Integration of Inventory and the Delivery Model for Operational Efficiency and Minimal WIP in Pune City for QuikPills

[i]
A PROJECT REPORT
ON
“Integration of Inventory and the Delivery Model for Operational
Efficiency and Minimal WIP in Pune City for QuikPills”
SUBMITTED TO
MAEER’S MIT SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
BY
MIRAJ PARESH PATEL
ROLL NO. 331418
33RD
BATCH
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF
POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT
- MARKETING
(PGDM)
APRIL – MAY 2016
MAEER’S MIT SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
PUNE

[ii]
Table of
CONTENTS
Chapter No. Title Page No.
Declaration from student iv
Certificate from Company/Organization v
Certificate from Guide vi
Acknowledgement vii
List of Algorithms viii
List of Charts ix
Executive Summary x
I Introduction 1 – 7
1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 Industry Analysis 2
1.3 Company Profile 3
1.4 Objective 6
1.5 Scope 6
1.6 Limitations 7
II Research Methodology 8 – 13
2.1 Definition 9
2.2 Types of Research Methodology 9
2.3 Primary Data Collection 10
2.4 Secondary Data Collection 11
2.5 Sample Design 12
2.6 Population 12
2.7 Sample Size 12
2.8 Sample Selection Method 12
2.9 Method of Data Collection 12
2.10 Instrument for Data Collection 13
III Theoretical Background 14 – 22
IV Data Processing and Analysis 23 – 31
4.1 Market Research Analysis for the area of Kothrud 23
4.2 Flow of Medicine 30
4.3
Problems Faced by QuikPills to associate with the
Vendors (Pharmacy)
31

[iii]
4.4
Problems Faced by Vendors (Pharmacy) & Loop Holes
of E – Pharmacy
31
4.5 Competitor Analysis 31
V Operations 33 – 38
5.1 KNN + K – Mean algorithm 34
5.2 Travelling Salesman Problem 35
VI Management Lessons 39 – 45
VII Findings 46 – 47
VIII Recommendations 48 - 51
8.1 Recommended Algorithm 50
8.2 Research Based Recommendations 51
8.3 Operational Recommendations 51
IX Conclusion 52 – 53
Bibliography 54
Annexure A 55

[iv]
DECLARATION
I Mr. Miraj Paresh Patel hereby declare that this project report is the record of
authentic work carried out by me during the period from 1st
April 2016 to 31st
May
2016 and has not been submitted to any other University or Institute for the award
of any degree / diploma etc.
Miraj Paresh Patel
Date:

[vi]
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Miraj Paresh Patel of MAEER’s MIT School of Business has
successfully completed the project work titled “Integration of Inventory and the Delivery
Model for Operational Efficiency and Minimal WIP in Pune City for QuikPills” under the
guidance of Prof. Neelkanth Athalye for partial fulfillment of requirement for the completion of
PGDM course as prescribed by the MAEER’s MIT School of Business.
This project report is the record of authentic work carried out by him/her during the period from
1st
April 2016 to 31st
May 2016. He has worked under my guidance.
Signature
Name
Project Guide (Internal)
Date:
Signature
Name
Director
Date:

[vii]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I sincerely express my gratitude to Mr. Nikhil Gupta and Mr. Raghvendra
Singh for giving me an opportunity to work on a topic of my interest. I am thankful
for their contribution and guidance throughout my internship, without their help
completion of my project would have not been possible.
I appreciate Prof. Mr. Neelkanth Athalye for taking me under his guidance
and I am truly grateful for his support, advice and insight on my project.
I would like to extend special thanks to Prof. (Gp.Capt.) D. P. Apte and MIT
School of Business for sharing exceptional learning and academic experience that
has helped me put my theoretical learning to practical use.
I am extremely thankful to all those who have directly or indirectly
contributed towards success of my project.

