PharmEasy was founded in 2014 by Dharmil Seth and Dhawal
Shah. Its parent company is API holdings private limited. It provides doorstep
delivery of medicines and other medical equipment in India across 98% of Indian
pin codes. The customers can order their
items through PharmEasy’s Website or its mobile app. The idea behind this
startup was to digitize the pharmacy sector and bring it under the umbrella of
E-commerce. During the pandemic, PharmEasy doubled its revenue to 637 crores.
The Pandemic has helped in accelerating its growth. The company’s current net
worth is around $700 million. The company is all set to get listed in stock
exchange and raise money through IPO (Initial Public Offering). On September
22, 2020, PharmEasy merged with Medlife and API Holdings Private Limited has
acquired 100% stake of Medlife.
BUSINESS MODEL OF
PharmEasy
The Business Model of PharmEasy is similar to any E-commerce
Website like Flipkart, Amazon and Myntra. It sells Medicines and other
equipment at cheaper rates and provides doorstep delivery of the products. The
customers need to upload their prescriptions of medicines for verification.
They can also verify their prescription from a doctor appointed by PharmEasy if
the customers face any problems in verification. They provide up to 20%
discounts on bookings done through mobile app so that more people download
their app. They also earn money by displaying sponsored results of various
pharmaceutical entities.
CHALLANGES AND COMPETITORS OF PharmEasy
1)
The
foremost challenge faced by PharmEasy was to attract customers to buy their
medicines and other medical equipment online. Generally, People preferred
buying their medicines from a physical pharmacy store.
2)
India has low smartphone penetration among its
population. Also, Internet users in India compared to the entire population is
also quite low. Thus, It narrows the customer base for PharmEasy.
3)
Customers hesitate in providing their
prescriptions online. They are also afraid of getting expired and fake
medicines.
4)
The Competitors of PharmEasy are MedPlus,
Netmeds, 1mg, Myra etc. PharmEasy has the market dominance and generates the
maximum revenue in comparison to its Competitors.
FUTURE OF PharmEasy IN INDIA
1)
PharmEasy has been expanding its network by
investing more in Capital expenditure. It has been in talks that it is going to
buy Thyrocare at 7000 crores which will increase its customer base and capital
assets.
2)
The Covid-19 Pandemic has provided a conducive Business
Environment for PharmEasy. Now, People prefer to shop online and contactless
delivery of products.
3)
The increase in the demand of vitamins, immunity
boosters, and other medicines has also contributed to the growth of PharmEasy.
Pandemic has led to increase in demand of medicinal equipment.
4)
There has been increase in the number of
Internet users and the smartphone users in India in the past few years. It will
help in increasing their potential customer base.
5)
PharmEasy will have to face tough competition
from other players which are aggressively participating in the market to
increase their revenues.
