Online Pharmacies Still Growing
Online sales of prescription drugs are growing, according to a new report from comScore. In Q4 2004, 17.4 million people visited online pharmacies.
That figure represents a 14 percent increase over the same quarter a year earlier. Non-traditional pharmacy sites in the US and abroad accounted for 63 percent of those visits (10.9 million users), a dramatic increase over the 36 percent reported in Q3 2004.
Price is a driving factor for users of online pharmacies. Among users who actually purchased drugs online, the report finds nearly two-thirds reported doing so because they saved money. Forty-five percent of online pharmacy visitors indicate the purpose of their visit was price comparison. Two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents say online pharmacies provide healthy competition to regular pharmacies.