[viii]
List of
ALGORITHMS
Algorithm Name Page No.
5.1 KNN + K Mean 34
5.2 Travelling Salesman Problem (Pune) 35
5.3 Travelling Salesman Problem (Kothrud) 36
5.4 Travelling Salesman Problem (Koregaon Park) 37
5.5 Travelling Salesman Problem (Katraj) 38
8.1 Recommended Flow 49

[ix]
List of
CHARTS
Chart
No.
Name Page No.
4.1 Awareness about E - Pharmacy 24
4.2 Association with E - Pharmacy 24
4.3 Type of Pharmacy 25
4.4 Types of Products 25
4.5 Home Delivery 26
4.6 Provide Bill? VAT & CST Registration? 27
4.7 Regular Re-Supply 27
4.8 Shop Owner 28
4.9 Inventory Management 28
4.1 Monthly Offs? 29
4.11 Interested/Not Interested 29
4.12 Flow of Medicines 30

[x]
Executive Summery
Since the market is revolutionizing and the trend has shifted from what we called as
traditional buying (personal buying) to online buying and thus it is imperative for
every sector to evolve in this competitive market. QuikPills Wellness Pvt. Ltd. is an
E – Pharmacy platform which provides medicine to the customers on their door step.
QuikPills as such does not have its own inventory and thus they associate with the
local pharmacy for their operations. Therefore they act as a platform for the local
pharmacy to expand their market reach and join hands in the shifting trend.
QuikPills has started its operations in Jaipur & Delhi and they have planned to
commence with their operations in Pune for which market research had to be
conducted to collect relevant data about potential vendors (pharmacy) whom they
can associate with.
Currently the company is delivering medicines within the time frame of 2 hrs. to 24
hrs. but since medicine is something which is highly critical and needs to be
delivered within the shortest period of time. QuikPills recognized the need to deliver
the medicine and has a mission to deliver within 2 hrs. or less.
To optimize the delivery time algorithm was needed to be developed using K Nearest
Neighbor (KNN), K Mean and Travelling Salesmen algorithms in order to find the
shortest route which can be implemented in developing delivery software which can
automatically direct the shortest route for delivery to the deliveryman.
To deliver at the shortest possible time frame entire operation is required to be
optimized right from the time order is received till the order has been delivered, an
algorithm was recommended which will cover all the aspects of operations and
implementing the same QuikPills will be able to deliver the medicine efficiently with
minimal WIP within the shortest period of time.

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Chapter I
INTRODUCTION

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1.1 Introduction:
QuikPills Wellness Pvt. Ltd. is an E – commerce platform
With the rising trend of E – commerce market, QuikPills Wellness Pvt. Ltd. a startup company
based from Jaipur has a vision of delivering medicine online to the customers within 2 hours.
The aim of my project is to optimize the delivery process by preparing an algorithm which can be
applied to minimize the time frame of operation starting from validation of prescription to
delivering of the medicine.
1.2 Industry Analysis:
Online pharmacies in India have significantly increased due to growing E-commerce in India. An
online pharmacy is an Internet-based vendor of prescription drugs, and the term encompasses both
legitimate and illegitimate pharmacies. Online pharmacies have been increasing in India, with the
rise attributed to little regulation of the industry.
Technology can help in meeting the healthcare objective of India. Indian government is planning
to spend Rs 500 crore on computer literacy project for 50 lakh people over a period of 3 years.
This would help Indian citizens to access government services in the fields of e-education, e-health
and e-governance. Healthcare providers in India are also expected to spend $1.1 billion on IT
products and services in 2014.
Legal Status in India:
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, have guidelines
on the sale of Schedule H and Schedule X drugs. These can be sold only on prescription and there
are specific rules, including for labelling and bar coding.
It appears that electronic prescriptions should be valid especially in the light of the Pharmacy
Practice Regulations of 2015 declared by Pharmacy Council of India in January 2015. In these
regulations, “Prescription” is defined by regulation 2 (j)[3] ‘means a written or electronic direction
from a Registered Medical Practitioner…….’ On basis of existing regulations it appears that a

