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Pharmacy retail chain MedPlus is looking to raise over ₹450 crore through private equity investment to fund its expansion plans. It has given the mandate to “a leading consultant”, and the process is in an advanced stage, said Madhukar Gangadi, Founder & CEO, MedPlus Health Services.
The Hyderabad-headquartered retailer has 1,240 stores in 50 cities across 12 States.
“Our plan is to take the total to 10,000 in the next few years, lest any of our customers in these cities would have to travel more than 2 km to reach our outlet.”
While more than 95 per cent of the existing stores are company owned, it will also consider the franchise route to expand its footprint to other cities in the future, he said.
Today, it announced the launch of its e-commerce initiative, Click, Pick & Save. The online platform would allow consumers to search for medicines and read important facts about their usage, side effects, precautions to take, and also compare among alternative branded and generic medicines along with their prices.
The consumer can also place an online order for about 30,000 different medicines and healthcare and personal care products and pick up the order from a MedPlus outlet convenient to the consumer within six hours of placing the order. The registered pharmacist at the store will verify the prescription and dispense the medicines.
To a question on why the company cannot deliver medicines at the consumer’s doorstep, Gangadi said it was not permitted under law. “Medicines can be dispensed only at licensed medical stores. So our online service is completely in compliance with the government regulations and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.”
Surendra Mantena, COO, said e-commerce initiative will remove the uncertainty from the medicine buying experience and would ensure availability of quality medicines to all customers anywhere in the city.
“The wide range of medicines we stock would guarantee almost 100 per cent availability,” he said.
At MedPlusmart.com, consumers can also do a real time search for availability of medicines at a MedPlus store near them as well as browse their complete purchase history and print their bills.
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