Australian pharmacy retailer, Chemist Warehouse, has chosen global tech platform, Marketplacer, to drive the company’s new online marketplace.
Chemist Warehouse says the new online marketplace will provide customers with access to a broader range of products than is currently available for purchase in stores.
The pharmacy retailer says offerings from additional suppliers will be added in the coming months to further increase customer choice.
“The launch of the Chemist Warehouse marketplace is a big milestone within our digital roadmap and takes us one step closer to being Australia’s leading one-stop digital retailer,” Nick Blatt, Head of Ecommerce & Digital Customer Experience said.
“The marketplace provides our customers with access to an even larger portfolio of products and creates new opportunities for our suppliers, as they’ll be able to expand on their current in-store product lines. We’re excited to see how our marketplace develops and look forward to continuing to work with Marketplacer.”
Scalability was a big driver behind the decision to establish the new Chemist Warehouse marketplace as, historically, the company’s stores and distribution centres have been restricted to physical capacity.
“Introducing a marketplace allows both existing and new suppliers access to an unlimited digital shelf space,” Mr Blatt said. “And for our customers, we will continue to build and drive our core values of the brand.”
Traditionally, the Chemist Warehouse e-commerce and in-store category and product offerings had consistently aligned, apart from some online and in-store-only listings.
“Now, with unlimited digital shelf space, we open a whole new opportunity for our e-commerce channel to grow. With the agility of our digital channel, we can learn and develop quickly and grow as a whole business,” Mr Blatt said.
Chemist Warehouse reportedly conducted a detailed assessment of the e-commerce platforms available on the market and chose Marketplacer due to its impressive portfolio.
“Marketplacer has an impressive portfolio of large retailers in Australia and met other functional and capable criteria when we were looking for a technology vendor with which to partner,” Mr Blatt said.
Rather than starting with a clean slate, Chemist Warehouse has reportedly retrofitted the new marketplace into the company’s existing e-commerce framework and technology stack.
“While this created challenges, it was the most suitable strategy for our intentions,” Mr Blatt said.
“Not only was it important to understand how every main area of Chemist Warehouse operated, but also all the associated processes and workflows. Marketplacer has worked very closely with us for the past 12 months and the results of this effort are now live for our customers.”
Chemist Warehouse says the new marketplace also benefits the company’s suppliers who will be in a position to sell more of their catalogues to a highly active and engaged audience.
“For new suppliers, we now have an opportunity to support brands that may not have conventionally been in a position to be stocked and shelved in our stores,” Mr Blatt said.
Jason Wyatt, Co-Founder and CEO of Marketplacer congratulates Chemist Warehouse on creating a marketplace that will add significant value for customers.
“The ability it provides to choose from such a large and growing product range and have them delivered to their door is a real game changer in this sector.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Chemist Warehouse as it grows its marketplace and makes it even more valuable for customers in the months ahead,” Mr Wyatt said.
The new marketplace is now live at chemistwarehouse.com.au.
