Amazon Expands into Healthcare Market
Amazon has been making waves in the business world for years with its expansion into a variety of industries. After starting as a literary news platform, Amazon quickly grew into an ecommerce powerhouse, offering everything from technology to kitchenware to clothing. Its success in the ecommerce market prompted the company to launch a streaming platform to compete with industry giants like Netflix and HBO. Now, Amazon is setting its sights on the healthcare industry, with renewed efforts to expand its presence in this lucrative market.
The company has been introducing health services on its platforms for years, with the latest move being to offer discounted medical services to its Prime subscribers in the United States. This strategic move allows Amazon to gain a foothold in the four trillion-dollar healthcare market, leveraging its resources to provide healthcare services to its loyal customer base. These efforts include reducing the price of the subscription and providing online healthcare services at an additional cost, with the option to add multiple family members to the plan.
Amazon’s expansion into the healthcare market began in 2018 with the acquisition of the online pharmacy PillPack, which allowed Prime users to purchase generic drugs for a low monthly fee. From there, the company launched the Amazon Care service, which provided teleconsultations with healthcare professionals through chat or video conference. Despite initial successes, Amazon faced challenges and had to backtrack on its healthcare offensive, eventually closing Amazon Care before launching a new attempt with Amazon Clinic.
Amazon is not the only big tech company to venture into the healthcare sector. Apple, Google, and Microsoft have all explored strategies to expand their businesses into healthcare, with a focus on devices and services. Apple is leveraging its Apple Watch as a clinical tool for medical research, while Google acquired Fitbit to access data on vital signs through smartwatches. Microsoft is focused on supporting data for pharmaceutical companies in clinical trials.
As Amazon and other big tech companies continue to revolutionize the healthcare industry, their efforts will shape the future of healthcare services and have a lasting impact on the market.