Why are Poles more and more willing to buy medicines online?

Due to the convenience, availability of products, and often competitive prices, society chooses to shop in e-pharmacies. When is it worth buying pharmacy preparations online and when is it better to go to a stationary store?

Is it safe to buy medicines online?

If we shop online at a legally operating online pharmacy, it can be considered completely safe. We are then certain about the source of the preparations or their storage conditions. An e-pharmacy must operate based on a number of legal regulations. How to recognize a legally operating online pharmacy? First of all, it should operate based on a stationary pharmacy, the address and contact details of which can be found on the website.

The platform of a legally operating online pharmacy must also include information such as: contact details of the Provincial Pharmaceutical Inspectorate responsible for it, a reference to the National Register of Permissions to Operate Public Pharmacies and Pharmacy Points, the European Union logo (directing to the Center for Health Information Systems), reference to the public information bulletin. It is also good practice for the pharmacy to enable online contact with a pharmacist.

When is it better not to shop at an online pharmacy?

Definitely, when the website lacks the above-mentioned elements. Also when the shipping and order processing times seem to be long, as well as when the pharmacy's website contains products from only one range, e.g. slimming preparations. Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that when ordering supplements online, we may encounter preparations that are traded outside legal control and whose composition is not adapted to European requirements. What should also seem suspicious is the difficult contact with the pharmacy or the complete lack of contact details, or the possibility of purchasing prescription drugs without the required document.

It is worth noting that in our country there is also a platform for booking medicines, supplements and dermocosmetics. Then, we will only reserve the given preparations via the website, and the actual purchase takes place in the stationary pharmacy indicated by the customer. In this case, there is no mail order sale and the order can only be paid in-store. This procedure always takes place with prescription drugs. There are no legal regulations regarding the sale of prescription drugs online. Trade in this type of preparations in Poland takes place only in stationary pharmacies, after the prescription is verified by a pharmacist. The platform allows for reservations, but whether a given medicine will be dispensed and in what quantity is decided by qualified staff.

Competitiveness of online pharmacies

When purchasing over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements and dermocosmetics in e-pharmacies, we can use a much wider range of products than in stationary pharmacies. The online pharmacy has a much larger warehouse, which allows for the availability of a huge number of preparations in various versions and capacities. Therefore, when looking for a specific product, you will find it much easier online than going from pharmacy to pharmacy. Online shopping is usually more thoughtful, without the pressure of a queue or a person serving. The purchasing decision can be made calmly. By purchasing medicines online, we can much more easily verify the price of a given preparation on various platforms and, taking into account shipping costs, make the order at the most favorable price. Shopping without leaving home is so convenient that we are less and less bothered by the time needed to complete the order.

In the case of online pharmacies, you should also take into account that not all products can be ordered to a parcel locker. Preparations registered as over-the-counter medicines or medical devices can only be delivered to the indicated address. This is to better control their storage conditions.

When is it better to go to a stationary pharmacy?

However, we still buy a lot of preparations in stationary pharmacies. No wonder, if we need something at a given moment, e.g. health-saving medicines or pharmacist advice, this is the only right place. Even if a given preparation is unavailable in a stationary pharmacy, you can usually order it the next day. Prescriptions are also filled only in stationary pharmacies, and pharmacists are increasingly using the service of issuing pharmaceutical prescriptions to save the health of a patient who requires help but is unable to contact a doctor. However, everything is done based on the knowledge of the pharmacist and the good of the patient.

Although online pharmacies are becoming more and more popular and many stationary pharmacy chains are setting up their own platforms on the Internet, public pharmacies will undoubtedly not be forced out of the market. Their operating profile may change slightly, e.g. they will be expanded to include pharmaceutical care, but they will always be a place where we can fill a prescription or buy a life-saving preparation in real time.