The diagnostic sector has immense potential in e-commerce space. Here’s how

The Indian diagnostic industry, which consists of more than one lakh laboratories out of which 70 per cent labs are for pathology services and 30 percent for radiology, is an unorganized sector.

The Indian diagnostic market, which is expected to grow at CAGR 20 per cent to $32 billion by 2022, is highly fragmented and unorganized due to the lack of regulations, directives and unethical manufacturing practices.

Since there are no established regulations that authorizes minimum standards in terms of quality, technology, infrastructure and qualification of personnel for setting up and running a diagnostic lab, the diagnostics sector is swarmed with a gamut of small labs to bridge the gap between the supply and demand.

But, the diagnostic industry is huge and has untapped potential, for instance in e-commerce. If the diagnostic market is taken up by the e-commerce players, it will not be regulated but also have immense potential to grow further.

The volume growth in e-commerce transactions is driven by ease of use, convenience: door step delivery, convenience: online payment /COD and multiple choice options.

Likewise, if more and more people come up and lay the foundation in diagnostic market offering one stop destination for healthcare services like medicines, home care services, ambulance, diagnostics etc, it will reach to a wider audience.

By unifying the healthcare sector, such companies will also able to offer great deals on the services provided to enhance the customer experience.

E-healthcare platforms in India has successfully streamlined all the customer pain points as it is user friendly, better and offers transparent service/delivery to the user. The aggregation has also helped in revolutionizing the healthcare sector as previously it lacked transparency.

Such players are poised to becoming a true companion in managing health by covering all aspects in the patient life cycle management of detection, cure and maintenance.


(The article is authored by Manish Dashputre, Co Founder at Medidaili)

(Image: Thinkstock)