Launched in 40 days with new products jumping 40% in 4 months.
Client
Medcart
Location
australia
Implementation
Fullstack
Growth Story
60+ medical supplies companies offering more than 2200 products have joined Medcart.
Customer orders have increased at the rate of [62%] per month ave since launch.
Revenue generated in November 2021 was 284% higher than the previous month
Overview
Medcart streamlines procurement of PPE for health workers across Australia
Established in June 2021, Medcart is an online marketplace designed to streamline the way healthcare organisations and workers locate and precure personal protective equipment (PPE). The portal enables health providers to readily find and order supplies from more than 60+ different distributors and manufacturers around the world delivered by Australian retailers.
Challenges
Target audience
As well as causing massive disruption to daily life, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an enormous spike in the need for PPE. Many health facilities and care providers have struggled to obtain sufficient stock of everything from face masks and protective visors to scrubs and gloves. This is the challenge that Medcart set out to solve.
Project challenges
In the early days of the viral pandemic, Medcart founder Phil Leahy gained first-hand experience of the pressures being placed on healthcare workers. Comforting his mother in a hospital ward, he was struck by the long and intense hours being worked and how COVID would increase this challenge even further.
The situation sparked the idea to create Frontliners. As a social enterprise, Frontliners was designed to provide healthcare kits to frontline staff across Australia. Working with staff at his events company, which had been shuttered by the pandemic, Leahy developed a range of kits containing everything from multivitamins and personal items to caffeinated drinks and snack bars. Within two months, more than 30,000 healthcare workers had registered with Frontliners and were receiving the kits.
As the pandemic deepened, Leahy identified the PPE challenge faced by hospitals and staff. He realised there was an opportunity to streamline the way in which the supplies were sourced and delivered.
We realised an online portal could be developed that brought together PPE suppliers and customers,” says Leahy. “The result was Medcart and we had it up and running in just one month.”
- Finding sufficient PPE to meet demand was becoming an increasing challenge for many healthcare providers
- There was no mechanism in place to assist staff locate manufacturers and place PPE orders
- Manufacturers also faced the challenge of finding new customers and informing them of their range of offerings
- Hospitals also needed to be confident that the supplies they were sourcing and using met the quality requirements for use in a highly infectious environment
Solutions
After examining a range of options on the market, Leahy took the decision to build the new Medcart portal on the Marketplacer platform. The portal allows providers of PPE to display images of their products together with details and prices.
Health providers can search the portal, select the products they require, make payment, and have them shipped directly from the provider. All back-end functions are undertaken by the Marketplacer platform.
- Medcart removes the need for PPE suppliers to create their own website or portal to reach customers across Australia
- Healthcare workers can quickly identify suppliers that have the equipment required to ensure ongoing high-quality care can be delivered
- All payment transactions are handled by Marketplacer, reducing the workload on suppliers
- Suppliers can easily alter their listings as stock supplies change and new items are added
Results
Since going live in June 2021, Medcart has grown to the point where it now has more than 2,200 items from 60+ suppliers. Customer numbers have already grown to more than 10,000.
- Health providers and care workers now have a much easier way to locate and purchase PPE products
- New items can be quickly added to the Medcart portal so customers can be confident they have access to the latest product offerings
- The sophisticated Klaviyo email automation tool has been linked to Marketplacer to increase Medcart’s understanding of its customers and their evolving requirements
- Medcart provides post-sales customer support from Australian-based contact center.
- Future plans include the ongoing expansion of the product range into areas such as pharmaceutical supplies and other healthcare providers
Testimonials
It would simply not have been possible to get Medcart up and running in such a short period of time without Marketplacer. They have delivered a platform that fully supports our operations and will help us achieve strong future growth.
Phil Leahy
Medcart founder