Apteka.RU

A pharmacy's costs to sell medicines depend less on turnover than on the number of finished transactions. The average receipt at a regular pharmacy is for 250 to 300 rubles: with margins of 30%, the pharmacy gets 70 to 90 roubles per transaction. The Apteka.ru web portal mainly processes large orders: the average bill is 1500 roubles. With a 6% margin, the profit will be the same 70 to 90 roubles. Therefore, a customer picking their order from Apteka.ru is no less profitable than a traditional visitor. In addition, the buyer pays the pharmacy on the same day, whereas the pharmacy pays Katren in accordance with its deferred payment date, providing additional cash flow.

Service partners can earn money through Apteka.ru without any risk: if the buyer fails to collect their items within a few days, the pharmacy simply returns it to the Katren warehouse. However, the returns level for Apteka.ru orders now barely reaches 6%.

Attracting such customers on their own would mean a complete reorganization of business for traditional pharmacies. Katren helps increase revenue from such customers without disrupting the usual pharmacy procedures.

Many Apteka.ru visitors order dozens of products at the same time. For example, expectant mothers may order hygiene products for the baby, cosmetics for the mother, toys, baby food, and much more - all in one order. In a traditional pharmacy, it would take an hour to serve this customer, not to mention that all the necessary goods might not be in stock. Or, for example, a customer going on vacation may put together a first aid kit of all necessary things to travel. They should study the instructions in detail and compare prices – this is too time-consuming for the pharmacist, whereas the customer can do it on their own at the web portal.

In addition, there are scenarios with huge orders: an ordinary pharmacy would be simply unable to handle these (for example, an order for 50 blood pressure monitors).

The second, most dangerous category are websites that operate without a real pharmacy. The quality of their products is unknown: without a pharmacy as part of the company, it is not clear which license they have, who issues receipts and who handles complaints. Such companies usually have no actual location, so regulatory bodies cannot check them. These market participants only discredit the very idea of online pharmacies and scare away buyers.

Apteka.ru is in a category of its own. It is not a competitor to pharmacies, we constantly increase the number of collection points and guarantee high quality. Apteka.ru does not give orders for the house, because under Russian law, delivery can only pharmacy organizations that have permission of Roszdravnadzor. Therefore, with the help of Apteka.ru, Katren brings a client to a partner pharmacy and provides him with a high level of service.

It is necessary to understand that e-commerce will evolve whether we want it to or not. Today, we are capable of building a civilized system including traditional pharmacies and guaranteeing high-quality medicines. Otherwise, online trade would still grow, but as a competitor for pharmacies and as a source of hazardous medicines.

Shipping to pharmacies with outstanding debts is blocked automatically. Katren is willing to work with all responsible pharmacies and give them a significant competitive advantage via Apteka.ru.

* The term «order» at the www.apteka.ru portal and (or) in this article is to be understood as the formation by a user of the above-mentioned website of a request to JSC Katren on behalf of a pharmacy organization selected to supply the goods in accordance with the delivery contract concluded between the two latter parties.

This information does not constitute a public offer and is for informational purposes only.