“Alexa, order my meds”
Amazon’s acquisition of American online pharmacy company PillPack at the end of the last year heralded the dawn of a new era.
Although the concept of ordering prescriptions online is nothing new (in the US at least), bringing this functionality to an existing ecommerce giant could have potentially huge impacts for the pharma industry.
Besides from the obvious convenience that would be offered by being able to order medications in the same click as batteries, hen-do paraphernalia and all manner of other random (but of course, totally necessary) items, Amazon’s move into healthcare could signal a more strategic play.
We at TVE have postulated previously that the future role of voice activated assistants like Alexa may lie in in-home healthcare, and explored their potential for greater relevance with an older generation, who haven’t already bought into Siri enabled smartphones and 360° speakers.
We’ve also recently seen Amazon begin to cement their position as a consumer-facing healthcare player through their disruption of the diabetes care market.
Amazon’s direct move into the world of pharmaceutical delivery presents a clear opportunity for Alexa to develop her role as the in-home healthcare assistant, and to distinguish herself further from the other market players.