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scanned copy of prescription will be perfectly considered as a valid prescription. However,
whether such electronic prescriptions can be used to buy medicine from online pharmacies has
been questioned.
1.3 Company Profile:
QuikPills Wellness Pvt. Ltd. is an E – Commerce Company serving in pharmaceutical and
healthcare products. Company commenced its operation in Jaipur and they have recently started
with their operation in Delhi. Types of product: Allopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Vaccines and
Heath Care Equipment.
QuikPills partners with local vendors for inventory. Customer place their order by uploading valid
prescription on the website or by sending through Email/WhatsApp.
QuikPills.com is operated and managed by SORR ventures, a partnership firm formed in New
Delhi, India. SORR Ventures was established with an objective of providing health care services
through its web portal (We are now converting it into a Pvt. Ltd. Company). We facilitate the
online sale and purchase of pharmaceutical, Ayurveda & Homoeopathic medicine and other health
care & wellness products and services offered by various sellers and service providers.
The team QuikPills comprises of people having a combined experience of 40+ years in ITeS,
Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare; committed to bring the online pharmacy services of QuikPills
with certitude that patients will get authentic medicines that are billed properly and Data base
recorded and maintained each time.
QuikPills are working on a marketplace model and we have planned to work on hybrid model,
wherein we shall also maintain some inventory for smooth functioning of business. We have

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partnered with local sellers (Allopathic, Ayurveda, Homeopathy and health equipment dealers).
Customer will place the order on Quikpills.com by uploading prescription on the website or mobile
app or sending it through WhatsApp or email. These orders will be fulfilled by the sellers.
Seller/Vendor selection process:
We partner with reliable and professional sellers. Our legal team makes sure that all necessary
registration and documentation has been done by the prospective vendors/seller. For medicines,
we ensure that a registered pharmacist is handling the dispensing of drugs at the medical stores.
We also look into the age of seller’s/vendor’s business.
Operations:
Quikpills.com partners with local sellers (Medicines dealers – Allopathic, Ayurveda, Homeopathy
and health equipment’s) who maintain the stock.
Customer places the order on Quikpills.com by uploading prescription on the website/mobile app
or sending it through WhatsApp or email. For products that do not require prescription, customer
simply adds them to the cart and checkout.
Order Fulfillment Process at QuikPills:
 Allopathic medicine – The pharmacist reviews the prescription and then calls the patient
and confirms the quantity of the medicines required. (If the customer has already
mentioned about the quantity of medicines. The pharmacist does not call the customer.)
The pharmacist enters the confirmed order in to the system for which the customer gets an
email and SMS confirming the order and value of the order. Pharmacist forwards the order
to registered sellers to pack the order and prepare the bill. Our delivery boy collects the
order from the vendor and delivers it to the customer. The payments for medicines are only
through cash on delivery, so the delivery boy collects the payment from the customer and

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deposit it to the branch manager. In compliance with Drug and Cosmetic Act and Rules
1940 & 1945, we don't process requests for Schedule X and any other habit-forming drugs.
For Schedule H and H1 drugs customers need to upload a valid prescription from a
registered medical practitioner.
 Other health care products- Our customer care team reviews order than forward it to the
nearest vendor. The vendor prepares the package and bill. Delivery boy collects the order
from the vendor and delivers it to the customer. Customer can pay online or choose cash
on delivery option for the payments.
 Our motto is to deliver the medicines & other health care products within 2 to 24 hours
after getting the order. Orders received before 1 PM, will be delivered the same day and
orders received after 1 PM will be delivered next day before 12 PM.
 By any chance, if the product that customer has ordered, is out of stock, customer will be
informed immediately and an extended delivery time would be given to him.
 Customer can track/cancel the order from the options given on the website.
 A customer care number has been provided on the website, where customer can call and
enquire about the order. Online chat facility with our customer care executive will also be
provided to the customer.
 Minimum order value for free shipping is Rs. 300. If the customer places the order below
Rs. 300/- Shipping charges of Rs. 25 would be charged from the customer.
 For the orders, where customer has sent the prescription only, our pharmacist calls the
customer and reviews the prescription and confirms the quantity of the order.
 Customer can call or email us if they are looking for any specific medicine or healthcare
product which is not available in our stock.

