Mail Order Pharmacy Business Plan and SWOT Analysis

Mail Order Pharmacy Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory

The Mail Order Pharmacy Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Mail Order Pharmacy business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.

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Mail order pharmacies have exploded in popularity over the past 10 years given that people can quickly go online and present their prescription to be filled via overnight delivery. This has become very popular especially for people that have a substantial number of medications that must be managed on a month-to-month basis. Additionally, people that are taking medications for highly sensitive personal matters do not necessarily want to walk into for a pharmacy with this type of prescription script. As such, these businesses have thrived during this time. The barriers to entry for new mail order pharmacy are extremely high. This is because a licensed pharmacist must either be on staff or be the owner-operator of the business. Additionally, there are many safeguards in place to ensure that fraudulent prescription scripts are not submitted to a mail-order order pharmacy given that these people are not seeing their clients face-to-face. As with a similar retail pharmacy, the costs associated with starting a mail order pharmacy typically range anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 depending on the size and the scope of the business. The largest cost associated with a mail order pharmacy is usually establishing distribution operations while maintaining the initial payroll for highly specialized pharmacy staff. There are a number of regulations that must be dealt with on a day-to-day basis regarding the safe and proper handling of controlled substances.

Private investors, banks, lenders, and other funding sources are almost always happy to provide a substantial amount of capital to mail-order pharmacies. As with any healthcare focused business, the revenues generated are immune from negative changes in the economy given a substantial number of patients will pay via private insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare. If an entrepreneur that is looking to start a mail-order pharmacy is raising capital then they are going to need a business plan. As with any other type of business planning document a three year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, business ratios page, and inventory turnover page should be included. Given that mail order pharmacies are able to operate on a nationwide scale – a limited demographic profile analysis should be included. The pharmaceutical industry generates $500 billion of dollars a year and there are a number of businesses within this industry. One of the key highlights that should be focused on within the business plan is the competitive landscape among other mail order pharmacies. Given the advent of the Internet these businesses are now facing significant competition from mom-and-pop pharmacies that are looking to expand their operations online to major national chains that are looking to provide a greater level of service to their clients.

A mail order pharmacy marketing plan is also going to be required by many funding sources. This marketing plan needs to be expansive given the level of competition within the market. Most importantly, one of the ways that a new mail order pharmacy will differentiate itself from its competitors is by offering specialized compounding pharmaceutical products. Although many pharmacists do not typically engage in this type of service it is now becoming more commonplace in order to provide a differentiating factor within the market. Additionally, given that mail-order pharmacies now operate almost exclusively online a an expansive platform that allows individuals to submit scripts must be developed as well. This is going to be one of the most major startup expenses associated with a new mail order pharmacy. A presence on social media is not really needed in order to have a successful mail-order pharmacy business. However, once established – many mail order pharmacies will maintain profiles on popular social media platforms in order to simply increase the brand-name visibility. As with any type of online focused business it is very important that a proper search engine optimization and pay per click marketing campaign is carried out in order to make sure that when an individual is searching for specialized pharmaceuticals they are able to properly find the business.

Finally, a mail order SWOT analysis should also be developed. As it relates the strengths, mail order pharmacies revenues are immune from negative changes in the economy and the gross margins that they generate from prescription sales is very high. Additionally, the overall cost associated with operating a fighter business is typically lower than its retail counterpart given that a large an expansive storefront does not need to be maintained. For weaknesses, the gross margins generated from sales moderate. Typically, pharmaceutical sales generate 20% to 30% of gross profits on each dollar of revenue produced. As such, special attention needs be paid as relates to maintaining the cash flow of the business on an ongoing basis. This is especially true among mail-order pharmacies that accept private insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid given that payouts can range from 90 days to 120 days from the time the prescription is dispensed. For opportunities, most mail order pharmacies will seek to expand their operations on an ongoing basis by acquiring additional inventories of specialized pharmaceutical products. Again, by providing specialized pharmaceuticals this is one of the ways that a business can effectively differentiate itself within the marketplace. Relating to threats, these businesses have a substantial number of regulations the need to deal with on an ongoing basis that are constantly changing. Given that there dealing with controlled substances, and not seeing their patients face-to-face – special procedures and protocols in be put into place to ensure that fraudulent scripts are not being dispensed by the mail order pharmacy.