Idea
EasyPharm is a mobile app dedicated to pharmacies only. (Think of the app as an UberEats for pharmacies. In terms of service and app layout) EasyPharm is very similar to UberEats in many ways, but at the same time very different.
Challenge
EasyPharm is seeking to solve 3 major problems.
- Pharmacies take delivery orders via phone call, and WhatsApp. They have to manually write down orders, delivery notes and also addresses, in other words they have become inbound call centre agents more than they are pharmacists and pharmacy assistants.
- Customers face long call wait times, and response times when placing orders through these two main channels. They also on the other hand face long and exhausting queues when they physically go to the pharmacy.
- Pharmacies are not adapting to the new digitally convenient South Africa, one of the main reasons is due to the costs involved in adopting digital solutions. It can be quite expensive and time consuming trying to develop your own mobile app for your business.
Solution
EasyPharm seeks to alleviate all of the above mentioned problems by developing
- A mobile app for customers to choose a local pharmacy within their vicinity and buy products
- A pharmacy panel for pharmacies to accept delivery orders, keep track of revenues made from delivery orders and manage inventory
- A driver app, and an admin panel (for manager of EasyPharm) to add and remove pharmacies and drivers, and keep track of all revenues made through the EasyPharm app.
This would definitely be of great benefit to Customers, as they have grown accustomed to the convenience of having their goods delivered to their door, from fast food to groceries and clothing. And of great benefit to Pharmacies as they would have less incoming calls and Whatsapp messages, their delivery processes would be streamlined, their pharmacy reach would increase and they would be able to meet their customers new demands of convenience.
Story
During the first year of Covid-19 was when the original light bulb moment came to me.There was so much panic surrounding everything. At one point South Africans could not leave their homes, for ANYTHING. My husband and I were starting to get fluish, and we started to panic thinking it was Covid-19. We tried phoning ALL our local pharmacies to try and have them deliver our medication. We had absolutely No luck! All their lines were busy. For 4 whole days, we could not get through to any of our local pharmacies at all, our Whatsapp messages probably even disappeared in the chats section due to hundreds of other people's messages.
