“For some time now, we have been seeing a growing trend for e-commerce in medicines and healthcare across Europe. The pandemic has only accelerated this process, with more than 70% of Europeans now using e-commerce. Therefore, it is only natural to invest in the development of e-pharmacies. After all, these sites are not only a convenient but also provide a safe way to buy over-the-counter medicines and other healthcare products,” said Andžej Šuškevič, CEO of Baltic Amadeus.
For several years, the Baltic Amadeus company has been developing and creating functional e-pharmacies that are adapted to the needs of customers in Lithuania and Latvia. According to Andžej Šuškevič, the manager of the company’s electronic pharmacy platform, Baltic Amadeus has successfully taken over the maintenance and development of the Lithuanian e-pharmacy eurovaistine.lt that was commissioned by AZETA UAB. Last year, in cooperation with AZETA, UAB, another e-pharmacy (www.azeta.lv) was successfully launched in Latvia.
The company’s latest project being developed in cooperation with AZETA, UAB is an e-pharmacy for the Estonian market, which started operating only a few months ago. According to Andžej Šuškevič, the MVP was created for the Estonian market in the record time of just 8 weeks: “The basis of this project was a completely different solution consisting of modular systems, which, when combined and completed with the necessary integrations, create an e-shop and provide the foundation for an innovative omnichannel platform. This modular technology for creating e-shops is not new to the IT market; however, very few projects of such scope have been developed in such a short time in the Baltic countries.”
Justė Levčenkaitė, the Head of UAB Azeta that manages e-pharmacies in the Baltic States, explained that the company’s expansion into Estonia was a very important step. “We noticed that today, customers value opportunities to shop online, so we are glad that we could expand to all the Baltic countries. It also allowed us to learn a lot about customer needs in each country and to observe the differences. Starting operations in a new country is always an interesting experience. You often have to face legal regulations and learn the specifics of the market, but that only makes you grow. Although each country is different, what made Estonia stand out was the fact that customers can even buy prescription medicines in e-pharmacies,” Ms Levčenkaitė noted.
According to the CEO of Baltic Amadeus, the Estonian project was particularly interesting due to the legal framework in the country, which allows the e-pharmacies to sell prescription drugs: “There are very clear instructions on what to do and when to sell or buy a prescription drug, so the system we developed had to meet the requirements of each country. The system has integrated state-of-the-art solutions that help ensure a good user experience. For example, when a customer is buying prescription drugs in Estonia, it is mandatory to consult with a pharmacist via a live chat.”
Although it is common for the name of the system developers remains unknown and invisible to the end-user, Andžej Šuškevič is glad that the consumers value these Baltic Amadeus solutions. This is evident from the fact that the company’s e-pharmacy platform eurovaistine.lt, the only platform selling over-the-counter medicines and healthcare products, ranked among the fifteen most popular e-shops in Lithuania, according to the November e-shop data (https://www.internetoparduotuves.lt/reitingas/).
“While everyone agrees that e-commerce is the future, many companies forget that the point is not just to sell a product online, but to invest in the user experience to make the process smooth and enjoyable when visiting a website. It is only then that the customer will come back and use the service more often,” the Head of Baltic Amadeus explained.
