Discount Drugs now online
February 3, 2012
DISCOUNT Drug Stores is
expanding its consumer reach,
launching into online retailing with
a new e-commerce platform.
According to the company, the
online presence will not take
business away from its 100
pharmacies Australia-wide, but will
rather allow each Discount Drug
Stores pharmacy to have its own
online store, giving the customer
the ability to shop online but from
their local Discount Drug Store.
“Australian consumers are turning
to online shopping at a rapidly
increasing rate and as a brand that
prides itself on customer care we
felt it imperative that we enter this
space,” said the General Manager
of Discount Drug Stores, Douglas
Kuskopf-Dallas.
“For us our priority is capturing
this market through our existing
franchise stores and that is why we
have developed this unique online
retailing strategy,” he added.
The website, designed by the
technology brand Pharmacy4u, will
feature health, beauty, medical and
lifestyle products, and will provide
customers with a forum in which
they can ask and obtain health
information and advice.
The site will also give consumers
the ability to monitor and purchase
their prescriptions online with
email or SMS reminders sent to
notify them of when they must
refill their medications.
The decision to launch an online
platform that “deals with the issue
of online retail’s success” affecting
Australian pharmacies, comes in
the wake of a recent prediction
from research company Frost and
Sullivan that online spending will
grow at least twice as fast as the
total retail market over the next
four years.
“Local businesses are finding it
harder and harder to compete
against the large online stores,”
said Kuskopf-Dallas.
“This system solves the problem
by enhancing the business of each
individual store and ensuring our
owners don’t have to compete with
a centralised e-commerce site,” he
added.
The site is currently in its beta
stage, and is expected to launch
early this year.
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