Investigation And Analysis Of The Status Of Online Pharmacies In China

“The approve interim provisions of Internet drug transaction services” published bySFDA in2005,it marked online pharmacies entering pharmaceutical market legally.Onlinepharmacies are networks of retail chain enterprise which sell drugs individualconsumers. The study analyze pros and cons and market outlook of online pharmacies bysurveying operating status and consumers’ attitudes of which, propose recommendations ondeveloping online pharmacies and cracking down on illegal enterprise for promotinghealthy and rapid development of online pharmacies in China.We ascertain the development of online pharmacies by referring to networks andschool library resources firstly,then investigate operating status and consumers’ attitudes ofonline pharmacies by the questionnaire survey and make a statistical analysis,the last,makean objective evaluation and recommendations of the online pharmacies on the basis of thestatistical results.As of December31,2010,ther are34retail chain enterprises have the qualifications ofsaling drugs on Interent,many of them are small.18legitimate online pharmacies are normaloperatin in China,17sell other commodities including health food, medical equipment andcosmetics besides drugs.Prices are generally cheaper than the entity stores and the highestdiscount can be over20%.The main payment is the third-party way such as alipay and maindistribution mode is the third-party delivery.Many sites have privilege of free or reducepostage If the spending reaches the limit.Online pharmacies has advantages including low cost, large number of potentialconsumers and convenient purchase etc. as well as problems in selling prescription drugs,no licensed pharmacist online counseling,ionover-promotion, imperfect website building and have no their own distribution systems etc..Nowadays,the illegal pharmacies areproliferation on Interent.Some are single pharmacy or small chain pharmacy which have nolicense,some are individuals and organizations which have no management qualifications ofdrug，some have only “qualification certificates of Internet drug information service”,andthe more are fake pharmacies which publish false information and selling counterfeit andinferior drugs. These pharmacies disrupted the normal online pharmaceutical marketseriously.Consumers still have very low awareness of online pharmacies, few buy drug ononline Interent and consumption is very low. A lot of people do not know they can buymedicine through the network. Affected by the traditional online shopping, manyconsumers don’t trust online pharmacies, they worried to buy counterfeit and inferior drugs.Most of the people who bought drugs online are satisfied with the efficacy. Manyconsumers will buy drugs online as long as the online pharmacies have quality assurance,reasonable price and good post-sale service.To aim directly at current situation and issues of online pharmacies,we put forwardsome proposals such as improve laws and regulations, standardize the market order, protectconsumers’ legitimate rights and interests; publish information of licensed pharmacist;establish a platform for consumers to communicate with each other; Improve thedistribution system, ensure the quality of the drug during delivery and give full play toadvantages of online pharmacies and so on.