5 Best Online Pharmacy Marketplaces in India

With a 40-45% forecasted CAGR building an  online pharmacy marketplace in India is certainly an idea worth considering.

Known as the “Pharmacy of the World”, the Indian pharmaceutical sector offers promising growth prospects for enterprises planning to enter the e-medicine domain. With growth drivers like growing internet/smartphone penetration, increased digital payments and the pandemic push, the online medicine home delivery business has emerged as a practical and superior strategy for growing your enterprise brand’s reach pan-India.  

Why it is the right time to build an Online Pharmacy Marketplace in India

Before we dive deeper into the why’s and hows of building an  online medicine delivery marketplace let us check the current state of Indian online pharma market.

• $344.8 million was the value of e-pharmacy market in 2021
• 44.99 % is the forecasted CAGR for the e-medicine business during 2021-2027
• 7.08%  is the share of e-phramacy in India's pharmaceuticals market by 2023
• 9-12% increase in the spending in medicines in India over the next five years
• $130 billion is the worth of Indian pharmaceutical industry by 2030

Source: KPMG-FICCI, Reportlinker

The trends clearly show that the online medicine home delivery market is set for growth in coming years. Also, despite some well-known players in the e-medicine sector, there is sticll scope for huge growth as online pharmacies still cater to 60% of the total addressable market (source: Statista).

Benefits of building a Multi Vendor Marketplace to sell medicines in India

India ranks 3rd in the world in production of pharmaceuticals and supplies medicines to 200+ countries across the globe. However, within the country 50-60% of the population still do not have access to regular medicines due to reasons like poor access to healthcare and unavailability of medicines in the remote areas(Source: NIH). 

Building and online medicine delivery marketplace and app can go a long way in tapping the unexplored markets by offering medicines along with medical consultations on a common platform. 

Here are some of the reasons why building your online medicine store and healthcare consultation website and apps is good for your business growth:

• Huge untapped market which presents low competition and tremendous growth potential
• Fast adoption of telemedicine and online medicine home home delivery
• Increased awareness about health conditions facilitating regular checkups and growth in consumption of medicinal supplements market
• Growing elderly population and instances of chronic lifestyle diseases has increased the overall demand for daily medicines to treat them 
• Increased spending on medicines and healthcare services
• Increase in the number of internet users and online searches for medicine home delivery 
• Tier II-III and beyond markets in India opening up to buying online
• Building online pharmacy is a cost-effective solution as it saves lot of CapEx and lowers overhead costs

Ease of ordering, availability of wide range of medicines on a single pharmacy multi vendor marketplace and low barrier to entry make investing in an online pharmacy business a smart choice for enterprise healthcare brands. Also, with marketplace builders like StoreHippo offering customizable online pharmacy software to build, run and manage e-medicine portals it has become easier for brands to get started with their pharma marketplace website.

While building an online medicine marketplace sounds to be a lucrative business, you need to study the market and your competitors well before you take the leap.

Want more data and insights into your competitors strategy? Jump to the below section, where we are going to reveal strategies used by Top 5 multi vendor marketplaces to become leaders in online pharmacy space. So don’t miss it! 

Top 5 Online Pharmacy marketplaces in India + Their Secret Mantra for Success

India had some successful e-med multi vendor marketplaces even before the pandemic. However, the unprecedented scenarios during COVID-19 accelerated the growth of these pharmacy brands to the next level. 

StoreHippo brings for you the tactics used by the 5 best e-pharmacies in India to grow their business year-on-year:

1. Practo

It is an online healthcare marketplace that connects doctors, and medicine suppliers directly to customers by using digital media. It provides 4 types of services- online doctor consultation, online medicine delivery, diagnostics and appointment booking. Practo reported 188% growth in their operating revenue in FY 2021-2022 with each business segment growing by over 100%.They recorded a 260% growth in online medicine delivery.

