Net drugstores face "sword fight".
Published:
27 March 1999 y., Saturday
A former Microsoft executive and a top veteran of FedEx are in hot competition to push a chunk of the $230 billion prescription drug and health products industry onto the Internet. For now, each says he welcomes the other. But employees at PlanetRx and Drugstore.com are working fast and hard to make sure they have chosen the winner. Analysts agree the category has potential, but who emerges at the top won_t be clear for a while. "The No. 1 goal for me this year is to validate the category," says Peter Neupert, CEO of Drugstore.com. "There are still a lot of skeptics" about electronic retailing, he says. The company is based here in the shadows of Microsoft, from where Neupert and others came. Neupert_s company is a traditional retailer with added services only possible on the Internet. Those include fast searching by product category, active ingredient or even body type or health condition. It went online last month. Competitor PlanetRx launched Thursday, aiming to become a prime destination for all things health-related online. "You are going to see a depth of information and content that puts you in control," says CEO Bill Razzouk, former chief operating officer of FedEx. Expansion plans include adding discussion groups and lots of self-help information. Neupert_s focus is on in-depth, searchable information on the 15,000 products his store carries. In addition to his own editorial staff, Neupert hired monks and nuns to type in thousands of pages of drug information, making details such as interaction warnings and fine print from product labels readily available. Part of Drugstore.com_s merchandising includes setting up specialty areas. Zona Research electronic commerce analyst Jim Balderston is confident that online drugstores will take off if the technology allows them to deliver the right information, the right products and the right prices.
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