Future of Online Healthcare in India

The Indian healthcare industry holds a vast potential for growth and new avenues of expansion. In that sense, the future of the online health industry seems promising and will become one of the potential growth drivers of the Indian economy.There is an immense prospect for the market players to use the booming e-commerce platform to reach out to a large share of the population living in both urban and rural areas.In the near future, the E-commerce/Retail healthcare segment is bound to explode multifold, given the technological advancements and digital innovations.

The current Indian healthcare Industry is on a growing phase and is poised to reach $280 billion by the year 2020. With the growth trajectory seeing a steep rise, the tentative potential for the healthcare market in 2050 is very high. Several factors such as the growing demographics, increasing healthcare awareness, the accessibility of medical facilities, and changing lifestyle among the population is driving the growth of the sector, thus, fueling in more demand for the distribution of medical and healthcare facilities in the country. The combined effect of the demographic and economic factors is posing the needto increase healthcare coverage, thereby leading the way for the growth of the online healthcare sector.

Rise of the Online Healthcare Sector:

Owing to the changing trends, the online health retailing has started gaining the momentum in the recent years, impacting the healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry substantially. It is just a matter of time that the digital healthcare services are all set to bridge the gap that the offline healthcare failed to restore. Unlike the conventional healthcare services, the online healthcare is able to conform to the rapidly changing demographic outlook, where the usage of technology is steadily growing. It is necessary that the healthcare segmentmeetsthe dimensional needs of the modern consumers in the rapidly changing digital environment and the online healthcare space appears to be the best bet in that sense.

The constantly increasing healthcare demand combined with the need for quality services/facilities has opened up vistas of opportunity for the online healthcare retailers to establish themselves in the domain.Moreover, the steady increase in the Indian population along with the high life expectancy has posed a challenge for the healthcare industry in meeting the healthcare needs. It is realistically not possible to cover the high domestic demand for healthcare services across the country through offline healthcare service providers. Thisfurther raises the demand for online healthcare services across the country. With online healthcare, medical needs and healthcare facilities can be made available equally to all parts of the country, particularly the remote areas where the access to healthcare is lower. With the rise of online healthcare, it is possible to reach a larger consumer base in the healthcare, while reducing the overall operational costs for the business.

The evolving consumer behavior and the rapid adoption of digital technology have given rise to the need for e-commerce space in the healthcare domain. With the Indian geographical expanse lacking an effective delivery mechanism in healthcare, this e-tail space would cater to the existing demand for healthcare services. Indeed, online healthcare is becoming a great platform for growth, especially when the demand for quality healthcare products/services is huge. Hence, online healthcare space doesn’t seem to have any limits of growth as of now.

New Startups Conquering the Market:

As the online healthcare industry holds good market prospects for the consumers, innovators, and the pharmaceutical industry, new entrants and startups are ready to set their foot in this new arena. However, the huge online market today is still fragmented and chaotic, lacking a consumer-friendly model. The fact that online space is an afresh domain, very few established market players have embraced it, as a result of which, budding startups are viewing it as a lucrative space to provide high-quality services and products and make an indelible mark on the industry.

Indian startups in the online space are making the healthcare segment more and more patient-centric by providing tailor-made services at affordable costs. As a result, it is possible that the emerging startups would soon pose a good competition for the offline healthcare channels, thereby favoring the consumers with quality, personalized services. Startups today in the online healthcare segment are exploring new avenues of healthcare services such as palliative care, video conferencing, and online consultancy. Moreover, the online retailing in healthcare has allowed the rural regions to experience similar healthcare services/products as that of the urban region instantaneously, accompanied by flexibility, quality, and value for money.

In the times when digital healthcare solutions are on the rise, the booming e-commercesector has catalyzed the online healthcare platform to emerge as a powerful Omni channel for delivery of services/products. Today, online healthcare has been bridging the gap between consumers and healthcare, while building a ubiquitousconnection betweenpatients and doctors in the online space. All it takes is simply a swipe on your phone to access healthcare providers, pharmacies, and more.
Currently, the healthcare e-commerce is setting a steady foothold in the mainstream market, gearing up for a revolution and a potential wave of change. The healthcare e-tail space is just the beginning of the digital ingress. At this juncture, the growth of the online healthcare space is certainly limitless in its scope and range of operations, making the future of the industry very promising. With the right use of technology and great innovation, the online healthcare segment will reach greater heights in the time to come.

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