6 Techniques that Made Practo The Top Choice Of Customers

• Search widget at the top of the homepage to find services easily

• Practo Mobile App for fast mobile browsing experience.
• Video consultation and live medicine order tracking on mobile app.
• Partnered with 100K healthcare providers from multiple locations.
• Irresistible offers. For example- Rs 100 cashback on app download, medical consultation @ Rs 199.
• Online Rating of doctors/clinics/hospitals services. Thus, helping customers in selecting the best.

2. TATA 1mg 

A multi vendor marketplace that not only deals in online medicine delivery but also provides products related to - personal care, health supplements, ayurvedic, and healthcare devices. TATA 1mg turned unicorn in 2022 and their operating revenue grew 2X from INR 309.4 Cr in FY21 to INR 627.1 Cr in FY22. 

6 marketing and Website Design Tactics that gained 4.2 million monthly online customers 

• Using pop-ups and sliders on websites to promote discounts and coupon codes. For example- 20% OFF on first medicines order, 80% off on lab tests & health packages.
• Eye catching product distribution. Like - best selling products, trending products, deals of the day, featured brands, etc to direct customers toward the end of the purchase process, and capture more sales.
• Search feature (like Google) on the website, for easy product discovery and quick purchasing.
• Payment and data security seals (like SSL and PCI DSS) on their ecommerce store to win customer trust and boost online orders.
• Social media integration on website
• Product Rating and customer reviews to earn customer trust and quick checkouts.

3. Netmeds

One of the successful online pharmacy multi vendor marketplace selling products in categories such as personal care, sexual wellness. Netmeds has operating revenue in the range of INR 100 cr - 500 cr for the financial year ending on 31 March, 2022.

7 Tricks used to sell online pharmacy and gain trust of 1.7m monthly buyers

• Web notifications(for desktop users) and push notifications(for mobile app users) to alarm customers on new offers and deals.
• Large promotion of time sensitive coupon codes and discounts on the website home page. For example- Flat 15% off on Prepaid or COD orders.
• Offers on using payment channels. For instance- Rs 50 cashback using FreeCharge. 
• Mobile wallets integration for quick and safe transactions. Some include- Mobikwick, PayTm, Phone Pay, Google Pay, etc.
• Easy sign-up or login with phone number, Facebook ID or Gmail ID.
• Information rich product pages with medicine images, description, expiry date, MRP, available discounts, etc
• Simple product division by brands, offers, popular, health concerns, and other categories. 

4. MediBuddy

A healthcare multi seller marketplace whose service is not limited to medicine delivery and doctor consultation, but also extends to insurance and health checkups. MediBuddy reported 14X growth in monthly visits to their site from 2020 to 2023. Also, their operating revenue grew 58.5% to Rs 234 crore in FY22 from Rs 147.6 crore in FY21 (Source: Registrar of Companies)

5 factors that drive 700.4 K online buyers to their Website each month

• Mobile friendly website to capture mobile pharmacy buyers. Also, a dedicated marketplace app and Doctor Booking app for fast browsing experience.
• Easy to find information, possible due to search bar, internal linking and navigation menu. 
• One click registration and login for new users.
• Personalized product recommendations based on customer’s location, health requirement, age, budget and gender. 
• Partnered with doctors, pharmacy retailers and suppliers from 2778 cities across India.
• Heavy marketing of MediBuddy Gold plan on their website that gives- free unlimited consultation for family members and for all kinds of health problems. This was to build customer loyalty.

5. PharmEasy

Another online pharmacy marketplace that sells online medicines, healthcare products, and diagnostics tests. PharmEasy's operating revenue grew to Rs 5,729 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2022 a 2X growth from Rs 2,335 crore in FY21.

5 Easy and less time consuming strategies used to gain customer loyalty

• Free delivery, coupons, offers to retain customers and build a long term relationship. To convert new customers, they offer 25% discounts + cashback on first medicine delivery order.
• Simple Product Categorization to guide customers in buying and push them towards placing order.
• Fast loading website that loads quickly on both desktops and smartphones. 
• Great logistics partners delivering medicines to 1000+ cities and towns across 22000+ pin codes. 
• Multiple Payment gateways integration, includes both mobile wallets and online banking solutions, to offer payment flexibility.

