THIS week's contributor is Aaron De Souza, GuildLink - Learning from COVID; Connectivity and convenience: It's clear that the coronavirus has led to a surge in eCommerce, as consumers wary of visiting shops amid the lockdown are now shopping online. Comparison site Finder's revealed Chemist Warehouse, for example, recorded a 54% increase in online traffic from March 19 -- March 20. That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that community pharmacies should start building eCommerce stores. The latest studies show that the average conversion rate for eCommerce websites is still just 2.86%. Even if you think an eCommerce makes sense now, when customers are reluctant to visit your pharmacy -- it might not make sense in, say, six months, when restrictions are likely to have eased. So is it really worth investing the resources required to build an independent eCommerce store at this time? Instead of eCommerce, it's better to think of your online offering in terms of eConvenience. Customers will always want a more convenient experience, so you need to consider the digital infrastructure you can put in place that will make it easier for them to do business with you a post-COVID landscape. This includes: 1) A properly built content-rich website 2) A medicines reminder app 3) An ePrescriptions solution. It's exciting times for pharmacies willing to invest in digital as the share of the customer pie is now up for grabs due to this pandemic shifting expectations and needs.
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