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1.4 Objectives:
Primary Objective:
 To conduct a market research for finding potential vendors to associate with QuikPills in
the area of Kothrud.
 To collect data from local vendors about their inventory, procurement and reordering
system, delivery system.
 To prepare an algorithm to optimize the delivery time of the medicine and medical products
– Maximum time taken for delivery should be < 2 hours.
Secondary Objective
 To study, find and analyze the problems faced by E – Pharmacy to associate with vendors.
 To find problems and loop holes of E – Pharmacy system faced by vendors.
 To perform competitive analysis
1.5 Scope:
 Shifting market trend from traditional buying to online buying, i.e. through E – Commerce
platforms.
 Only few online pharmacy in India such as Netmeds, Mchemist, etc.
 Above mentioned E – Pharmacy delivers medicine PAN India from centralized location
which takes 3 to 4 working days to deliver the medicine thus giving scope for QuikPills to
have competitive advantage by establishing centers city wise and delivering medicines
within 2 hours.

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1.6 Limitations:
 QuikPills as of yet has not started its operation in Pune, thus difficult to practically analyze
its operation.
 Many pharmacy are not interested in associating with the E- Pharmacy because:
o Misconception about the online pharmacy
o Pharmacy affiliated with association are against E- Pharmacy because of fear of
losing their business
 Many loop holes which are required to be countered such as checking authenticity of the
doctors, validation of fake prescription, validation for scheduled drugs, etc.

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Chapter II
Research
Methodology

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2.1 Definition:
Research methodology is the way of systematically solving the research problem. It is a science of
studying how research is conducted scientifically. Under it, the researcher acquaints
himself/herself with the various steps generally adopted to study research problem, along with the
underlying logic behind them. Hence, it is not only important for the researcher to know the
research techniques/methods, but also the scientific approach called methodology.
2.2 Type of Research Methodology:
 Quantitative Research
 Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research:
Quantitative Research is considered to have as its main purpose the quantification of data. This
allows generalizations of results from a sample to an entire population of interest and the
measurement of the incidence of various views and opinions in a given sample. Yet, quantitative
research is not infrequently followed by qualitative research which then aims to explore select
findings further.
Types of Quantitative Research:
 Correlation
 Experimental
Qualitative Research:
Qualitative research is considered to be particularly suitable for gaining an in-depth understanding
of underlying reasons and motivations. It provides insights into the setting of a problem. At the
same time, it frequently generates ideas and hypotheses for later quantitative research.
Types of Qualitative Research:
• Historical
• Comparative
• Descriptive
• Evaluation

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• Action
Descriptive Research:
A descriptive approach to research is called as a foundation for research. Its logic is based on the
statistics of the research analysis. So, the descriptive research can’t take into account the validity
of the research results, because it does not explain the causes of the result.
The descriptive research method is basically divided into three types:-
• Observation Method
• Case Study Method
• Survey Method
 The Observation Method concentrates on observing the subject in both Natural and
Laboratory methods to draw the conclusions on the research. It’s highly useful in the
Natural observation because the original results of the research can be obtained. In
laboratory method the result would be according to the quantities of the data provided to
the observation.
 Case study method involves a deep research on the problems discussed.
 Survey method is based on the questionnaire prepared for the participants. After
participants answer the questionnaire, the research moves towards its final stage.
2.3 Primary Data Collection:
Primary research consists of a collection of original primary data collected by the researcher. It is
often undertaken after the researcher has gained some insight into the issue by reviewing secondary
research or by analyzing previously collected primary data.
 Types of Primary Data Collection methods:
 Observation Methods
 Questionnaires
 Personal Interview
 Telephonic Interview
 Mail Survey

