Ping An Good Doctor Expands "1-Minute Consultation + 1-Hour Medicine Delivery" Network to Over 80 Cities and 10,000+ Pharmacies

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat)It is reported that on August 1, Ping An Good Doctor, a healthcare ecosystem platform, announced that its “One-Minute Consultation + One-Hour Drug Delivery” service has expanded to cover more than 80 major cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. The platform collaborates with over 10,000 partner pharmacies, featuring well-known national pharmacy chains such as Yifeng Pharmacy, Neptune Star, Laobaixing Pharmacy, and Guoda Pharmacy.

“1-Minute Consultation + 1-Hour Medicine Delivery” provides users with a one-stop service featuring rapid online consultations and one-hour doorstep medicine delivery. Data shows that since its launch, the service has been widely acclaimed, with order volumes doubling and a customer satisfaction rate exceeding 99.5%. Currently, in cities where the service is available, it covers over 90% of the urban population. In terms of product categories, the service now offers 100,000 SKUs, including Western and traditional Chinese medicines, health supplements, medical devices, and personal care products.

A representative from Ping An Good Doctor stated that the company plans to expand this service to over 200 cities across China within the year, partnering with tens of thousands of pharmacies to serve hundreds of millions of users. This initiative aims to initially establish a comprehensive “one-minute consultation, one-hour medication delivery” service network covering tier-1 and tier-2 cities as well as tier-3 and tier-4 cities.

According to the "2017 Statistical Analysis Report on the Operation of the Pharmaceutical Circulation Industry" released by the Ministry of Commerce, the total sales of seven major categories of pharmaceuticals in China reached RMB 2.0016 trillion in 2017, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.4% after adjusting for non-comparable factors. Among this, the total size of the pharmaceutical retail market amounted to RMB 400.3 billion, a year-on-year growth of 9.0%.

Although the pharmaceutical retail market continues to grow, consumers still face difficulties in purchasing medications, while pharmacies struggle to attract customers. This paradox stems from the relatively limited channels for medication purchases and the low rate of online penetration in China. According to a research report by CITIC Securities, online pharmaceutical consumption currently accounts for only 0.35% of the total market in China, significantly lower than the 30% share observed in the United States.

To address this pain point, in February last year, the State Council issued the “Several Opinions on Further Reforming and Improving Policies for Drug Production, Circulation, and Use,” encouraging the advancement of “Internet + Drug Circulation,” supporting strengthened collaboration between drug distribution enterprises and internet companies, promoting the integrated development of online and offline channels, fostering emerging business models, and regulating internet retail services provided by retail pharmacies while promoting new delivery methods such as “online ordering and store-based delivery.” On April 28 this year, the General Office of the State Council further released the “Opinions on Promoting the Development of ‘Internet + Healthcare,’” which defined the development direction of Internet + Healthcare across multiple levels and explicitly stated that it would improve “Internet +” drug supply guarantee services.

As one of the few medical platforms in China offering online medication delivery services, Ping An Good Doctor has established an integrated online-to-offline service loop featuring “one-minute consultation and one-hour medication delivery.” It provides a one-stop, end-to-end service chain comprising rapid online consultations, medication guidance, electronic prescriptions, instant medication purchasing, and one-hour home delivery, thereby continuously optimizing users’ experience in consulting and purchasing medications.

Since its inception, Ping An Good Doctor has addressed the pain points of traditional healthcare—such as “three-hour waits for five-minute consultations”—by establishing a “rapid and precise” online consultation process through its “AI Doctor + Proprietary Medical Team + External Doctors” model. Users can log into the Ping An Good Doctor app, click on “Quick Ask a Doctor,” and be matched with a physician via AI triage recommendations, enabling doctors to accept consultations within one minute. Physicians provide one-on-one online consulting services lasting no less than 15 minutes, ensuring both a high-quality user experience and consistent service standards from physicians.

Once physicians provide users with precise medical consultation services, they can simultaneously issue electronic prescriptions and recommend medications based on the users’ symptoms. Subsequently, Ping An Good Doctor will intelligently match users with nearby pharmacies, which will deliver the medications to their doorsteps within one hour. For users, this fulfills the one-stop need for medical consultation, medication purchase, and delivery at the fastest possible speed, thereby alleviating the suffering caused by illness.

Ping An Good Doctor is gradually expanding its “one-minute consultation + one-hour medication delivery” service to cover more than 200 cities. In addition to first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as well as dozens of second-tier cities, the company is prioritizing coverage in third- and fourth-tier cities. By extending its “one-hour medication delivery” service to these lower-tier markets, Ping An Good Doctor aims to facilitate the upgrading of healthcare services for users in these regions.

For example, users in ethnic minority-concentrated regions such as the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hunan Province and the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei Province can now access Ping An Good Doctor’s “one-minute consultation + one-hour medication delivery” service, making the local residents’ wish for “quick medical consultations and fast medication purchases” anytime and anywhere a reality.

In recent years, driven by the national strategy for new-type urbanization, third- and fourth-tier cities have witnessed rapid economic growth and continuous population increase, leading to a surge in market demand for health protection services. In terms of population base, the key target demographic for the future upgrading of China’s broader health industry will inevitably be located in these more populous third- and fourth-tier cities.

In contrast, although third- and fourth-tier cities are continuously expanding, there remains a significant gap in the construction of peripheral medical service outlets relative to residents’ demand for “seeking medical care and purchasing medicines.” The downward expansion of Ping An Good Doctor’s services will effectively fill this service void, expand the service radius of local pharmacies, and bring more customers and orders to them. Meanwhile, this strategic penetration also helps address the long-standing disparity in access to high-quality medical services between third- and fourth-tier cities and major metropolitan areas, promotes a more balanced distribution of medical resources, and improves the medication-purchasing environment for local residents.

Currently, Ping An Good Doctor’s “One-Minute Consultation + One-Hour Medicine Delivery” service has established strategic partnerships with nationally renowned pharmacy chains such as Yifeng Pharmacy, Neptune Star, Laobaixing Pharmacy, and Guoda Drugstore. A senior executive from Ping An Good Doctor revealed that the company plans to collaborate with more well-known pharmacies in the near future, striving to build a “One-Hour Medicine Delivery” network with the widest national coverage and the most comprehensive range of delivered medications, thereby providing accessible and inclusive services to hundreds of millions of users.