Product Management

Certification Program
Assignment: Competitor
Analysis Name: Vikas Mukherjee
Industry: Online Medicine Email: vikasmukherjee28@gmail.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Major players in Online Medicine in India

• Introduction to PharmEasy
• Direct and Indirect Competitors
• Introduction to 1MG
• Comparative Analysis
• Product Analysis
• Strengths and Weaknesses
• Future Initiatives Analysis
• References
Major Players in the Online Medicine space in India
Indian Online Medicine Space is growing exponentially and resulted many investors, founders
and start-ups to delve deeper into the online medicine space. Consumers tend to spend their
time to purchase medicines from online market place and inventory based operated pharmacy
companies than traditional offline brick and mortal pharmacy stores.
INTRODUCTION TO PHARMEASY

• It was founded in 2015 and it is a privately held organization.

• PharmEasy is a company developing a healthcare delivery platform.
• It helps patients to connect with local pharmacy stores and diagnostic centers enabling them to
order medicines, healthcare products, and diagnostic tests.
• It was co-founded by Dharmil Seth, Dr. Dhaval Shah and Saumil Parekh.
• PharmEasy has a market size of 25 percent as of FY 2019
• Healthcare/OTC Products and medical equipment sold online.
• PharmEasy today is India’s leading and most trusted online healthcare aggregator in the country
• As per the founder, Dharmil Seth: “The mission of the company is to revolutionize the healthcare
scenario in the country by making the industry data driven”
• The company aims to improve the supply chain in the pharmaceutical sector by digitizing the
process
INTRODUCTION TO 1MG • It was founded in 2015 and it is a privately held organization.

• 1MG is a company that operates a consumer health platform

• 1MG provides services like diagnostics, medicine, preventive healthcare and online Q&A to its
users
• 1MG has a market share of 18 percent as of FY 2019
• It was founded by Prashant Tandon, Gaurav Agarwal and Vikas Chauhan
• Apart from this, they also have native ads on their platforms for pharma companies.
• In the past one year, The company has expanded its pharmacies to 600 cities and also expanded
their product range to include homeopathy and Ayurveda range.
• The company's mission is to make healthcare accessible, understandable, and affordable for one
billion Indians through a comprehensive website and mobile app
• Recognized by the Government of India - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a m-health
initiative
9
 Value Added Services – PharmEasy
Business Model Services Pros Risks
• Tapping a highly unorganised market • Handling reseller with different
• Can prevent poor quality drugs with expectations
E-Pharmacy
efficient tracking mechanism. • Counterfeit Medicines
• Medication Mistakes
• No Inventory Risks • Sub-standard and fake
• Buying product with just a click and medicines could sold trough
Health Care
companies buying directly from this channel, increase the
Products
distributors results into more discounts adverse of side effect.
for end user
• Counterfeit Reports
• Free Home sample pickups • Standards has to be set with
Diagnostics • Booking several health packages from different vendors to ensure
Marketplace based Model
certified labs laws and regulations

• High User Stickiness due to low cost on

subscription • There might be situation that
Subscription-based
• Digitization of pharmacy enables them user will end up buy extra
medicine refills
to record and track, for better User medicine in exceptional cases
Experience
• There might be possibility even
• Improved Patient Compliance and
the patient was cured, and
Education.
Medicine Reminders reminders notifications are still
• Power of knowledge enables the
observed by user if not
consumer to improve compliance
 Value Added Services – 1mg
Business Model Services Pros
• Can prevent poor quality drugs with
efficient tracking mechanism
E-Pharmacy
• No Inventory Risks
Health Care Products
• Buying product with just a click
• Free Home sample pickups
Diagnostics • Booking several health packages
Marketplace based Model from certified labs
• Promoting Ayurveda for as one of
AYUSH (Alternatives to the aspect to users who believes to
Medicines) cure naturally (emphasis via
government )
• Promoting Homoeopathy reach to
Homeopathy
the maximum availability
Risks
• Handling reseller with different
expectations
• Counterfeit Medicines
• Medication Mistakes
• Counterfeit Products
• Counterfeit Reports
• Standards has to be set with
different vendors to ensure
laws and regulations
• Expertise on Ayurveda to be
leverage more
• Compliances to be regulated as
per government policies
12
 Shifts in Business Model - PharmEasy
Reason for shifting - Aside from the regulatory hurdle, which would arise in a big way as the players
scaled, e-pharmacies had another bigger problem o confront. Consumers would not provide proper drug
prescriptions due to which e-pharmacy players struggled to convert orders to sales. PharmEasy
was loosing as much as 45% of business due to this single reason.

Getting consumers to buy medicines online meant a behavioural shift. A large chunk of the investments
for the new players was being spent to improve patient awareness on proper prescriptions.

Action taken - PharmEasy tackled this by informing consumers on the right way
to upload prescriptions from the comfort of their homes. Thy told consumers not to trick it with fake
prescriptions or take selfies with prescriptions. Ironically, during the funding winter e-pharmacies
retained their attracting investor attention. The reason behind this would be a mix of demographic,
lifestyle factors and rising digital penetration.

Large markets, massive inefficiencies and the digital shift meant that the medicine purchase and delivery
market was ripe for disruption

.
Revenue Model: PharmEasy – 1mg

Commissions from the Commissions from the

Partner Pharmacies Partner Pharmacies

Sponsored Revenue from AYUSH

Advertisements from (Alternative to Med) &
pharmaceuticals Homeopathy
companies on the
web or mobile based Sponsored
store. Advertisements from
pharmaceuticals
•Satisfactory & companies on the
Attractive discounts web or mobile based
on each order made. store.

•Commission •Commission
Percentage on Online Percentage on Online
Consultations Services Consultations Services
 Strong Points & Pain Points: PharmEasy vs 1MG
PharmEasy –

 Merits – Processed Systems, application to onboard and promote local sellers on the platform to boost revenue

 Pain Points – Due to Government Regulations and compliances in differentiations in regions scalability in region slow downs.

1mg –

 Merits– Established systems, Excellent services in diagnostics and online doctor consultation and a well-known brand name.

 Pain Points - Cannot target rural areas much as internet connections are limited
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 Future Initiatives of PharmEasy and 1MG
• As widely reported, Pharmeasy, Netmeds and Medlife have
been acquired by Reliance Retail and made it a $1 billion
entity. A deal where PharmEasy absorbed Medlife and
allocated shares to Medlife at 20% ownership of the newly
formed entity
• PharmEasy and 1MG are currently operating in a grey area in
terms of the legal factors. Their plans should depend on the
clarity over legal factors

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 References
• https://pharmeasy.in
• https://www.1mg.com/aboutUs
• PharmEasy Marketing Plan in 2018
• Mission Statement of PharmEasy
• Amazon’s E-Pharmacy Venture
• https://craft.co/
• ttps://pitchbook.com/
• PharmEasy + Medlife + Netmeds = $1 Billion entity
• https://craft.co/
• https://play.google.com/store
• https://www.apple.com/app-store/
• Flipkart ties with up with 1MG for medicine
• Pharmeasy Acquisitions
• PharmEasy and 1MG Estimated Revenue

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