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2.4 Secondary Data Collection:
Secondary data refers to data that was collected by someone other than the user. Common sources
of secondary data for social science include censuses, information collected by government
departments, organizational records and data that was originally collected for other research
purposes. Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the investigator conducting the research.
Secondary data analysis can save time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and,
particularly in the case of quantitative data, can provide larger and higher-quality databases that
would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition, analysts of
social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a
new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments. However, secondary
data analysis can be less useful in marketing research, as data may be outdated or inaccurate.
Types of Secondary Data:
 Internal Data
 Profit and Loss statement
 Balance Sheets
 Sales Figures
 Inventory Records
 Company’s Past Records
 External Data
 Published Data
 Agencies
 Electronic Data
 Government Records
 Internet
 Sources Used:
 Published Data
 Electronic Data
 Internet

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2.5 Sample Design
 Probabilistic Sampling
 Random
 Stratified
 Systematic
 Cluster
 Non – Probabilistic Sampling
 Convenience
 Consecutive
 Quota
 Judgmental
 Snowball
2.6 Population:
 Census: Kothrud
 No. of Pharmacy: 60
2.7 Sample Size
 Sample: 19 Pharmacy
2.8 Sample Selection Method:
 Judgmental
 Cluster
2.9 Method of Data Collection:
 Primary Data Collection
 Secondary Data Collection

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2.10 Instrument for Data Collection:
 Personal Interview
 Questionnaire (Filled by us)
 Observation

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Chapter III
Theoretical
Background

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Business – to – Business (B2B):
Business to business (B To B) is a type of commerce transaction that exists between businesses,
such as those involving a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer. Business to
business refers to business that is conducted between companies, rather than between a company
and individual consumers. This is in contrast to business to consumer (B2C) and business to
government (B2G). A typical supply chain involves multiple business to business transactions, as
companies purchase components and other raw materials for use in its manufacturing processes.
The finished product can then be sold to individuals via business to consumer transactions.
Business-to-business (B2B) refers to a situation where one business makes a commercial
transaction with another. This typically occurs when:
 A business is sourcing materials for their production process (e.g. a food manufacturer
purchasing salt).
 A business needs the services of another for operational reasons (e.g. a food manufacturer
employing an accountancy firm to audit their finances).
 A business re-sells goods and services produced by others (e.g. a retailer buying the end
product from the food manufacturer).
Business – to – Consumer (B2C):
Business to consumer (B2C) is business or transactions conducted directly between a company
and consumers who are the end-users of its products or services.
When a business is focused on B2C marketing, they must keep their customer in mind. They need
to know the needs, wants, problems, and challenges of their consumers. When they understand
their customer, they can create the marketing messages that answer their customers' needs.

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K – Nearest Neighbor algorithm (KNN):
In pattern recognition, the k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm (or k-NN for short) is a non-
parametric method used for classification and regression. In both cases, the input consists of
the k closest training examples in the feature space. The output depends on whether k-NN is used
for classification or regression:
 In k-NN classification, the output is a class membership. An object is classified by a
majority vote of its neighbors, with the object being assigned to the class most common
among its k nearest neighbors (k is a positive integer, typically small). If k = 1, then
the object is simply assigned to the class of that single nearest neighbor.
 In k-NN regression, the output is the property value for the object. This value is the
average of the values of its k nearest neighbors.
k-NN is a type of instance-based learning, or lazy learning, where the function is only
approximated locally and all computation is deferred until classification. The k-NN
algorithm is among the simplest of all machine learning algorithms.
Both for classification and regression, it can be useful to assign weight to the contributions
of the neighbors, so that the nearer neighbors contribute more to the average than the more
distant ones. For example, a common weighting scheme consists in giving each neighbor
a weight of 1/d, where d is the distance to the neighbor.[2]
The neighbors are taken from a set of objects for which the class (for k-NN classification)
or the object property value (for k-NN regression) is known. This can be thought of as the
training set for the algorithm, though no explicit training step is required.
A shortcoming of the k-NN algorithm is that it is sensitive to the local structure of the data.
The algorithm is not to be confused with k-means, another popular machine
learning technique.

