Amazon looking to become your pharmacy

Amazon looking to become your pharmacy 

                The widely known e-retailer, Amazon, is thinking about entering the Health Care market by selling prescriptions directly on their website. This would mean no more having to take a trip to the pharmacy, no more waiting in line either in the store or the drive-thru, no more having mix-ups with the medicine (or at least we hope). None of that would need to happen thanks to the click of a button. While this idea may sound very good, Amazon will have to jump through hoops in order to achieve this and make it a reality. The problem at hand is that drug prescriptions have a different way of being sold than books, toys, electronics and all the other items Amazon has to offer. They are highly regulated and aren't merely sold directly to the customer, as is custom on Amazon.com. You would need a state-issued license in order to sell any kind of drugs. This probably means that Amazon will need permission from every state to sell prescribes drugs. Not to mention, if Amazon wishes to expand this idea to the few other countries where it exists, all of the research and licensing they will need to confine to that country's pharmaceutical regulations. However, what is fascinating about this idea is the birth of a new way to get one's prescribed medicine.   

                The perks of this potentiality is, as a consumer, being able to order your medicine through Amazon instead of having to personally go to the Pharmacy. It will also help the market. We all know there are a few pharmaceutical giants who rule over the medical market. This is quite a bother to consumers since it is not a buyer-dependent relationship. Nevertheless, if Amazon were to enter the market, it would no longer be a major Oligopoly competition, which would change the market drastically. In addition, this idea by Amazon is even more interesting in a Marketing point of view since it is a change in the Target Market without really changing it. Your marketing strategy is bound to be modified however, everyone needs medicine at some point. Amazon is known for its wide array of targets. Anyone and everyone can use Amazon, thanks to its prices, the inventory, the availability... This means that the targeted consumers will not change. Forevermore, we notice that this is a diversification strategy Amazon is thinking about making. They never were apart of the medical market which means they are diversifying the products they offer. We can see that marketing wise, this new idea will take a lot of work to achieve, however with Amazon being so big, it would come to no surprise if they succeed.

                While Amazon hassles with its idea of whether or not they should enter the Health care market, there is one idea we cannot help but ignore. Amazon has already bought Whole Foods, another sector that is new to them, and now with the talk of the medical market we notice that Amazon is opening their horizon. This may seem fine at first and helpful to the consumer but if Amazon keeps going it might one day become a monopoly for the e-commerce.