E Commerce for Pharmacies

The internet has transformed businesses and lives in more ways than we could have thought imaginable. Approximately 21.3 million people now shop online in the UK and the value of goods bought online in 2011 is almost £52 billion. Keeping all of this in mind it surely makes sense for UK pharmacies to take their businesses online. This is why SigNET was formed. SigNET is a joint initiative between Sigma, the UK’s leading pharmaceutical wholesalers, and Haarty Hanks Ltd, a boutique digital marketing agency that works with clients who wish to succeed in this new digital age. SigNET provides cutting edge solutions for the healthcare industry. Their key focus at present is helping community pharmacies benefit from web based technologies, they have also extended to working with professionals within the Optics, Dental and Nursing Home sectors. SigNET have extensive experience in devising cutting-edge, innovative solutions that are designed specifically with the healthcare industry in mind. For many pharmacies the internet can seem a new and daunting experience, but not getting involved now will only make it more difficult in the future. For some reason pharmacies have been slow to adopt the capabilities of the internet, this is for a few reasons, laziness, fear of the unknown, start up costs or lack of experience. The industry is in need of a major shakeup so pharmacy owners can realise the positive impact the internet can have on their business. Web development is a combination of art and science, to be specific technological tools and software is used but the design and look and feel largely depend upon the aesthetic sense of the web developer. Many companies propose templates and ready to use web portals, actually this is a good way of saving money. Companies with a lesser budget can directly seek advice from an experienced website developer. A website developer usually works in partenership with the project coordinator, client and the content writer. Though there remains a team behind development, a web developer plays the key role in making a site successful. The Pharmacy E Commerce business is not as straight forward as selling a pair of shoes online. When selling medicine or clinical services, there are many regulations and codes of ethics that must be followed. Over the last five years Haarty Hanks has been working very closely with leading pharmacists to develop a robust platform to power E Commerce internet pharmacies. The key features offered by SigNET are: •Fully comprehensive catalogue managementrn•Stock management and analysisrn•Customer relationship managementrn•Subscriber management and newslettersrn•Complimentary offers modulern•Discount offers and promotionsrn•Alternate product linkingrn•Automatic invoicing or order managementrn•Allow the purchase of NHS prescriptions onlinern•Online doctor consultations for lifestyle alimentsrn•Complete XML integration with NHS Choicesrn•Payment gateway integration with a provider of your choicern•Fully compliant for internet pharmacy registrationrn•Product catalogue with product descriptions and imagesrn•Fully secure using 128bit SSL and Firewalls So if you are looking to move forward and embrace this new digital age and create your own E Commerce pharmacy I suggest you take a look at www.signetsolutions.co.uk.