Healthcare, and closely related pharmacy services, are due for disruption. Online pharmacies can deliver pharmaceuticals direct to customers, potentially changing the way they compare prices. These patients can now order their medications from registered pharmacists via the Internet.
Patients can simply upload a copy of their prescriptions. Each medication request is controlled by registered pharmacists who direct them to the pharmacy warehouse in the region of the patient.
Patients can access an ePharmacy through a software app, or through a website. Each ePharmacy will provide a variety of different services -- including online consultations, repeat prescriptions, lab tests, and over-the-counter (OTC) medication.
Global ePharmacy Market Development
According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of ePharmacy users will reach 1 billion globally by 2027 -- that's increasing from 795 million in 2022, a growth of 28 percent.
This increase is partly due to adoption resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, where consumers were unable to leave their homes and turned to ePharmacies for their medications.
Growth will continue, as vendors focus on retaining and expanding their customer bases by refining the efficiency and simplicity, and lower-cost business operating model that ePharmacy provides.
Juniper predicts that people will continue to use ePharmacies as they reap the benefits of medication affordability, and a wider choice compared to traditional retail pharmacies.
Furthermore, ePharmacy growth will be sustained by simplifying the online process. This is achieved by widespread acceptance of ePrescriptions -- eliminating legacy paper copies of prescriptions.
"ePharmacy vendors have the ability to further simplify the process through the use of solutions, including consumers receiving their prescribed medication, sorted into daily pouches containing information regarding dosage, date and time to be taken," said Cara Malone, research analyst at Juniper Research.
Outlook for Global ePharmacy Applications Growth
Juniper analysts anticipate that ePharmacy services will continue to be predominantly utilized for OTC medication. Moreover, OTC transactions will reach 8.9 billion globally in 2027 -- accounting for 64 percent of the total global transaction value.
This is compared to 5 billion medication prescription transactions globally in the same year. That said, I anticipate that ePrescriptions may be impacted from inertia created by the legacy industry players resisting change due to fears that their profitable business model is disrupted.
According to the Juniper assessment, in order to allay these concerns and offset the abundance of new ePharmacies, real-time tracking and stronger regulations should be priorities to secure future growth.