e-pharmacy sector is fast expanding, and many clients have already adopted online ordering. This is also an investment in your company's reputation as a forward-thinking, customer-focused, and compassionate pharmacy.

Up-selling opportunity: 

Pharmacies can recommend lab tests or other common drugs (such as antacids or vitamins) that can be taken alongside doctor-prescribed high-dose medication by examining consumer purchasing trends. This allows them to sell more of their items.

Basic Features for Online Pharmacy Application 

Medicine Delivery App

Defining the list of features required for your pharmacy app development is critical for the greatest customer experience and future return on investment (ROI).

User interface features Source

Registration/Login: This is a necessary component for the creation of an online pharmacy.

Smart Search:  Create advanced search, sorting, and filtering options based on customer concerns, commonly asked questions, and other factors to help consumers discover the drugs they need quickly.

Smart Filters: With filters, you can search by name and material. Customers should be able to do searches based on various parameters and filters.

Drug Information: Drug database should have extensive information about all medicines, such as the manufacturer, price, dose, possible adverse effects, drug image, and expiration date, and it should be easy to access for consumers.

In-App Payment:  Customers nowadays appreciate being able to pay for their orders using credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, and even cryptocurrency. In a Venezuelan pharmacy, the latter is the case.

Options for delivery and/or pick-up: You should provide your customers an option. They should be able to pick up or have their order delivered.

Refill/ Repeat Order: Patients with chronic illnesses require ongoing care, thus they should be able to reorder prescriptions with a single click.

Store's Contact Information: This will allow customers to contact the pharmacy with any questions or clarifications.

Upload Prescription: Prescription to be uploaded Allow app users to upload a copy of their doctor's prescription. Users will be able to order drugs more easily, and the information will be verified.

Other Features to easy user interface should include a shopping cart, return policy, Real-time order tracking, notification reminder, substitute drug Information and feedback.

Pharmacist Interface Features

Login and Registration: Registration and Login The admin team, like any other app user, should be able to log in securely and change their passwords as needed. Furthermore, it is critical to validate each user's identification (for example, using a unique ID or an OTP) and track their activities.

Order Management: The pharmacist will be able to package the order, assign it to a courier, schedule it for pickup, and track its progress using this tool.

Inventory Management: It helps to monitor and control real-time stock details such as outstanding requests, supply expiration, refill requirements, and client complaints, etc. 

Prescription check: To minimize medicine scams, there should also be a function for checking and validating drug prescriptions.

Billing Feature: The pharmacist can use this tool to keep track of the order's payment status. The customer may, for example, wish to pay via the app, in the pharmacy, or during or after delivery.

Other features are shipping and delivery tracking, payment tracking, customer support and order history, etc. 

Admin interface features 

Customer Management: This is a necessary feature because this is where all of the customer's personal and financial information is kept.

Supplier Management: Lists all of the suppliers/manufacturers you've worked with, including their name, address, phone number, and previous orders.

Marketing Features: Although the marketing functions you require are quite specific, it is critical to have a user behavior analytics feature as well as other marketing tools to assist you in developing targeted sales tactics.

Price Management: Management of Costs You should be able to roll out discounts and offers based on market demand and supply trends and adjust product prices accordingly.

Analytics and reporting: This part is required if you want to gain data-driven insights into your sales, customer behavior, inventory management, and employee productivity.

Complaint Management: All complaints and questions submitted by app users must be visible to the administrator. This will assist you in comprehending and correcting existing flaws, responding to inquiries, and even resolving them.

Some Other Additional Features: 

In-app consultation: Your app may allow users to arrange a doctor's appointment or even receive an instant consultation.

Route Guidance: AI-assisted route guidance will assist in delivering the order as quickly as possible.

Multi-language support: If you want to expand your business and make your pharmacy available worldwide, this is a must-have feature. For different countries, there should also be multi-currency and multi-weight functionalities.

Chatbot support: This is a must-have feature for your customer service representatives and pharmacists.

Quick Communication: With a single click in the app, drivers can instantly contact the customer.

Pharmacy App Development

Cost To Develop Online Pharmacy App

Just like any other app, there is a cost involved in developing an app. There are multiple factors to look for while determining the cost of an online pharmacy app. Here is the list of a few factors to be taken under consideration before you reach out to a software development company for app development:

  1. The number of platforms on which you want your software to be released.
  2. Depends on the set of functionality for your application.
  3. The more complicated your app design is (for example, animations), the more the cost will be.
  4. Advance or customized features may necessitate interaction with third-party platform APIs, raising the price of pharmacy delivery app development.
  5. Depending on with language or framework, Laravel, Python, Twilio, Push.io, Nexmo, AWS, Google, Azure, HBase, Cassandra, Postgres, and MailChimp Integration, among other technologies.
  6. Whether or not modern technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are used.
  7. Timeline for developing your app.

In addition to this, the decision of the application development company, the valuing model, and other perspectives additionally control the estimating of the application. In this way, to respond to your inquiry, an estimated expense for e-pharmacy app development would extend around $25k - $50k.

Having any other ideas in your mind? Find its cost of development by simply answering a few of our questions. Use our FREE COST CALCULATOR and know the development price.

If you want to know more about building pharmacy app development works and how you can develop your pharmacy app, we are here to help. 

Contact Terasol technologies to know more about pharmacy app development.