If you are under impression that the term ‘online pharmacy’, coined somewhere in the early aughts, is as plain as it looks to an inexperienced eye, this piece is for you. Turns out, there are hidden depths and dimensions to the concept of online pharmacy business. Which is not at all illogical, if you consider the field of expertise virtual healthcare product providers apply themselves to. In contrast to online shops retailing all other sorts of consumer and mass consumption goods, in case of online pharmacy stores standards and requirements are real tough. A good online pharmacy is not so much of a shop as it is a platform where a range of healthcare services is provided to customers. Below we will give description of an average online pharmacy, as well as offer some practical advice to gainfully engaging e-pharmacy services.
Online pharmacy definition
Let’s start with some principal terms. Online pharmacy can be defined as an established pharmaceutical and healthcare product supplier that takes orders using the Internet and dispatches them with a shipping service or mail agent. They are not very much different from community pharmacies, of course save for the absence of physical housing. Still, as wide practice would have it, a growing number of brick-and-mortar local pharmacy stores launches a parallel online business (as it was done by My Canadian Health&Care Pharmacy and a number of similar companies) in order to broaden its client network and offer customers options that e-shopping can provide.
Online pharmacy ordering provides an extra level of convenience, as well as saves considerable amount of money. For a number of reasons, most of which are associated with rent, maintenance and workman force expenditures, the cost of drugs in online pharmacies can be [50 to 80 per cent] lower than at conventional stationary drugstores.
Online pharmacies are regulated by law of the country they are registered at. As long as an Internet pharmacy operates following all of the normal procedural safeguards, placing an order with it will provide mostly benefits. We will dwell upon safety measures to be observed when dealing with online healthcare suppliers later in this article.
Operating protocol of online pharmacies
Consumer communication at Internet pharmacies is realized through online interface, or put otherwise, website or a webstore platform. Customers navigate the virtual shop, picking items and sending them to the virtual basket. Physical premises of such pharmacy shops are limited to administrative facilities and warehouses with no trading floor. This is done exactly as at any other virtual store.
What sets online pharmacies apart from the rest of e-tailers on the Internet is the necessity to follow good distribution practices and validate every purchase of class (schedule) drugs – medications containing controlled substances, for instance. Special staffers like pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are employed for supervision and validation of Rx-only drug dispensing. Some online pharmacies have an in-house GP whose responsibility is to control dispatching of legend drugs, as well as validly assess benefit-to-risk ratios of drug application, drug suitability in each individual case, access drug contraindications and interactions.
Online pharmacy warehouses are organized exactly as those of IRL stationary drugstores, with temperature and humidity regimes automatically controlled and drug containers being protected from contamination sources. Canisters holding drugs at online pharmacy warehouses are endowed with automatic drug dispenser for distribution and accounting purposes. Ordered pills are packaged and shipped using mail, courier or parcel post service – shipping and delivery options vary from one online pharmacy to another.
Who are online pharmacies for?
A typical online pharmacy customer in U.S. or Canada is an individual living a busy life, with a budget to consider, and, according to the national statistics, predominantly in their late 40s. These factors are associated with online pharmacy shopping rather independently, so they of course do not convey the entire picture.
In principle, online pharmacy services can be profitably engaged by anyone who sees it as beneficial, or such practice can be usefully alternated with visits to community pharmacies as the individual sees fit. Minors are not allowed to use the services of online pharmacies for the same reasons they cannot buy medical substances off conventional drugstores and controlled substances (alcohol, tobacco products, etc.) off retailers.
An individual should register with an online pharmacy and provide evidence of full age (social security number, etc.), as well as upload prescriptions for every order of drug containing controlled substance or prescription-only drug. It is through such registration that reputable online pharmacies are kept accountable for their safety protocol conformity.
The benefits of online pharmacy shopping
Convenient as it may be to click home meds in lieu of travelling to an actual pharmacy, statistically, the major attraction of online pharmacy lies with its low cost. U.S. consumers can save up to 80 per cent on medicines imported from Canadian online pharmacies and other overseas drug suppliers. It is also easier to compare prices using pharmacy price runner services and choose the best deal without as much as leaving one’s desk, which ultimately helps increase savings. This rings especially true for families whose out-of-pocket healthcare costs are on the higher side.
The most essential benefits of online pharmacies, according to customers, are as follows:
- Significantly lower prices as compared to brick-and-mortar stores;
- Convenience of ordering that spares time and efforts;
- Higher level of discretion, confidentiality of health information and anonymity;
- Discount coupons, sales alerts, newsletter subscriptions;
- Informativity of online healthcare resources contained on pharmacy websites;
- Additional healthcare services provided by most online pharmacies.
Read also: How Internet Changes The World Pharmaceuticals
Drugs you can buy online
The range of products available at online pharmacies largely depends on pharmacy type. Some pharmacies deal exclusively with OTC meds, diet supplements, herbal solutions, personal hygiene products and other such healthcare items that do not require prescriptions, while others are wired to fill prescriptions in addition to the above.
An additional benefit to using the services of online pharmacies, range-wise, is simplicity with which you can find the required medication, however rare it might be. Bouncing between several pharmacy e-stores, or better still, using a drug finder pharmacy service that crawls all over Internet monitoring drug availability, is so much easier than hoofing around the city in search of a pharmaceutical rarity.
It is important to understand that legitimate pharmacies selling Rx-only medications must require prescription to be presented. If this doesn’t happen, we suggest that you bounce off such a pharmacy since it is a dangerous and unethical practice to dispense class drugs to individuals without asking for a prescription.
Things to look out for while mail-ordering drugs: your safety online
The general rule of thumb one should follow when considering safety of an online drugstore is that quality comes before cost, no matter how attractive the price might look at the first glance. Too low a price is an indicator of poor quality materials, or bogus drugs that have no activity as listed in the instruction, might contain contaminating agents, impurities, additives or other dangerous substances not indicated in the list of ingredients. In case of health-related shopping it is always better to err on the side of safety.
Steer clear of unethical services by checking off the following points:
- VIPPS seal that indicates the pharmacy’s being a part of Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites; dot pharmacy extension or, if neither is available, check for the pharmacy reviews on independent resources / online pharmacy advisor services;
- Do not take the extra-low price bait;
- Scan for the address and make sure the pharmacy is based in country it claims to be based;
- See if there is a service providing consultations by pharmacy technician, pharmacist, or other healthcare provider
The bottom line is, online pharmacy facilities can and should be used beneficially by individuals worldwide, but customer’s discretion and common sense should be applied at any time.
We have brought together several top pharmacies based on customer reviews online that step out thanks to a vast assortment in multiple categories. Into the bargain, they through many a money-saving opportunity like discount drugs, promotions and valid discount coupons:
- https://www.healthwarehouse.com
- http://www.lloydspharmacy.com
- http://www.cvs.com
- http://www.canadapharmacy.com
- https://www.alldaychemist.com
- https://www.canadadrugs.com
- http://www.thecanadianpharmacy.com