Degree
Master of Business Administration
Faculty / School
School of Business Studies (SBS)
Advisor
Faisal Jalal, Visiting Faculty, Department of Marketing
Committee Member 1
Mr. Faisal Jalal Visiting Faculty Business Administration - Academic Affairs Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi
Project Type
MBA Research Project
Keywords
https://ir.iba.edu.pk/do/search/?q=E-pharmacy&start=0&context=8598587&facet=">E-pharmacy, Ecommerce, Pharmacy in Karachi, Online pharmacy sector, Supply chain of medicine, Online pharmacy models, Marketing strategy of pharmacy, Inventory management of medicines
Abstract / Summary
E-commerce industry is on the rise in Pakistan, in the last few years the Pakistani consumers have delved into the convenience of purchasing online, from food industry to apparel industry and from auto parts to personal care, more or less every industry one can imagine have invested in an online retail, moreover, over the lockdown there are many businesses that have flourished, and the demand has superseded the supply, including online pharmacies.
We, the final year MBA students at IBA, have decided to work with our facilitator on launching an e-pharmacy by the name of ‘Firstmed.com.pk’, by analyzing the current market trends, the needs of the customer and by examining the current e-pharmacies.
For this purpose, we have decided to build a case study on the launch of the portal with the help of the research papers available, our contacts in the pharmaceutical industry and our facilitator. The research comprises of secondary research on the Pakistani pharmaceutical industry, Pakistani e-commerce industry and e-pharmacies, online pharmacies of our neighboring countries such as India, China and Bangladesh, analysis on appearance and usability of the popular websites of pharmacies such as Dvago, Dawaai and Sehat. Furthermore, we have a made wireframe for the website and have launched an initial portal for testing purposes, later on in the project we will work on the usability of the website using the consumer insights which will be collected through survey and focus groups, and design supply chain and marketing strategy as well a revenue model for this portal.
In order to gain more in-dept information of industry practices regarding inventory management and marketing operations within the sector, industry professionals were also interviewed. These insights helped in devising the procurement, warehousing and marketing strategy.
Moreover, to validate the secondary research, a thorough primary research was conducted. For this primary research a mixed method of data collection and analysis was used whereby surveys and interviews both were used to analyze consumer attributes and purchase behaviors towards E-Pharmacies. The data collected and evaluated from these sources show that the market has a lot of potential for new players, realizing this the portal development strategy, marketing strategy revenue streams and sourcing strategy were formulated.
Lastly, an SEO guide was also produced based on all the primary and secondary data analysis suggesting ways to direct traffic to FirstMed website. This guide consists of various on-site and off-site optimization methods for FirstMed for better user navigation and overall ranking on Google SERPs.
Recommended Citation
Ahmad, S., Ashraf, R., Ansari, N. S., & Zubairy, N. (2021). Business case of e-commerce pharmacy and allied services portal for Pakistan (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-mba/269
