Is It Safe To Buy Medicines Online?
E-commerce is now a norm for businesses and even the pharma industry has joined this bandwagon. Thanks to people’s faith in online shopping, sites that sell medicines have grown but, are these sites safer than your local chemists? Let’s find out.
Benefits of Buying Medicines Online
- Trusted pharmacies
- Lower prices
- More Accessible
- Convenient & Simple Process
- Higher Discounts
- Information On Side Effects
- Substitute Medicines
- Doorstep Delivery
- Prescription Validation
- Expiry dates checked
- Privacy policy
Recommended Medicine Sites:
Why We Trust These Online Pharmacies?
The above-mentioned online pharmacies stand out from the crowd by offering their customers a lot of benefits. One major concern of the customers, which is answered by such pharmacies is:
Safety And Authenticity
You undoubtedly need full information about the medicine and its authenticity in order to purchase it hassle-free. Therefore, nowadays, many pharmacy websites that have come up, operate legally and ensure proper safeguards for purchasing medicines.
Furthermore, medicines offered by the most trusted online pharmacies offer meet a predefined quality standard. They are manufactured under government supervision, delivered in factory-sealed packs and are untouched by humans.
Online stores such as Netmeds, Medlife etc. create a digital database of every prescription they receive. “Every digital record can be matched to an authenticating batch number from the manufacturer. This process is the best way to insure authenticity and keep counterfeits and expired medicines out of the marketplace”, a Netmeds professional told CashKaro.
Further, every digitized prescription is “vetted for 6 major points of validity by the approving pharmacist, and then is reviewed a second time by a certifying pharmacist”. They offer generic substitutes for most of the medicines and do not sell any psychotropic, narcotic or habit-forming substance.
Apart from ensuring safety and authenticity, there are some other factors which make online pharmacies safer and better than your local chemist:
Trust and Convenience
Online pharmacies today have established a trust factor among their customers. One such pharmacy is Netmeds, which has over 1,000,000 customers, 8 fulfillment centres across India, and a staff of more than 40 certified pharmacists. This makes it extremely reliable to buy medicines online. It offers a range of affordable prescription & non-prescription medicines along with health & wellness aid etc. Netmeds itself states that “We maintain the country’s largest prescription database, we employ a Chief Pharmacist with more than 50 years’ experience, who oversees a team of 40 pharmacists, we offer more than 35,000 SKU’s and we deliver to every PIN code in India.”
This ensures that the customers don’t run out of essential medicines and can get them conveniently from the comfort of their home. Moreover, it is the best option for senior citizens who find it problematic to travel all the way to a chemist.
Extra Savings
They offer you the lowest prices together with added benefits and discounts on all products. This is because unlike offline stores they do not have to consider the cost of buying or renting the property, paying bills etc. Netmeds offers medicines at discounted prices as it passes “some of the discounted pricing from the manufacturer, directly to the consumer”. Besides, it offers upto 20% off on all prescription medicines with an extra 5% unlimited cashback on all pre-paid orders.
Moreover, if you buy your medicines via CashKaro you get to save even more. For instance, ISRYL M2 FORTE TABLETS (8) for diabetic patients, are available at MRP Rs. 456 on Netmeds, but, if you buy it through CashKaro.com, you get it for Rs. 351.73. That’s after a 20% off code (on prescription medicines) and 15% CashKaro Cashback (for new users). This lets you save upto Rs. 100 on your transaction.
Additionally, if you refer your family and friends to them, they offer you Rs 250 off on your order.
Reward Points Programme
Most online pharmacies give you reward points on all your purchases. You can redeem those points on further transactions on their website. For instance, if you shop for medicines on Netmeds, it gives you some reward points. Each point equals Rs. 0.50 and is earned per Rs. 100 spent. Every time you collect 500 points, a credit of Rs. 250 goes into your Netmeds e-wallet account and can be redeemed on future purchases.
Quick Ordering And Shipping
Online pharmacies provide the ease of ordering medicines with just a few clicks. Their ordering and delivery procedure is simple and quick. Moreover, you can track your order from time to time, though it gets delivered usually in 2-3 days depending on your location.
There are also a few minor risks that may come along with buying medicines online like it is difficult to verify a prescription online.
Therefore, considering all the above-mentioned factors, one can say that online shopping for medicines is a simple, safe and affordable option.
