How to start an Online Pharmaceutical Marketplace

What is a Pharmaceutical Marketplace?

A pharmacy marketplace is an online marketplace where multiple pharmacists come together to sell their products. Think of your online food delivery service where different restaurants are listed and you can choose one to order your food from and get it delivered to your home. With an online pharmaceutical marketplace, you can run an online pharmacy where you source medicines from different vendors and sell and deliver them to the customers. Customers can purchase medicines from your online marketplace by uploading their prescriptions or consulting a pharmacist available in your pharmaceutical marketplace.

In 2020, pharmaceutical B2B marketplace and B2C marketplace are both exciting business ventures because people enjoy the comforts of having their medicines delivered to their doorstep. With the rapid shift to online buying, medicines and pharmaceutical businesses are also transitioning to a digital marketplace where customers have the option to buy medicines from any of the different vendors enrolled in your marketplace. According to a report by Oberlo, the number of online shoppers will grow to more than 2.14 billion by 2021. That’s over 28% of the world population and the number is only bound to increase in the years to come. In 2018, the global E-pharma market was valued at the estimated US$ 41,389.0 million and by 2027, this number is expected to rise to US$ 150,891.1 million.

There’s much to be said about the growing popularity of online pharmacy marketplaces. If you too want to set up your very own online pharmacy marketplace, we have put together the perfect guide for you.

Understanding the different business models in the pharmaceutical marketplace industry

Like any other business, the pharmacy industry is also multi-layered and complex. Here are the three common business models you’ll come across in the pharmacy industry.

• Standalone Pharmacy: Under this type of online pharmacy, customers can order their medicines directly from your app or website without using any third-party website or marketplace.

• Pharmacy Marketplace: Partner with different pharmacists and get them to list their products on your website, offering customers different options to choose from and achieve great ROI.

• Pharmacy Chains: Best suited to pharmacy chains that have physical stores in multiple locations, this type of business model allows customers to order their medicines online from a pharmacy chain.

Why should you choose a SAAS platform to start an online pharmaceutical marketplace?

A SaaS platform is a software licensing and delivery model under which entrepreneurs license software and access it via the internet. What makes SaaS Ecommerce platforms different from others is that they aren’t installed on-premise or managed by the user themselves. Instead, the software provider runs the platform on their server and is responsible for its maintenance, performance, and security. Here are some of the advantages of a SaaS platform for starting an online marketplace:

1. Security Compliance:
   When dealing with any online transaction, you need to ensure the platform you use is completely safe both for you and your customers. To sell anything online, you need to be PCI compliant. Ecommerce SaaS platform providers don’t just meet the PCI compliance standards but are also responsible for updating any patches or bug fixes related to your marketplace’s security.
2. Marketplace Solutions:
   To successfully run an online marketplace, you need access to certain tools and solutions that help make your business your own. A typical SaaS platform offers basic functionalities including a shopping cart, customizable themes, marketing capabilities, product info management, order tracking, and much more. Powered by your platform, you can run an online marketplace without any hassle.
3. Minimal Setup Time:
   The great thing about using a SaaS platform to start your online marketplace is that you don’t have to wait months to start selling online. Most SaaS platforms can put together your online marketplace, equipped with all the necessary functionalities, in a couple of days. You don’t have to get any tech support or have extensive developer knowledge to run your business, your chosen SaaS platform provider will handle it for you.
4. Enhanced Scalability
   Any online marketplace needs to be able to scale rapidly, take on more customers, add more complex features if necessary, and host more users if their business takes off. By using a SaaS platform, you get access to quick scalability and flexibility. You can increase your server bandwidth to allow for more traffic, add features specific to your business that makes shopping on your marketplace easier, and much more
5. Cost Factor:
   SaaS platforms are much cheaper than hiring a whole new team of professionals to set up your online marketplace for you. You pay an upfront fee to engage their services without any of the high development fees involved with building your marketplace from scratch. You also don’t have to worry about maintenance costs since the SaaS platform provider is responsible for them.

These are just some of the many advantages of choosing a SaaS platform to start an online marketplace. If you’re planning on starting an online pharmacy marketplace, you’ll need a reliable pharmacy management system software that can meet all your needs. Enter Yelo.

Yelo is a pharmacy software system that provides you with a complete technology suite to help you create an online medicine delivery app and website. Using Yelo’s powerful tech suite, you can create a robust pharmacy ordering system where your customers can order their medicines from the nearest pharmacy store listed on your marketplace. Let’s look at how Yelo can help you start a pharmacy marketplace and the advantages offered.

Yelo’s role in starting a Pharmaceutical Marketplace

When choosing a pharmacy management system to start your pharmacy marketplace, you need to compare the features offered with your expectations from the software or platform. If you choose to partner with Yelo to build an online pharmacy marketplace, these are the features and benefits you’ll get access to:

• Dedicated Customer App: Yelo creates a customizable customer app that allows your customers to order from your pharmacy marketplace on their phones. Customers can upload their prescriptions on the app, compare different medicine stores, place an order, and pay for the order on the app, among other things. Once an order is confirmed, your customers can also track it in real-time
• Multiple Payment Options: Give your customers multiple payment options to choose from when shopping for medicines online. From cash on delivery to various online wallets and cards, your customers will have complete freedom over how they pay for their order. Our integrated payment gateways are completely secure and trustworthy and you can count on us for safe payments.
• Powerful Manager Dashboard: As the admin or manager of an online pharmacy marketplace, there are many things you need to do daily. These include accepting or rejecting incoming orders, getting vendors onboarded to your marketplace, keeping track of ongoing orders, managing medicine delivery, and a lot more. Yelo brings to you an all-inclusive manager dashboard that allows you to do all of the above and a lot more.
• Catalogue Management: Once you onboard multiple medicine vendors, it’s impossible to keep track of the inventory and price of medicines for each store on your own. Yelo’s admin dashboard allows you to empower other managers and admins so that they can add, edit, or delete the number of available medicines. This not only helps with faster updates on the number of medicines available but also allows you to focus on other more important aspects of the business.
• Order Tracking: For any online marketplace selling essentials, timely order delivery is key. Yelo allows you to keep track of every order from the time the prescription is uploaded to when it’s delivered to the customers. With real-time tracking, you can ensure your orders reach their respective customers on time, every time. You can also assign a particular order to an available delivery agent based on their proximity to the delivery location.
• Driver App: Yelo also provides your delivery fleet with a dedicated driver app that can help them keep track of all the orders assigned to them, monitor their earnings, and more. Using the driver app, your delivery fleet can also identify the most optimized route and complete the deliveries on time. The app is also equipped with the instant notification feature that informs the delivery partner of any incoming order.
• Supply Chain Management: To help you manage your supply chain better, Yelo offers a robust supply chain management software. This software helps you keep track of your online medicine delivery demand and supply and optimize your inventory.

With Yelo’s pharmacy management software and tools, you can create an online pharmacy marketplace from scratch without any major financial or time investment. Click here to learn more about the Advantages of Starting Online Pharmacy Marketplace . Our powerful and efficient tools are designed to help you make your pharmacy marketplace a true blue success without any hassle.

Curious about how Yelo can help you start an online pharmacy marketplace? Get in touch with our team of marketplace experts and allow them to guide you to the right software for your online pharmacy marketplace.