Need medicine late at night? China’s 24/7 online pharmacies offer new model

Internet Plus has completely revolutionized Chinese people’s lives. Following in the footsteps of cab hailing and food delivery services, around-the-clock online pharmacies offer a new drug ordering and delivery model in China.

Compared with traditional pharmacies, online pharmacies are more convenient for people living alone or facing an emergency situation at night. They also offer online consultancy, boosting drug-retailing and economic growth nationwide, news portal Economic Daily reported.

China’s online pharmacies first came into being in December 2005 with the establishment of Jingwei Online Drugstore. Since then the market has expanded rapidly with the growth of online startups such as Ding-dang Medicine Delivery, an app promising to deliver medicine within 28 minutes at all times, which has seen a 188 percent increase of night-orders year-on-year in the first half of 2018.

The volume of online pharmacies in China has increased from 1.2 billion yuan to 6.1 billion yuanfrom 2013 to 2017, according to data from Report on Consumption Trends in China’s Pharmaceutical Retail Market.

Recently, online pharmacies have kicked off a new round of competition in drug quality control, professional services, and guidance.

In the first half of this year, licensed online pharmacies have achieved sales of 5 billion yuan, up 42.5 percent year-on-year, according to the 2018 Blue Book on the Development of Chinese Medical Market.