In an industry with more than 300 competitors that squeeze the profit margins, how can you differentiate?

Simple. Disrupt the market by changing everything. From contact points (stores and eshop) to the overall customer experience and value proposition, all went in a huge development pipeline, to create new standards to the market.

The Challenge

ToFarmakeioMou.gr was one of the (over) 300 online pharmacies, operating in the Greek market. Being one of the pioneers in the market, the owners were troubled that their initial growth had stopped, based on many external and internal factors. So, we set out to focus on three major challenges

• Improve sales and operations:Instead of focusing on the classic PPC (pay pay click) channels that 'buy the sale and not the customer', we introduced a new acquisition funnel, utilizing as much channels as possible, delivering the correct message to the correct person, at the correct time.

• Make better use of technology:When we first started, the ecommerce platform was so heavy on useless data, that an agent needed more than 4 minutes to make a simple change and save it! We replatformed, we redesigned, we developed a series of customs solutions making use of technology, at its extreme.

• Optimize logistics:Scaling and growing demanded a very efficient logistics operation, from incoming products, to same day processing of orders, picking and packing, delivery and of course, reverse logistics.

The Solution

The very first step was to build from scratch all the necessary foundations that the company needed to scale.

We introduced a new, much more advanced ERP solution, and worked extensively to add as much content to it, amongst others.

We produced a new website, with distinct desktop and mobile versions, on a 100% custom-made platform that fitted perfectly the needs of the online pharmacy. Next to that, we developed a series of tools, both in front-end and backend, to offer a unique shopping experience (wizards, loyalty, Instagram-like posts, innovative sliders, etc).

Finally, we integrated an advanced WMS (warehouse management system) with smart-picking mechanisms, that assisted greatly the picking process. To that, we added a small fleet of vehicles, controlled by a dynamic fleet management tool, to deliver parcels, the same day they were ordered.

The Results

Within, 16 months of working together with ToFarmakeioMou.gr, some outstanding results, were produced, that lead not only to be awarded with the Platinum Award for 'Best Greek eShop', but attracted funding from serious investors.

By the numbers, the effort produced:

• More than 300% in online sales, within a year!

• Acquired more than 16% of total market share, in a very fragmented market

• Lowered logistics' costs by 70%, with the introduction of WMS and smart carts

• Managed to increase the returning users to the outstanding 55% of the total traffic