Personalization has been top of mind this year in every industry. As patients, we want to feel comfortable visiting our doctors and pharmacies knowing that they have are best interests at heart and personally know what we need. Tienda Diabetes, a leading healthcare provider in Mexico, is partnering with IBM to bring these types of personalized options and care to their patients. This partnership will provide diabetic patients with treatments, personalized care and same-day delivery options.
Tienda Diabetes is the first phase of Farmacia Online who looked to IBM Commerce to help provide better care for patients with cancer, diabetes and other chronic, degenerative diseases. Prior to this launch, diabetic medicine needed to treat the condition was difficult to find and not readily available causing patients to have to visit multiple stores in order to find their medicine to purchase. If a store did not have the medicine needed (whether it was out of stock or sold out), patients would have to continue their search, often putting their health at risk. This challenge was met by IBM Commerce and business partner, Edgebound, who designed an eCommerce platform that help simplify and streamline the purchase process for these diabetic patients. Instead of having to visit multiple stores to find the items they need (low sugar products, treatments, medicines, etc.) patients are able to browse through 3,500 products online and purchase what they need. Another capability is that they can consult with pharmacists digitally regarding their treatments, share feedback and experiences with other patients as well.
Analytic insights developed from the information will help Tienda Diabetes to create a successful customer experience for their patients online (Farmacia Online) by understanding the individual patient (family history, demographics, location, age, etc.) that can give doctors a higher level of precision to make decisions for an individual’s treatment. They will also provide information as to what types of medicines are in high demand and are purchased most frequently. Farmacia Online’s new eCommerce platform can also help patients/customers set up personalized options such as recurring purchases, reminder alerts, same-day delivery options, etc. Utilizing IBM Commerce solutions, Tienda Diabetes online revenue has increased 50% with the value of the average order increasing more than 60%. Since site launch, 85% of new visitors are now loyal customers. Tienda Diabetes is also creating an alternative channel for patients/customers to purchase products through a mobile app version.
“With Mexicans spending about $382 million on diabetes medications annually, the disease is a major challenge for the Mexican national health system. We needed to address the growing demand for better access to medicines and treatments that had not been readily available. Through the collaboration with IBM, Tienda Diabetes’ Farmacia Online is providing an affordable and efficient way for patients to access the medicine they need, when they need it.” Juana Marcela Ramírez, General Director of SOHIN.
The collaboration of Tienda Diabetes and IBM is creating a huge step forward for healthcare in Mexico. As the first online pharmacy provider in Mexico, Tienda Diabetes knows there is a growing demand for specialized medicine and hope to expand offerings to other chronic-degenerative disease in the public and private healthcare sectors.
