Prospects and challenges of E-pharmacy in Bangladesh: A perspective on Dhaka city

Abstract

In order to complete my BBA program, I have been instructed to complete my internship report on “Prospects and Challenges of E-Pharmacy in Bangladesh: A Perspective on Dhaka City” under the guidance of Md. Hasan Maksud Chowdhury. Both Pharmaceutical companies and E-commerce are at a booming stage and doing tremendous business in Bangladesh so combination of them in the form of E-pharmacy will be a revolutionary step. E-pharmacy refers to the existence of an online pharmacy that offers medicines and over-the-counter (OTC) products to the customers. There is a need as well as demand for E-pharmacy especially in a mega city like Dhaka where this will be a huge relief to the people by saving their time, money and energy. This market of E-Pharmacy is not fully explored and it has a lot of potential for growth in the future for this business. Thus, the study aims to explore both the prospects and challenges of E-pharmacy. The study is done on a sample of 76 respondents (medicine purchasers) in some areas of Dhaka (Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Mohammadpur and Mirpur) was reached through online survey (Google Form) and face-to-face interview. After the data analysis it can be said that the variables being Working people, Price, Convenience, Delivery Time, Quality Assurance, Payment options, Privacy and Ease of Use have a somewhat relationship with Consumer‟s Purchase decision of online medicine. Whereas the variables Age, Income level, Family members and Rate of medicines purchase have a relation with the purchase decision of consumers of buying medicines online but they are not significant enough. As it is a new concept and is not that established right now but has a great future ahead if planned properly. There are challenges too like making people believe on the authenticity of medicines and convincing them to buy from these online stores. If correct people and proper planning is involved then these obstacles can be handled too. This study recognizes the need for further research in this field