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K Mean:
K-means is one of the simplest unsupervised learning algorithms that solve the well-known
clustering problem. The procedure follows a simple and easy way to classify a given data set
through a certain number of clusters (assume k clusters) fixed a priori. The main idea is to define
k centroids, one for each cluster. These centroids should be placed in a cunning way because of
different location causes different result. So, the better choice is to place them as much as possible
far away from each other. The next step is to take each point belonging to a given data set and
associate it to the nearest centroid. When no point is pending, the first step is completed and an
early groupage is done. At this point we need to re-calculate k new centroids as barycenters of the
clusters resulting from the previous step. After we have these k new centroids, a new binding has
to be done between the same data set points and the nearest new centroid. A loop has been
generated. As a result of this loop we may notice that the k centroids change their location step by
step until no more changes are done. In other words centroids do not move any more.
Finally, this algorithm aims at minimizing an objective function, in this case a squared error
function. The objective function
,
Where is a chosen distance measure between a data point and the cluster center
, is an indicator of the distance of the n data points from their respective cluster centers.
he algorithm is composed of the following steps:

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1. Place K points into the space represented by the objects that are being clustered. These
points represent initial group centroids.
2. Assign each object to the group that has the closest centroid.
3. When all objects have been assigned, recalculate the positions of the K centroids.
Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until the centroids no longer move. This produces a separation of the objects
into groups from which the metric to be minimized can be calculated.
Although it can be proved that the procedure will always terminate, the k-means algorithm does
not necessarily find the most optimal configuration, corresponding to the global objective function
minimum. The algorithm is also significantly sensitive to the initial randomly selected cluster
centers. The k-means algorithm can be run multiple times to reduce this effect.
Travelling Salesman:
The travelling salesman problem (TSP) asks the following question: Given a list of cities and the
distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly
once and returns to the origin city? It is an NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization,
important in operations research and theoretical computer science.

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Solution of a travelling salesman problem
TSP is a special case of the travelling purchaser problem and the vehicle routing problem.
In the theory of computational complexity, the decision version of the TSP (where, given a
length L, the task is to decide whether the graph has any tour shorter than L) belongs to the class
of NP-complete problems. Thus, it is possible that the worst-case running time for any algorithm
for the TSP increases superpolynomially (perhaps, specifically, exponentially) with the number of
cities.
Inventory:
Inventory management is a science primarily about specifying the shape and placement of stocked
goods. It is required at different locations within a facility or within many locations of a supply
network to precede the regular and planned course of production and stock of materials.
The scope of inventory management concerns the fine lines between replenishment lead time,
carrying costs of inventory, asset management, inventory forecasting, inventory valuation,
inventory visibility, future inventory price forecasting, physical inventory, available physical
space for inventory, quality management, replenishment, returns and defective goods, and demand
forecasting. Balancing these competing requirements leads to optimal inventory levels, which is
an ongoing process as the business needs shift and react to the wider environment.
Inventory management involves a retailer seeking to acquire and maintain a proper merchandise
assortment while ordering, shipping, handling, and related costs are kept in check. It also involves

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systems and processes that identify inventory requirements, set targets, provide replenishment
techniques, report actual and projected inventory status and handle all functions related to the
tracking and management of material. This would include the monitoring of material moved into
and out of stockroom locations and the reconciling of the inventory balances. It also may
include ABC analysis, lot tracking, cycle counting support, etc. Management of the inventories,
with the primary objective of determining/controlling stock levels within the physical distribution
system, functions to balance the need for product availability against the need for minimizing stock
holding and handling costs.
Supply Chain:
In commerce, supply chain management (SCM), the management of the flow of goods and
services, involves the movement and storage of raw materials, of work-in-process inventory, and
of finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption. Interconnected or interlinked
networks, channels and node businesses combine in the provision
of products and services required by end customers in a supply chain. Supply-chain management
has been defined as the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain
activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging
worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally."
SCM practice draws heavily from the areas of industrial engineering, systems
engineering, operations management, logistics, procurement, and information technology, and
strives for an integrated approach.
E – Commerce:
Electronic commerce, commonly written as e-commerce or E Commerce, is the trading or
facilitation of trading in products or services using computer networks, such as
the Internet or online social networks. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile
commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online
transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and

