INTRODUCTION

There is an old saying HEALTH IS WEALTH and indeed people are spending
more and more over the past decades to get a better health. The healthcare industry
is one of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries. Consuming over 10
percent of gross domestic product (GDP) of most developed nations, healthcare
can form an enormous part of a country's economy. The World Health
Organization estimates there are 9.2 million physicians, 19.4 million nurses and
midwives, 1.9 million dentists and other dentistry personnel, 2.6 million
pharmacists and other pharmaceutical personnel, and over 1.3 million community
health workers worldwide, making the health care industry one of the largest
segments of the workforce.
The Indian pharmaceuticals market increased at 17.46 percent in 2015 from US$ 6
billion in 2005 and is expected to expand at 15.92 percent to US$ 55 billion by
2020. By 2020, India is likely to be among the top three pharmaceutical markets by
incremental growth and sixth largest market globally in absolute size. Indias cost
of production is significantly lower than that of the US and almost half of that of
Europe. It gives a competitive edge to India over others. With the invention of

great life saving drugs and the ease of availability highly on increase there has
been tremendous increase in the number of outlets that provide these drugs. Today,
the total number of stockists in India is around 65,000 and the number of
pharmacies is about 8,50,000, an increase of around 6 and 5 fold, respectively
when compared to previous decades.
In India pharmacies/drug store are the dominant distribution channel generating
almost 74% of the pharmaceutical sales. Growth in this market is predominantly
driven by increasing healthcare spending, growth in organized retailing and
attractive margins being offered. The entry of organized players are changing the
scenario of the market which mostly used to consist of unorganized players.
The organised players are developing pharmacy chains all across the country in
order to get hold of greater market share then unorganised markets. The pharmacy
chains are expanding their operations by using various store formats. These include
hospital pharmacies, stand alone pharmacies, mall/shop in shops pharmacies and
pharmacies in new townships.
With increase in competition pharmacies are coming up with several innovative
techniques to lure more number of customers and this often leads to discount wars
and better deals for customers.
We at Apollo hospitals enterprise ltd have the largest chain of pharmacies in India
which has 2000+ pharmacy stores all across country. The Apollo pharmacy is
constantly coming up with various schemes to attract new customers and help
increase its market base. The company has implemented various measures like the
healing card, cash card mall, atm cards, chronic card etc in order to get a better
penetration into the market. Apollo pharmacy has also tied up with big companies
like Flipkart, Grofers, Fed-ex to act as their pick up point for orders placed by
consumer in order to tap into the impulse buying segment of the market.
Of the several projects going on simultaneously side by side at Apollo pharmacy, I
will be working on two projects which are healing card and the flipkart initiative.
Both these initiatives are involved to increase the profits and the customer base of
the company.

COMPANY
PROFILE

As the slogan of Apollo Hospitals says touching lives It was founded by Dr

Prathap C Reddy in the year 1983 in Chennai with pure intention to touch lives for
better. It has hospitals in India, Bangladesh, Kuwait and Qatar .Several of the
group's hospitals have been among the first in India to received international
healthcare accredition by America-based joint commission international (JCI).

The group has also ventured into pharmacy business and has the largest pharmacy
chain in India at around 2000+. At present, Apollo hospitals are present in 120
countries around the world.

Top management team:

1. Dr . Prathap C Reddy (founder and chairman)
2. Preetha Reddy (managing director)
3. K. Hariprasad (president hospital division)

Apollo hospitals had revenues worth $770 million for the fiscal year 2014-15.
Apollo hospitals currently have 40,000 + employees working for them all across
globe. To commemorate services of Apollo hospitals a stamp was issued in the year
2009 as a mark of its excellence.the company also won the global award for brand
excellence for its billion heart beating campaign. At present Apollo hospitals is
present in over 120 countries across world.

Products of Apollo pharmacy

under my project

I am working on two of the products . These are

1. HEALING CARD
2. FLIPKART INITIATIVE

HEALING CARD:

The healing card is a prime product of Apollo pharmacy. It has been in market for
quiet some time and has been doing well. The healing card offers the customers
various discounts on purchases they make via these cards. It can also be used as a
gift card which can be gifted to a recovering near and dear ones. The Healing Card
is a prepaid payment card which must have funds loaded to it prior to its use. In
order to activate these cards one has to load in some amount of money in the card.
The amount of money recharged would be used to make purchases from the stores
that accept this card. In order to activate this card it should have minimum balance
of rs 1,000 and can have maximum balance of rs 45,000. The healing cards can be
used to make payments either in full or even in part for the permitted activities by
the store in concern.

Healing card features:

Min Activation / Purchase Value

`1,000/-

Max Activation / Purchase Value

` 45,000/-

Min Reload / Refill Value

` 500/-

Max Reload / Refill Value

` 45,000/-

Max Card Balance after Reload

Rs 49,999/-

Availability

Selected Apollo Hosp, OP patient

&

only
All Pharmacies across India

Accepted
Lost-Stolen
Damaged

Non Refundable
Replaceable

In an study in USA it was found that 41% new consumers visited the drug stores
because of these gift cards and around 71% of those consumers returned to the
same retailer and became regular customer because of the giftcards.

Healing card benefits:

Consumers can avail great bonuses on their purchases by paying via these cards.
The discount slab is as given below1. On recharge of up to inr 1000-2000 get bonus 4%

2. On recharge of up to inr 2001-5000 get 5% bonus

3. On recharge of up to inr 5001-45000 get 6% bonus

Consumers can also avail an additional discount of 6% on purchases of

Medicines & Apollo products at all pharmacies except Hospital and
Hospital based pharmacies when full amount is paid through The
Healing Card. Healing card Customers can also get 15% discount
on Apollo health check ups. When all the discounts and bonuses
are added up customers can get upto 12% benefits by using
healing card.
Marketing materials used for healing card:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Display stands
Leaflets
Standees
Door stickers
Pocket calendar

There are around 30 hospitals that have taken part in this initiative

Flipkart initiative:

Apollo hospitals has tied up with flipkart and are planning to use Apollo pharmacy
stores as a pick up point for the flipkart customers. It has been often noted that a
customer does go through the hassles of delivery of products due to lack of time.
Often it has been found that a customer misses on delivery due to lack of
coordination with the supplier service provider. The customers can get rid of this
issue by choosing Apollo pharmacy as their pick up point instead and make things
more convenient for them as they would have the flexibility of time on their side.
Apollo pharmacy and flipkart have also come up with several security protocols in
order to ensure safety of the product and delivery into right hands. The main goal of
Apollo pharmacy behind this project is to generate impulse buying and add to
Apollo revenues. It would also be beneficial in promoting our product while the
customer is waiting to complete his transaction process for pick up. This project is
in implementation stage in Mumbai and would commence from 11th of april while it
has been working very well in other cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad. On the
line of flipkart Apollo hospitals has also decided to get into venture with other
online retailers like grofers and courier service giant fed-ex in order to increase
greater impulse buying and generate greater revenues.