Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#51

Post by hbosch » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:51 PM UTC

cabaalis wrote: post #21

simonsarris wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the time. They tried to make a move into retail registers to compete with Square, and failed. They shuttered Amazon register in 2015: https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/amazon-shutting-do... They tried to take on Etsy with Amazon Handmade which bombed Etsy stock, but Handmade has gone pretty much nowhere, except some re-branding this year. People just forget Amazon's failed ventures, even fairly high profi…

> They tried to take on Etsy with Amazon Handmade which bombed Etsy stock, but Handmade has gone pretty much nowhere, except some re-branding this year. Is severely damaging another online vendor really a failure for Amazon? It seems to me at that level, revenue from a venture is not always the only measure of success.

As an aside, Etsy has really more hurt themselves. There is a conversation upthread about counterfeits on Amazon — Etsys problem is the flood of generic Chinese goods on sale as “handmade”.

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#52

Post by ceejayoz » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:54 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #15

tehlike wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A marketplace and something like pharmacy are completely different. They will still get their drugs from known producers, and on the generics side you'd have things like teva.

I can already get my pharmacy prescriptions from mail order fulfillment houses (up to 90 day supplies even depending on the prescription). What does Amazon offer on top of that? I’ve never not been within 15-20 minutes of a Walgreens or CVS when I needed a prescription immediately, so I don’t see what benefit Amazon brings to this. They’re (Amazon) not faster, I don’t care if they’re cheaper (insurance coverage), and…

> I can already get my pharmacy prescriptions from mail order fulfillment houses...

Having just spent two weeks calling daily to get my daughter's specialty medication sorted out, I'm all for Amazon's customer service approach entering this space.

When Amazon promises a resolution/callback, I trust it. Express Scripts promised me callbacks not once, not twice, but four separate times without ever making one.

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#53

Post by kylestlb » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:54 PM UTC

simonsarris wrote: post #17

charleyma wrote: post #2

Meanwhile, CVS + Walgreens lost $6B in market cap on the news Amazon is moving directly into pharmacy space. It's crazy how competitive Wall Street views Amazon moving into a market; have there been examples of Amazon making a large purchase/move but completely failing? (sure there are, just not coming me off the top of my head)

All the time. They tried to make a move into retail registers to compete with Square, and failed. They shuttered Amazon register in 2015: https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/amazon-shutting-do... They tried to take on Etsy with Amazon Handmade which bombed Etsy stock, but Handmade has gone pretty much nowhere, except some re-branding this year. People just forget Amazon's failed ventures, even fairly high profi…

And who could forget the Fire Phone debacle?

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#54

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:54 PM UTC

colejohnson66 wrote: post #43

toomuchtodo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So now I have to worry about counterfeit pills showing up from Amazon? I’m not overly concerned about their dominance anymore. There are eventually going to be regulated.

> So now I have to worry about counterfeit pills showing up from Amazon? No, because that would land them straight in jail.

I don’t believe that for one moment. It’d end with a fine and a scapegoat getting fired. Is Elizabeth Holmes in jail?

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#55

Post by petra » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:55 PM UTC

prostoalex wrote: post #48

charleyma wrote: post #2

Meanwhile, CVS + Walgreens lost $6B in market cap on the news Amazon is moving directly into pharmacy space. It's crazy how competitive Wall Street views Amazon moving into a market; have there been examples of Amazon making a large purchase/move but completely failing? (sure there are, just not coming me off the top of my head)

The target market is dominated by seniors, who no longer have to drive to a local pharmacy and hang around the store while waiting for the subscription to be fulfilled. I am frankly surprised no dominant online player has emerged yet. Perhaps the shipping costs were a constraint?

True, maybe shipping was a constraint. can any random guy ship drugs ? isn't some special supply chain required ?

Another guess is that changing habits(especially since buying drugs is an infrequent event, and that we're dealing with seniors) and creating trust we're other reasons.

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#56

Post by elvirs » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:55 PM UTC

charleyma wrote: post #2

Meanwhile, CVS + Walgreens lost $6B in market cap on the news Amazon is moving directly into pharmacy space. It's crazy how competitive Wall Street views Amazon moving into a market; have there been examples of Amazon making a large purchase/move but completely failing? (sure there are, just not coming me off the top of my head)

this happens all the time. wall street makes money from stocks going up and down, they are designed to react to anything by sending stocks up or down. you can confidently buy some CVS Walgreens stock because I bet that stock is climbing back up within weeks

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#57

Post by pseudalopex » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:56 PM UTC

blowski wrote: post #12

charleyma wrote: post #2

Meanwhile, CVS + Walgreens lost $6B in market cap on the news Amazon is moving directly into pharmacy space. It's crazy how competitive Wall Street views Amazon moving into a market; have there been examples of Amazon making a large purchase/move but completely failing? (sure there are, just not coming me off the top of my head)

They invested $175M in LivingSocial, rebranded it "Amazon Local", then killed it off.

Amazon owned part of LivingSocial and also operated Amazon Local. LivingSocial eventually sold to Groupon.

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#58

Post by Aloha » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:58 PM UTC

protonimitate wrote: post #22

tombrossman wrote: post #18

This is interesting because Amazon isn't exactly known for supply chain integrity. Who here hasn't received fakes from Amazon? If you rely on a specific medication for your health, is Amazon a brand you trust to deliver it? How long until they start commingling pills and shipping random counterfeit/fake product to users? Hope it never happens but if they do with pharmaceuticals what they did with everything else they…

I understand the fear, but I don't think fake medicine is as big of an issue as fake market place items. PillPack already has an established distribution network and prescription delivery licensing in 50 states. I don't know for certain, but I would assume that fake prescription medicine is a much bigger risk and would threaten the operation more than, say, fake batteries.

It's likely they'll integrate on the ecommerce side of things, not on the supply chain side anyhow - the economy of scale that amazon has for shipping will be beneficial.

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#59

Post by hendersoon » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:58 PM UTC

Pillpack is a very useful service, particularly for people who take multiple medications. You get a little pack with the date printed on it so you never have that "did I take my pills this morning?" question. Their pricing is fine, and delivery is always on-time.

Only problem I've seen is that they often (and I mean OFTEN) forget to apply medication savings cards, which adds up to quite a lot of money. I had to complain about this eight or nine times and ultimately escalated to one of their founders, a guy by the name of Eliot, to get this addressed. However, they may have fixed the problem as they haven't overcharged me so far in 2018.

Prices are set by insurance and shipping is already free so I can't see how Amazon would improve on that. I imagine their margins are razor-thin, but it's pretty clear this sort of service will be how everybody gets their medicine in the next couple of years so the volume makes sense for Amazon.

Re: Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

#60

Post by Bartweiss » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 3:59 PM UTC

chimeracoder wrote: post #36

skybrian wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a data point, I don't believe I've gotten a fake from Amazon.

> Just as a data point, I don't believe I've gotten a fake from Amazon. You almost certainly have, though you may not be able to tell the difference if you don't actively look for it.

This is one of the things that gets missed when people talk about Amazon and fakes. It's not just about the cost of keeping nonfunctional fakes out of the product stream, it's about the higher costs of legitimate products.

Obviously, the USB drive stuffed in an SSD case is a fake. But that's not the only kind of fake going - printing "Seagate" on off-brand disks happens too, probably with much higher frequency. And cracking down on that would not just be harder, it would be a way bigger threat to Amazon's margins.

Hopefully the PillPack supply chain stays separate or separately monitored, but this wouldn't surprise me either - most cheap online pharmacies are selling real medicine at lower margins, possibly with worse quality control.