To bring integrated healthcare of pharmacy, diagnostics, wellness products, devices, etc under one roof in a convenient location for the user, Tata 1mg is going omnichannel and will be opening its brick-and-mortar stores soon. With these stores, the brand aims to differentiate and elevate the experience for healthcare customers in India.

“We strive for world-class services. We have designed every inch of our stores keeping the user in mind. Each Tata 1mg store is backed by an extensive nationwide digital network to provide best-in-class products and services. With us, they have the peace of mind that they will always get 100 percent genuine medicines and high-quality diagnostic tests,” said Tanmoy Saksena, COO, Tata 1mg while explaining about the stores.

Why Omnichannel?

The retail strategy of Tata 1mg revolves around being omnichannel. Its stores run on a unique concept called ‘endless aisle.’ This means that through its very extensive supply chain network, the brand provides an unparalleled inventory range to users, not just in pharmaceuticals but also in categories like Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Nutraceuticals, Wellness, Medical Devices, Personal Care, etc.

At present, 200+ brands have partnered with Tata 1mg across platforms and it continues to focus on the digital-first set of health-focused brands across the categories in which it currently operates.

“While our online platform is open to brands across relevant categories, we have a slightly raised bar for brands whom we onboard with a partnership approach. We look at a variety of criteria before onboarding brands. At the outset, the brand should at least be health-focused with positive reviews in the market. We also look at the vision of the brand, their online and offline strategy, how they have been growing on different channels, retention rates, etc.,” he asserted.

Technology Integration

The right location is key to any retail business. Tata 1mg uses Geospatial Intelligence to arrive at the precise location of the stores.

“We look at location analytics to objectively assess sites. We have 50+ internal parameters on which we do our evaluation. We have a targeted rent-to-potential revenue ratio that we meet for selecting any new site,” he stated.

“Apart from this, tech is already playing a key role within our stores across verticals. For instance, on the consumer experience side, the ability to leverage the full network to provide an unparalleled range to the customer is impossible without our investment in in-house product technology. Similarly, for diagnostics services, we are able to use our lab network, and we are able to provide smooth home collections via our investments & continuous innovation in our phlebotomist fleet. There are other interesting technological innovations that we are piloting for instance we have recently launched gamified feedback kiosks in stores which help us get high-quality insights directly from our end users,” he further added.

Future Plans

The brand is planning to set up 1,000 stores by the end of this calendar year.

“Markets we are looking at currently are NCR, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Dehradun. We will expand to other geographies (South, West) next year and we will have around 500 stores in December next year,” he concluded.