A Twist On Opportunity Identification

1) My belief is that there is an opportunity in the pharmaceutical industry in delivering medication via mail to customers/patients. These people include everyone but especially the sickly and the elderly.

2) This need is medication delivery over mail. It would be the need to have an "amazon" like service, in terms of same day or two day delivery, for prescribed drugs. To my understanding, this need is unmet since there is no service available for  home delivery of prescribed medication. This has been a need for sometime now, since the only way to get prescribed drugs is by driving to the pharmacy and picking it up. There are people that have the inability to drive anymore that have to rely on others to pick up there medication. There are others that feel too unwell or sick to drive all the way to the pharmacy to pick up there prescription. There are even people that, believe it or not, find themselves too busy or too scared to go and get there prescription (driving fears & agoraphobia). The closest thing to this proposed service is amazon delivery of strictly over the counter drugs via mail or a family member picking up the prescription for you, which only makes things complicated for them as well. I am 80% sure this is an opportunity that exists. 

3) Prototypical customer: Elderly Man 

4) This gentleman finds it to be a weekly need as he takes several medications for several of his health conditions and depends on them to live a normal life. He has not driven for two years and depends on his wife to get the medications for him. He first experienced this need when he decided he can no longer safely drive, meaning he could no longer drive to the pharmacy himself. He depends on his wife, who is also approaching the age when she can not drive, or his daughter to pick up the medication, after work. He feels bad as he puts a burden on them.  He things that this service would really help himself and others like him. Especially, people who also have Alzheimer's like him and are forgetful of certain tasks and have no one else to rely on. 

5) I learned that my concerns and belief that this service is a completely unmet need is a legitimate one, that can help money. I was surprised to realize it can even help some who do not know it could help them. Some may have Alzheimer's or are just forgetful and do not realize that they must go and pick up the medication.

3) Prototypical Customer: Sick Elderly Woman

4)  This woman has an issue with her knee amongst many other health conditions. She can drive but most days she feels like she can barely move out of bed from all the aching of her joints, much less operate a vehicle to and from a pharmacy. She has felt like this for some years now, especially after her surgery 3 years ago. She became aware of her need when she was getting pains all over her body and realized how tiresome this weekly chore was for her body. She is currently braving it by going weekly despite the pain she experiences. She hates this solution and is in pain. 

5) This is interesting as this is something that a lot of people experience, not necessarily just the elderly. When people experience an illness, ongoing or not, the last thing they want to do is get up and drive to the pharmacy to go get medicine when they are already not feeling well, even if they have the ability to drive. 

3) Prototypical Customer: Middle Aged, working daughter

4) This daughter comes across this need often as she has the chore of picking up both of her elderly parents medications on a biweekly basis. She is a busy woman and has a fulltime job as it is and a family of her own at home. She has had this issue since the start of the pandemic as she no longer wants her mother, the only person who can drive between her parents, out of the house. She is going out of her way during her lunch break or after work, from home, to go pick up the medication and delivering them to her parents who live 20 minutes away. She is busy but she is willing as she is always ready to help her parents. 

5) It is interesting how useful this service could potentially be in different contexts. Especially in concerning times like these, with the pandemic, where there are health risks going outside and touching things in the outside environment. People are thrown for a loop as their normal routines are disrupted and solutions are burdensome to others.

7) The original opportunity is still still there, as I had not thought about the application to COVID 19. People are seeing themselves rely on different solutions than they ever have as their routines have been disrupted and they have to rely on more reliable and convenient ones such as amazon or zoom to do the things that they used to be able to go out and do. I do believe that with customer interaction and questioning that the opportunity has been fine tuned to help customers get the most out of a potential service.  I believe that entrepreneurs should adapt to their customer feedback as long as they are listening to the correct customer base. Their customers are the ones buying the product and introducing them to the idea of a potential service and seeing their reactions could tell you some things that can be added to make your service or product efficient and vital to their lives. With the proper modifications and adaptions, customers may completely rely on your service if all their needs and issues are met with it.