1. Current status of pharmaceutical e-commerce industry
The emergence of pharmaceutical e-commerce predates the rise of Internet medical care. In 1998, Shanghai No. 1 Pharmaceutical once opened an "online pharmacy", but it was forced to close due to the relevant policies at that time prohibiting the sale of drugs on the Internet.
Since the official launch of Tmall Pharma in 2012 as a node, the pharmaceutical e-commerce industry has ushered in rapid development, and the industry's annual compound growth rate has exceeded 50%.
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Figure 1: Classification of pharmaceutical e-commerce
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce in 2017, the overall scale of pharmaceutical e-commerce is 200 billion yuan, of which 90% are B2B. The scale of B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce is only 20 billion yuan, and a large part of the sales are non-drugs, including equipment, health products, and adult products.
B2B pharmaceutical e-commerce is to transfer traditional pharmaceutical procurement to the Internet, connect the systems at both ends of supply and demand, and improve efficiency and save costs through Internet tools. In the domestic market, drug sales, especially prescription drugs, are still dominated by sales in medical institutions. The trend of going online in the B2B field is obvious. Large companies in the pharmaceutical distribution field, e-commerce giants and early-entering pharmaceutical e-commerce companies are fiercely competing for this market.
B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce consists of three categories: health care products, OTC drugs and prescription drugs. Among them, prescription drug and pharmaceutical e-commerce is the most promising segment. With the gradual relaxation of policies, the growth potential is huge. E-commerce sales of prescription drugs currently account for less than 5% of the entire domestic retail market, compared with more than 30% in the US market.
From the shopping experience, in recent years, everyone can gradually feel the penetration of e-commerce giants in the pharmaceutical industry. Ali Health, which was renamed Yilu not long ago, JD Health, which has just been listed, and the new e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, are in B2C e-commerce sales. , has formed a three-legged situation. JD Health's revenue in 2019 has exceeded 10 billion yuan.
The following figure shows the revenue composition of NASDAQ-listed Yiyao.com in the past three years:
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Figure 2: 1Yao.com's three-year revenue
1. Yaowang's three-year revenue in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the total revenue increased from 960 million yuan to 3.96 billion yuan, but the proportion of B2C in the revenue structure has dropped from 90% to 19%, compared in 2019 In 2018, B2C sales declined even more.
B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce is showing the same scene in the e-commerce field, gradually becoming the world of giants. Ali Health and JD.com are replicating their success in other segments. Traffic, capital, and logistics are their inherent advantages. In addition to the medical services that have been deployed in the early days, it is very difficult for B2C e-commerce companies to compete with them.
2. Operation of B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce
Since 2015, Tmall Medical Center has published the ranking and sales amount of the top 10 health products every year. OTC drugs occupy the majority, but Dong E E Jiao, a health product, has been on the list for several years. This list can also reflect from the side, the sales pattern of B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce.
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Figure 3: Alibaba Health's 2019 Double 11 list
1. Non-pharmaceuticals
Health products such as health products, adult products, and household appliances cannot be ignored in the sales of B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce. After all, they are sold to the whole population and play a significant role in daily promotion and activity drainage. The operation mode of these standard products focuses on pure e-commerce methods, and supply chain management, cost control and revenue methods are crucial. Through various online holiday promotions, live broadcasts, events, popular models and other games, consumers’ desire to buy is aroused.
It is worth noting that Ali pointed out in this year’s Double 11 report that the post-95s aborigines on the Internet began to invest in health consumption. , condoms and masks.
2. OTC
There are about 16,000 drugs of various types in my country, of which nearly 4,800 are OTC products. Among the OTC varieties, there are nearly 3,800 Chinese patent medicines and more than 1,000 chemical drugs. With so many OTC drugs, each common symptom can correspond to dozens of drugs, how to stand out in marketing, e-commerce sales have undoubtedly become a new choice.
In people's minds, when someone is injured from bruises, has a cold and has a fever, and who doesn't have a minor illness, they go to the pharmacy near their door to buy some medicine in the city. Sometimes they know what medicine to take. The pharmacist will recommend several types; in rural areas, it is basically a visit to a village doctor's office or a doctor's visit.
In these habitual scenarios, users who purchase OTC drugs do not have much perception of price. 1) Because people are anxious to get well soon when they are sick; 2) The price of OTC medicines themselves will not be too high; 3) Sickness itself is an occasional thing, even if it is expensive to buy one time, it is not in the way; 4) Some commonly country email list used OTC drugs are often advertised, and patients have trust in the brand.
The current operation route of OTC drug e-commerce, the first type is the specialized route, which focuses on the scene offline and the content online. Through online means, make great efforts in marketing, gain user recognition, establish user awareness, and rely on the laying of O2O platforms in the channel to ensure that users can purchase conveniently at the first time when they need it; the second category is fast-moving consumer goods Routes, low margins, high turnover.
Under the cultivation of e-commerce, users have also established the habit of stockpiling common medicines. During the big promotion activities, OTC medicines arouse users' desire to consume at the price of the user's heart. The medicines that enter the above list basically belong to this category. .