What made PharmEasy emerge as the new king of acquisitions in pharmaceutical sector?

PharmEasy is the brainchild of Dharmil Sheth and Dhaval Shah, which has taken the Indian online pharmaceutical space by storm in less than six years of its launch. As the biggest pharmacy aggregator in India, the start-up caters to more than 25 lakh families annually. It has also added more than 20,000 new pin codes over the past few years. Its ultimate aim is "to be a singular platform to cater to all of our users’ healthcare needs- be it medicine delivery, healthcare products, diagnostic tests, doctor consultations." PharmEasy reaches out to its customers via its mobile app and is present pan-India.

Of late, PharmEasy announced on June 25th, 2021 that it is going to acquire a 66.1% stake in Thyrocare Technologies Limited for INR 4,546 crore. This transaction is subject to other customary and regulatory approvals. It might be possible that Thyrocare lacked a succession plan which could be one of the reasons why Thyrocare is sold at a time when valuations are so promising and rewarding. 

PharmEasy-MedLife Merger

PharmEasy, after acquiring Medlife on May 21, has now become the largest online aggregator. With this acquisition, the e-pharmacy start-up will service over 2 million families every month. As a result, it has risen to become India's largest medicine delivery platform.

Medlife has phased out on May 25, 2021, and all existing retail partners and customers have seamlessly integrated into PharmEasy's App. Users will simply need to log in to PharmEasy using the same mobile number that they used on the previous platform. Until recently, PharmEasy was working with around 80,000 pharmacies and is bent on extending that to 1,20,000 outlets by the end of 2021. The firm’s B2B operations have recorded a whopping GMV (gross merchandise value) of ₹600 crores per month. Added to that, its front-end pharmacy attracts an added ₹240 crores on its healthcare platform.

How is PharmEasy so easy?

The founders of PharmEasy had one common endeavour to achieve - the unending urge to innovate and bring an ideal solution to healthcare problems. But like every other stride, PharmEasy also toiled and laboured to unlock its true potential. The company, on the other hand, overcame every stampede that stood in their way with resilience and grit, and demonstrated maturity far beyond their years. In its nascent years, the firm was actively engaged in suggesting modifications to the regulatory bodies that governed online healthcare platforms.

PharmEasy came into being in 2014, at a time when home delivery of medicines and online teleconsultations were unheard of. People, particularly parents, are unaware of the significance of purchasing medical drugs online.

PharmEasy, in order to create awareness and establish the healthcare brand sector, partnered with Brand Capital (the strategic arm of the Times of India group). The Times of India's print campaigns, as well as Radio Mirchi, Times OOH, and other platforms were used to provide 360-degree media amplification. With this marketing tie-up with Brand Capital, which pivoted on intelligent marketing, consumer-centric services, and affordable pricing, PharmEasy was easily able to win the trust of its customers and become a household name.

Marrying technology with PharmEasy

Technology, in today’s dot-com era, is a game-changer. Convinced of its immense potential, PharmEasy has blended tech into its healthcare space in a way that makes healthcare accessible and affordable for its customers. While it has extended its utility in offering diagnostic services to patients, what is also in the offing is major tie-ups with hospitals to provide accessible doctor's consultations.

Among other things, the company is working to improve its applications, such as alternative medicine advice, diet suggestions, and proposing dependency tests based on a patient's test results. PharmEasy relies heavily on machine learning, which helps them predict the optimum channels that give the company a higher LTV (loan-to-value) for the platform. 

Consumers' behaviour is also dictated by the application’s design and user interface. To retain the attention span of consumers, more context-aware and simpler interfaces like chatbots and voice interfaces will be innovated. This is tailored to provide a seamless experience for customers and improve their lives by ushering in a healthy lifestyle.

Looking out for its employees

PharmEasy has come a long way in providing its users a holistic consumer experience. It has strived for creating value for their investors, in both its nascent stage as well as the final. With this driving energy in mind, PharmEasy recently has transferred INR 68 crores to their team members across all levels through ESOP buybacks by API holdings.

PharmEasy has just announced their third buyback within twelve months that amounts to another 15 crores, which will skyrocket the total amount to 83 crores. The company has effortlessly managed to create value not only for its users and investors, but its team members as well, who have been with them through thick and thin.

Playing with a hit number- ‘Urvasi’

PharmEasy knew exactly how it wanted its advertising message to reach millions of homes. It composed a track to the tune of a hit number- Urvasi Urvasi, in the ad song were tweaked to include the line ‘Take it easy, PharmEasy’. This campaign zeroed in on differentiating the pharma brand from the "sea of sameness". The company came up with a campaign that was seamlessly integrated with all the media components.

Not only this, playing with this hit song also positions the brand in an evocative and compelling way that forms the bedrock of the brand’s distinct identity and persona. This later amplifies the consumer’s word of mouth or his/her referrals. PharmEasy’s marketing strategy is such that the overall message of discounts is not lost, despite an engaging campaign.  The company has gone beyond its creative potential, from its emotional appeal when it says 'kadvi dava meethe daamo me' to 'karlo apne shauk pure', which effortlessly embraces both "inherent virality" and "instant thought gratification."

Taking the humorous route

Of late, PharmEasy has launched a series of multimedia campaigns that dwell on the new products offered by the firm, like OTC medicines, diagnostic tests, and medical devices, in its witty and wry style. The advertisements, created by Leo Brunett, ran all throughout the IPL.

What is it that makes the advertisement campaign so amusing?

We all know that when it comes to health and healthcare, we have unwavering faith in The Almighty ‘the uparwala.’ However, these campaigns want to change this inherent belief and nudge people to make them realise that their health is in their own hands. The campaign takes a humorous dig with the well-known line "sab upar waale ke haath mein hai," and depicts an 'uparwala'--someone who lives above you.

The ‘uparwalas’ (neighbours who live above you) have the same solution (PharmEasy) for all their healthcare problems. These ‘uparwalas’ are the brand’s endorsers who make people understand that they can take charge of their health at any time and fulfil their needs with PharmEasy.

Making hay while the sun shines

Despite the mayhem, the pandemic brought with it, PharmEasy successfully used the opportunity to reiterate the ease of getting medical emergencies and medicines delivered at home, without the need to step out.

This campaign was designed to consider the problems ‘Work From Home’ brings with itself-finding a quiet place to work, handling your daily chores, or just normal work. The campaign depicts that while tracking these changes that have put our lives in a little disorder, one thing remains the same, i.e., the ease of ordering medicines from PharmEasy.

On the homepage of the application, the most relevant section is "Covid Free India" which clears the clutter and misinformation about Covid-19. The section allows users to search for different Covid-19 resources, like ICU beds, medicines, packages, oxygen, helpline numbers and more.

#Don’tTakeItEasy

Now that we have some respite from the pandemic, PharmEasy is back again with a powerful message. Given the unprecedented increase in Covid cases in India, the brand has chosen an opportune moment to communicate the healthcare message. The chain can only be broken when we resort to our homes and continue contactless ordering. This is PharmEasy’s signature style, where it keeps the flow light-hearted and comical, without losing the key message about its products and offers.

While it is true that COVID-19 cases are gradually decreasing across the country, it is important not to be complacent and to continue to take safety measures. This is the message PharmEasy wishes to impart in its newly launched campaign- Don’t Take It Easy. Subsequent to seeing the terrifying second wave, in addition to the fact that we should guarantee the greatest cooperation of individuals in the COVID-19 immunization drive yet additionally ensure that everybody is keeping up COVID19 conventions even after inoculation. It is significant that we keep wearing a veil, disinfect routinely, and practice social removal in the coming months. Let's make India safe once more!

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