Amazon eyes lucrative pharmacy push in latest diversification drive
Amazon’s pursuit of retail omniscience has accelerated with the online platform looking to diversify from books, entertainment and consumer products into the lucrative pharmaceuticals sector.
Amazon eyes lucrative pharmacy push in diversification drive
Drawn by the prospect of winning a significant slice of a prescriptions industry, valued at $300bn in the US in 2015, Amazon hopes its strategy will be just the tonic to maintain growth momentum going forward.
The retailers intent was divined from a job advert posted earlier this month for a ‘pharmacies market general manager’ to take it one-step closer toward its goal of being ‘the place to find and buy anything online’.
No stranger to the health sector Amazon already sells medical supplies and equipment in the US and has dabbled in the sale of drugs in Japan, although only with the approval of a chemist.
Any move to corner the UK market however is likely to be hampered by strict regulations concerning the sale of drugs, requiring any future Amazon pharmacy to first register with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
The pharmaceuticals sector is geared up for significant change in any event with predictions that 3D printing could transform the industry.