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automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide
Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies
such as e-mail.
E-commerce businesses may employ some or all of the following:
 Online shopping web sites for retail sales direct to consumers
 Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-
consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales
 Business-to-business buying and selling
 Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media
 Business-to-business electronic data interchange
 Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example,
with newsletters)
 Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services
 Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes
E – Pharmacy:
An online pharmacy, Internet pharmacy, or mail-order pharmacy is a pharmacy that operate over
the Internet and sends the orders to customers through the mail or shipping companies. Online
pharmacies might include: Pharmacy benefit manager – A large administrator of corporate
prescription drug plans.
Operational Efficiency:
In a business context, operational efficiency can be defined as the ratio between the input to run a
business operation and the output gained from the business. When improving operational
efficiency, the output to input ratio improves.
Inputs would typically be money (cost), people (measured either as headcount or as the number
of full-time equivalents) or time/effort. Outputs would typically be money (revenue, margin, and

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cash), new customers, customer loyalty, market differentiation, production, innovation, quality,
speed & agility, complexity or opportunities.
The terms "operational efficiency", "efficiency" and "productivity" are often used interchangeably.
An explanation to the difference between efficiency and (total factor) productivity is found in "An
Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis". To complicate, "operational excellence"
which is about continuous improvement - not limited to efficiency - is occasionally used when
meaning operational efficiency. From time to time "operating excellence" is also used with the
same meaning as "operational efficiency".

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Chapter IV
Data Processing and
Analysis

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4.1 Market Research Analysis for the area of Kothrud:
 Number of pharmacy who are aware about the concept of E – Pharmacy?
Chart 4.1 – Awareness about E - Pharmacy
 67% of the vendors were aware about E- Pharmacy
 Pharmacy associating with any other E – Pharmacy?
Chart 4.2 – Association with E - Pharmacy
 No vendors are associated with E- Pharmacy
33%
67%
Awareness about E- Pharmacy
No
Yes
100%
Association with E- Pharmacy
No

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 Type of Pharmacy?
Chart 4.3 – Type of Pharmacy
 Apart from wellness forever, every vendor is a general store, with sole ownership where
owners are the pharmacist or pharmacists are hired for full time.
 Types of Medical products offered by the pharmacy
Chart 4.4 – Types of Products
94%
6%
Type of Pharmacy
Genral
Retailer
6%
6%
44%
33%
11%
Types of products available at the store
Allopathy, Ayurveda
Allopathy, Ayurveda, Body building
suppliments, Vaccines and Injectables
Allopathy, Ayurveda, Health
equipments, Vaccines and Injectables
Allopathy, Ayurveda, Homeopathy,
Health equipments, Body building
suppliments, Vaccines and Injectables
Allopathy, Ayurveda, Vaccines and
Injectables

26 | P a g e
 Almost 33% of vendors have all the three types of medicines, i.e., Allopathic,
Homeopathic, and Ayurveda meds. Along with vaccines, health equipment and body
building supplements.
 Number of pharmacy who follows home delivery system
Chart 4.5 – Home Delivery
 67% of vendors have their own delivery system but everyone has different time for
delivering. Mostly everyone takes about 2 to 12 hours for delivering or they note the order
and deliver all the meds together in the evening.
 They deliver to an average of 5 Km.
33%
67%
Home Delivery
No
Yes

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 Number of pharmacy who provides bill and is VAT & CST registered
Chart 4.6 – Provide Bill? VAT & CST Registration?
 Every vendor provides Bill and is VAT & CST registered
 Inventory managing and resupply mechanism?
Chart 4.7 – Regular Re-Supply
 Every vendor has regular resupply system with lead time of on an average of 1 day.
100%
Provide Bill? VAT & CST Registration?
Yes Yes
100%
Inventory Resupply
Regular re-supply

