"Can ibuprofen relieve pain? Should I take ibuprofen or special sore throat medicine for a sore throat?" Late at night on December 18, in Zhongxian County, central Chongqing, a clerk of Wanhe Pharmaceutical noticed such a message on the delivery platform .
Shortly after the clerk replied to the message, the user placed an order for anti-virus and cold medicine through Meituan Waimai.
After checking the expiration date of each drug, the clerk quickly packs it up and waits for the delivery rider to pick it up.
This is a daily scene in a pharmacy at night.
More than a year ago, there were no 24-hour pharmacies in the county.
After 9 o'clock in the evening, residents will not be able to buy medicines in time.
Recently, many places have intensively adjusted the epidemic prevention and control policies, and the demand for anti-virus-related drugs, anti-epidemic materials, and antigen kits has blown out.
Whether it is online or offline, pharmacies are ushering in a wave of demand.
This wave of demand has also swept to third- and fourth-tier cities and small counties.
A year ago, Meituan Yaoyao joined hands with pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies to launch the "Little Yellow Light" livelihood service plan (referred to as the "Little Yellow Light" plan), supporting more 24-hour pharmacies across the country, especially small and medium-sized cities, providing users with Instant home delivery of medicines.
At present, there are nearly 10,000 "little yellow light" drugstores open 24 hours across the country.
Among them, the "little yellow lights" have illuminated more than 500 small counties at night.
The 24-hour pharmacy in the county has grown from scratch
The child had a fever in the middle of the night, and the young mother bought antipyretics from takeout; the parents were unwell in their hometown, and their children traveled thousands of miles to buy medicines; they were resting at home due to infection, and through the relay between the takeaway boys and volunteers, residents were able to get emergency medicines.
The Wanhe Pharmaceutical chain store in Zhongxian County receives more than 100 takeaway orders per day.
The owner, Yan Xincen, remembers that before the pharmacy launched takeaway, there were no 24-hour pharmacies in the county.
After 9 o'clock in the evening, pharmacies in the county closed one after another.
Now, with the opening of pharmacy takeaway, Zhong County not only has a 24-hour pharmacy, but also can buy medicine through takeaway delivery throughout the county.
The takeaway rider picks up the order at the pharmacy Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"We have specially set up message reminders on the takeaway platform. If users have any questions or medication consultations before buying medicines, the system will prompt our clerks to check, and we will reply to each one." Yan Xincen said that the pharmacy requires clerks to reply to all messages, The order is delivered in time.
Even for the medicines delivered by takeaways, the clerk checks for the users first, and chooses the medicines with a longer expiration date and more "fresh".
After the launch of food delivery, Wanhe Medicine has received many late-night orders. "There are often parents who place orders to buy medicines for children with fever at two or three o'clock in the morning. We are a small county here, and it is not convenient to take children to see a doctor late at night. Through takeaways, you can Customers are very touched by the convenience of buying medicines." Yan Xincen said.
It is understood that in order to further improve the national 24-hour pharmacy supply guarantee capability and effectively solve the pain points of consumers’ night-time drug purchases, in 2021, the “Little Yellow Light” plans to launch online and offline logos, traffic tilt, exclusive subsidies, capacity guarantee, and night-time drug consultation. The five major measures help pharmacies solve night-time business problems in multiple aspects and serve users' night-time medication needs.
In the one year since the launch of the "Little Yellow Light" program, the number of 24-hour pharmacies across the country has increased from 2,000 to nearly 10,000, allowing 40 million users who could not buy medicines at night to buy medicines.
Residents' demand for medication at night has been greatly improved.
Many of these new pharmacies come from third- and fourth-tier cities and towns.
In these areas where medical resources are not so abundant, the lighting of the "little yellow light" greatly facilitates the daily life of local residents.
Digitalization empowers medicine supply and people's livelihood security
Under the influence of technology and digitalization, buying medicines, an important livelihood demand, can be met.
At the same time, with the powerful pull of pharmaceutical retail orders, the development of the pharmaceutical retail industry itself is also being promoted.
In county towns, the role of digitalization in empowering medicine and ensuring supply is gradually becoming more prominent.
In Suiping County, Henan Province, there has also recently been a small peak in the purchase of regular household medicines.
According to Wang Yayun, store manager of Zhang Zhongjing Pharmacy (Wenhua Road), the store’s takeaway orders for cold medicine and antipyretics have increased by 20%-30% compared to before.
For a long time, cold medicine, stomach medicine, etc. have been the main medicines that residents buy from takeout.
Wang Yayun believes that "digitalization" not only facilitates residents, but also facilitates the pharmacy itself.
"After the customer placed the order, we temporarily found that some medicines were out of stock in the store. After the delivery boy came over, we could ask him to pick up the goods at another branch and deliver them to the customer, which is very convenient."
Takeaway riders deliver "little yellow light" pharmacy orders late at night Photo courtesy of interviewees
The lighting of the "little yellow light" has also increased revenue for pharmacies.
At Huikang Pharmacy located in Huishui County, Guizhou Province, not many people came to buy medicine at night.
According to the boss, Li Qingfu, the number of users who buy medicine at night has increased significantly after the launch of takeaway.
In addition, there is a university near the pharmacy, and many college students buy medicines through takeaway. "Whether it is eating or shopping, young people are already very accustomed to using takeaway. Through the 'little yellow light', online pharmacies also make life in the county more convenient." Li Qingfu said.
According to the introduction of many pharmacy merchants interviewed, the takeaway has increased their monthly turnover by tens of thousands of yuan.
In order to further promote the coverage of 24-hour pharmacies, Meituan Yaoyao previously launched a new 24-hour pharmacy support policy: new 24-hour pharmacies that meet certain conditions will be given rebates and cash support 3 months before the store opens, including Point gold promotion support, cash support for the first month, etc.
Next, Meituan Buying Medicines will also cooperate with physicians in more than a thousand tertiary hospitals across the country to provide 24-hour online consultation, follow-up consultation and prescribing services to further meet the needs of residents for seeking medical advice at night and ensure the safety of online diagnosis and treatment and drug purchase. sex, professionalism.