PharmEasy, Practo, Tata 1mg and Mfine are in heavy losses. For offline rivals, though, it's a profitable and healthy story. Can the online players find their magic pill?
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Alok Singh was unequivocal in his conviction. “I knew it won’t have any impact,” says the 36-year-old entrepreneur. “But I had to do it to make the boys happy,” he says, alluding to the constant pestering by his half-a-dozen young employees—he calls them boys—to hang a big, bold neon display board outside his compact chemist shop. “Paagal ho? (Are you nuts?) Who buys medicines for discounts?” he argued with his boys who were influenced by a battery of online pharmacy players that had bombarded the television, social media and online world with their commercials wooing users with discounts, cashbacks and quick delivery. “We anyway charge less than the MRP,” he tried his best to instil some realism. “And we also deliver for free. Don’t we?” he continued with his futile pitch.