Like every other industry, the pharmaceutical industry has also reinvented its sales online. The process is just the same. There is a buyer who wants something and he buys it online. The pharmaceutical industry is slightly different from others here because it is a very sensitive industry. The seller must verify the buyer’s prescriptions before selling him sensitive drugs. It is, of course, different with over the counter medications. Getting a license to sell drugs online is much more difficult than it is for other businesses.
Marketing your pharmaceutical brand online
Invest in a wide variety of marketing content- videos, podcasts, whitepapers and webinars to get their message out to potential markets. This requires niche marketing skills. Identify the market segment you want exposure with. This comes from liaising with clinics everywhere. Start local. Use social media platforms to gain exposure into potential customers. If there is a support group for a certain illness, be part of the group. Build relationship with the members and market your product. Educate fellow members on developments in the field. They would be interested in relevant content.
Logistics involved in running an online pharmaceutical business
Packaging, shipping and delivering medicines is a different ball game altogether. Have an account with a shipping carrier and they would guide you with the processes. Pharmaceutical shipping requires temperature controlled capsules, sterile environments and insulation. FedEx and UPS offer special services to cater to pharmaceutical businesses. Today, more patients seek in-home care and treatment options. So, business-to-consumer shipping is growing for the healthcare industry. Shipping carriers like FedEx and UPS offer tailored shipping solutions to meet residential customers’ unique schedules and priorities.
Unless you have your own fleet to deliver goods to customers, it is better to trust reputed shipping carriers with the service. A lot of medicines require a specific temperature range throughout the shipping process. This is essential to the quality of many healthcare products. Biggies like FedEx have predefined infrastructure that help you with this. Shipping carriers are willing to come to your doorstep to load the medicines into their temperature controlled, sterile units and deliver them in the same condition.
Here, here, here are more on logistics involved in shipping.
Tracking your shipments
Shipping carriers understand your need to check on medicines in transit and offer advanced tracking, monitoring and care. When a shipment is booked, you automatically receive text alerts on your phone. They generally provide proactive monitoring and intervention, if needed, from origin to destination.
Suitable path: Based on your drugs, carriers let you choose the service that suits your shipment. An airborne shipment would be fast, as opposed to one sent via ground.
Issues that could crop up with such shipments are generally taken care of by the shipping carrier. Issues can range from missed plane connections, dry ice capacity constraints, and mechanical failures to legal issues like the FDA’s regulations on carrying the medicines.
It is a good practice to insure high risk drug shipments. In the event that the shipping carrier does not deliver the drugs by the promised time, you can claim for shipping returns and get refunds.
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