Healthcare: Study: Three out of four Romanians bought goods from online pharmacy at least once during pandemic

According to a study made by the online market research company Ipsos for the pharmacy line  Professional Farmaline, three out of four customers of  pharmacies aged between 25 and 55, from the urban  area, bought products from online pharmacies. Most respondents had a first experience of online purchases in the last 6 months. At the same time, a third of online pharmacy customers estimate an increase of the frequency of their orders in the next 6 months.   The study shows that until now, a buyer who chose an online pharmacy made about 9 orders on the average, most of them made at the beginning of pandemic. The most popular category of products which Romanians bought from an online pharmacy in the last 3 months were: supplements (vitamins, minerals, teas) skin and body care products, medicines without prescription or child care products.    In point of reasons for which Romanians choose to buy medicines or other products from an online pharmacy, the most often mentioned were the best price, the fact that they cannot make orders without observing work hours, promotions, home delivery.   On the other hand, Romanians who have never ordered from online drugstores invoked reasons like home delivery costs, the lack of possibilities to talk to a pharmacist,  or the product delivery time. Three out of four respondents declared they would like to contact a pharmacist online in care of minor health problems. 88% of respondents declared that the last time when they bought from a pharmacy they planned the buying process, knowing beforehand what they wanted to buy, while 12% said it was a spontaneous action, when they did  not know what they would buy in the end. In the top of the most appreciated facilities offered by online drug stores, participants in the study mentioned: the detailed and clear description of products, the display of pharmacy stocks and the possibility to book online products for later personal purchase.   As for the profile of online pharmacy customers, 68% of them are women, 80% have higher education, while 56% have personal incomes of over 3,100 lei. The age category choosing most often to purchase online is 35-39 years (20% of respondents) followed by people between 30 and 34 and 50 and 55 years, each with a share  of 19%.   According to the study, in the top of the most active country areas for the category of online purchase from pharmacies, Bucharest-Ilfov area ranked first with 22%, followed by North-Eastern and South-Eastern areas with 14%, the Southern area (12%) and North-Western area (11%).   The study was made on 500 buyers from pharmacies, aged between 25 and 55 years, from the urban area. Online interviews were made over October 12-19, 2021. Professional Farmaline network includes 25 drug stores in Prahova, Brasov and Dambovita counties. In 2017 the company launched the online pharmacy Pfarma.ro,  the winner of the “Pharmacy”category at GpeC category- eCommerce Prize Gala 2021.