The highly-adaptive Chinese consumer market is yielding a new generation of players in digital healthcare.
In China, people can buy medicines online. Image credit: Mika Baumeister/Unsplash
Chinese local service provider Meituan-Dianping has announced a deep and comprehensive cooperation with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) China to transform the traditional over-the-counter (OTC) industry. The two giants in the consumer and pharmaceutical industries, respectively, aim to build an online-to-offline (O2O) model based on local life services.
So far, Ali Health (0241:HK), WeDoctor and Ping An Good Doctor (01833:HK) have cemented a solid base on their unique digital services. Dingdang Kuaiyao is a recent entrant in the O2O drug purchasing and delivery platform.
It is not the first time that Meituan-Dianping has worked with GSK. Many brands under GSK, such as Centrum and Sensodyne, have been fully integrated into some consumption scenarios on Meituan-Dianping's platform.
Into the post-pandemic era in China, the O2O pharmacy as the new target segment in the digital healthcare is embracing an expected fast growth. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the conversion of the traditional healthcare industry to online platforms. The cooperation between big-name pharmaceuticals with consumer service providers is just a start.