Global Online Pharmacy market is expected to reach USD 202.3 billion by 2027

Increase in number of internet users, generation of online prescriptions in the hospitals or pharmacies and rise in online-services are some of the factors responsible for the growth of the online Pharmacy market.

The Global Online Pharmacy market was valued at USD 68.2 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach USD 202.3 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 16.8%, during the forecast period from 2021 to 2027.

Online pharmacy is one of the most emerging pharmacy in this era. In this mode of prescribing, prescriptions are generated online without use of paper. There are many advantages of online pharmacy like better pricing on online pharmacy than retail stores, this offers low transaction, ease availability, and these provide better consumer compliance. Online pharmacies offer medicine at door step provides medical alerts, discounts on the products from licensed pharmacies.

Development in online services, use of internet and awareness regarding self-medication for OTC products are the major factors that contributed in the growth of sales of online pharmacies. Education about primary treatment and medication will stimulate the market development. Growing commonness regarding the general physicians and dermatological conditions stood to contribute in the segment growth of OTC products. Ease of availability of OTC medicines will continue to enhance the market.

The role of pharmacies and MR’s are changing with this new digital 4.0 era. There has been huge collaboration among big multinational pharmaceuticals and retail shops which are driving the growth of market.

Various collaborations and initiatives taken by government supports online pharmacy and digital healthcare platforms. For example, Jan Aushadhi Program of India where government ensures that every individual gets proper medication and healthcare facilities at affordable prices. During the outbreak of Coronavirus, where maximum retail shop remained closed on specific timing and to maintain social distancing to avoid spread of virus, online pharmacies gained importance across the world. Online pharmacy stood to be easily available platform for the regular users of medicines. Availability of various online pharmacy apps like Pharmeasy, Medlife, Medplus, Netmed.com boosts the development of sales of pharmacy across

Medlife campaign which explains why online pharmacy is best for health obsessed people with a tagline “Obsessed with health” which highlighted the values of brand that prizes the customer’s health while providing them the benefit of better transparency, control, and accessibility of medicines. This boosted the sales of the pharmacy and increased brand awareness.

According to research, people in the U.S prefer buying drugs from online stores that visiting pharmacies and this elevated the sales of online pharmacy. Factor like cost effectiveness and doorstep delivery are likely to elevate the sales of online pharmacies. Hence, online pharmacies are one of the best ways for giving medications at discounted prices, which will ultimately rise the market growth.

Key Findings:

1. Based on Drug Type, Over-the-Counter (OTC) drugs segment was dominated the market in 2020 and is expected to maintain the dominance during the forecast period. This can be attributed to high demand for OTC product on online platform as they are mostly non-emergency products. Hence, people can wait till the delivery of product.
2. Based on Product type, cold and flu products are expected to reach the highest share during forecast period. This can be attributed to rising number of patients suffering from cold and flu.
3. Based on Region type, North America was dominated the market in 2020 and is expected to grow at the significant rate during the forecast period due to high adoption by the people.

Recent News:

1. In May 2021, PharmEasy acquired Medlife and became India’s largest online pharmacy.  
2. In April 2021, Tata Digital invested about Rs. 100 crore money in online medicine startup named 1mg. Tata Digital is in the final stages to acquire a controlling stake in the BigBasket.
3. In November 2020, Amazon.com Inc launched an online pharmacy to deliver prescription medications in the U.S. This will increase the competition with drug retailers such as Walgreens, Walmart and CVS.