Can you tell us more about yourself and Pharmanity ?
I'm Samuel Mottin, pharmacist and founder of Pharmanity.com. I created Pharmanity based on a few very simple observations. Access to information about French pharmacies was very complicated for patients. Prices can vary considerably and all products are not immediately available in all pharmacies .
With regards to pharmacists, they tend to specialize in certain fields, brands or services. Given that they are not able to publicize, I decided to improve customers' access to information about local pharmacies. Pharmanity.com began in 2014, after meeting with several people who lent their support to the venture, including Alban Charrière, co-founder .
Your solution is quite innovative. Can you tell us more about it ?
Pharmanity.com gives patients an easy way to find out if a local pharmacy has a particular product in stock and how much it costs. The solution is simple for pharmacists: registration, product information entry and catalogue updates are fast and automatic. We are positioned as a benchmark in web-to-store connected pharmacies.
Does web-to-store have potential with regards to health or beauty/well-being products ?
If you look at other markets outside the health industry, they're increasingly moving towards web-to-store or click-and-collect. People need to maintain a physical link and be able to speak to professionals. This is even more true with regards to health-related products.
Since the approval to sell medication online, many stakeholders have positioned themselves in this niche. With two and a half years under our belts, we can see that online pharmacies who say they are well-positioned in terms of product references or prices aren't in comparison to local pharmacies. It is also surprising to imagine patients ordering a treatment online and waiting for delivery to start using it. With Pharmanity.com, we save them time and money by encouraging contact and a close relationship between patients and pharmacists.
What does your solution offer pharmacists ?
Pharmacists must manage a business and often don't have the time or skills to manage a website to publicize their activities. With Pharmanity.com, we offer a complete turnkey solution for a connected pharmacy to direct customers to their business.
The aim for pharmacists is to increase their online visibility to help them generate sales at their pharmacy.
What is the latest news regarding your website and its development ?
We've created a product reservation system for patients so that pharmacists can prepare the products ahead of time to save everyone time. We have also signed a partnership with a major public health website to offer new services with strong added value for patients at our partner pharmacies. Lastly, we recently put a blog online with practical advice, tips and information on health, beauty and well-being.
Find out more on pharmanity.com