How to create A Medicine Delivery Marketplace With StoreHippo

Feeling charged up after reading above success stories? You certainly are!

Building your own pharmacy marketplace to replicate the success of the above brands can be the first step towards creating your own niche in the thriving pharma ecommerce industry.

To make your task lighter, StoreHippo brings 360-degree multi vendor solutions to get you started in no time.

Here is what you get with Storehippo plug-and-play online marketplace solutions-

Complete Admin Control

You have complete control over all your sellers, their medicine catalogs, order, inventory, sales, commissions, and much more. As the admin, you can control the entire workflow. 

Multi Vendor Management

You have simple and easy to use tools to manage your vendors right from their onboarding to their payouts. You can set vendor based discounts, shipping charges, promo offers, taxes, commissions and much more. You also get a comprehensive vendor ledger wherein you can easily manage their payouts and commissions.

Vendor Dashboard

You can assign separate vendor dashboards to your online pharmacy sellers and suppliers. With their unique dashboards you can give the flexibility to your registered seller and suppliers to manage their inventory, orders, update their listed product, and more.

Inbuilt Payment Channels

You will get 60+ pre-integrated payment gateways that you can integrate on your multi vendor marketplace. You can also add store wallet or digital wallets to make payments simpler for your buyers.

Integrated Logistics Solution

StoreHippo comes with 30+ pre integrated shipping solution that deliver to 27,000+ pin codes across India. You can optimize your shipping costs by using multiple shipping partners without paying any upfront cost to integrate with them.  You can also avail discounted shipping prices with some of the select logistics partners. You also get a built-in delivery boy module where your vendors can use their own fleet of delivery agents and manage them easily using the delivery management solution.

Built-In Marketing Tools

StoreHippo also has a gamut of marketing tools along with a powerful discount engine that lets you create time sensitive coupons, and discounts for popular product categories on your online pharmacy store. You can also optimize your online pharmacy for more footfalls using the SEO-friendly platform. 

Unique Seller Page on Website

Using this feature you can create unique pages for your sellers to give them undivided attention.This will give more visibility to sellers on your marketplace and accentuate the shopping experience of your customers. 

Mobile Website and Apps support

Build your marketplace app using the built-in mobile apps builder to leverage mobile commerce and get more order on your e-pharmacy. You can give a superior mobile shopping experience to your buyers by making lightweight, fast loading, PWA stores that work even on slow internet connections and entry level devices. This helps you reach customers in India’s hinterland as well. 

Technical Edge

StoreHippo helps you build cutting edge marketplace websites built on MACH architecture. The inherent flexibility, agility and scalability of Storehippo decoupled headless platform makes it easy for you to build your tailor-made multi vendor marketplace to sell medicines online.

Support for diverse business models

StoreHippo comes with 300+ built in features and support for all major business models like B2B, B2C, D2C, B2B2C, multi store network, hyperlocal ecommerce, international ecommerce etc. You can easily expand to new international markets by using built-in support to build multilingual e-pharmacy and also accept payment in multiple currencies.

Seamless Integrations

StoreHippo comes with 120+ integrations that enable you to build your own unique ecommerce pharmace solution and manage your end-to-end business efficiently. You can integrate with the best-in-breed ERP, CRM, POS, accounting or any other software and your chosen service provider to build a unique online pharmacy software solution.

These are some prominent StoreHippo features that help you in designing a successful online healthcare and online medicine store. 

Conclusion

Building an online pharmacy store has the potential to take your business places and help you secure your position in the fast growing online medicine market not only in India but also across the globe. StoreHippo offers offers a fully hosted and managed ecommerce platform with comprehensive multi seller solutions to build and grow your online medicine delivery business.  

Open your online pharmacy delivery marketplace with StoreHippo. Invite the registered medicine retailers, manufacturers, distributors and doctors as sellers on your multi vendor marketplace to get started. Start with a 14 day free trial of StoreHippo to write your own pharma marketplace success story.