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 Ownership of the pharmacy
Chart 4.8 – Shop Owner
 Apart from wellness forever, every vendor is a general store, with sole ownership where
owners are the pharmacist or pharmacists are hired for full time.
 Method of managing inventory
Chart 4.9 – Inventory Management
 89% of vendors uses software for inventory Management.
94%
6%
Shop Owner?
Sole
Pvt. Ltd.
11%
89%
Inventory Management
Manual book-keeping?
Software

29 | P a g e
 Pharmacy monthly offs?
Chart 4.10 – Monthly Offs?
 94% of pharmacy are open every day of the month.
 Number of pharmacy interested in associating with QuikPills
Chart 4.11 – Interested/Not Interested
6%
94%
Monthly Offs?
Last sunday of the month
No
67%
33%
Interested/Not Interested
Interested
Not Interested

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 67% of the vendors are interested in associating with QuikPills
 Few showed concerned about associating because of the confusion that was caused few
months earlier about ban on pharmacy, but as we tried to convince them about our process
and as we briefed that every prescription is authenticated by pharmacist and we are trying
to solve issues relating to the online concept, the response was positive and many seemed
interested for further talks.
4.2 Flow of Medicine:
Chart 4.12 – Flow of Medicines

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4.3 Problems Faced by QuikPills to associate with the Vendors (Pharmacy):
 33% of the vendors were unaware about the E – Pharmacy, but the other 67% who were
aware about the existence of E – Pharmacy majority were unaware about the actual
functioning about the E – Pharmacy or had misconceptions.
 Since there was an outbreak in news stating that the online pharmacy will be closely
monitored with strict regulatory terms and illegally functioning E – Pharmacy were shut
down. This created a misconception that there is a ban on all the online pharmacy and thus
many pharmacy seemed reluctant to associate.
 Many pharmacy across Pune are associated with a pharmacy association body which
restricts them from associating with any E – Pharmacy chain. It is either the pharmacy can
associate with the association or with any of the E – Pharmacy company.
 Perception of the pharmacist that the validation process of E – Pharmacy companies is not
authentic and they can sell medicines without prescription.
4.4 Problems Faced by Vendors (Pharmacy) & Loop Holes of E – Pharmacy:
 The pharmacist doubt about the authenticity of validation of the prescription. They think E
– Pharmacy ignores the validation process and will fulfill the order where customers can
misuse the prescription to purchase the medicine online and use the same prescription to
purchase from local pharmacy.
 Fear of providing fake prescription by creating photo-shopped image and uploading.
 Ban on selling Scheduled H & Scheduled X drugs online.
4.5 Competitor Analysis:
Few major competitors: Netmeds, Mchemist, Apollo & MediPlus.
 Netmeds, Mchemist deliver PAN India through central procurement and delivery method.
 Apollo has pharmacy in all the major cities, customer has to place order online and has to
collect the medicines from the pharmacy itself.

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 Whereas QuikPills has a presence city wise but only in Jaipur & Delhi thus this gives them
advantage over the competitors in the areas they will have their operations.
 Delivery time taken by Netmeds and Mchemist is approximately 3 – 4 working days.
 MediPlus does not deliver prescribed medicine, only deliver products listed on the website.
 Apollo pharmacy does not provide home delivery option.
 Whereas QuikPills will be delivering medicines within 2 working hours.
 Netmeds, Apollo and MediPlus provide medical assistance to the patient.
 QuikPills have not started with any such assistance as of yet.

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Chapter V
Operations

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5.1 KNN + K – Mean algorithm:
Algorithm 5.1 – KNN + K Mean
Clusters (Centers):
1. Kothrud, 2. Koregaon Park, 3. Katraj
The centers/clusters were selected after the market research was conducted. These three region were found
to be highly potential in associating with QuikPills. Also considering the spread of area, keeping these three
regions as center, major areas of Pune is covered and it will be optimal for any deliveryman to deliver the
medicine within the shortest time frame.

35 | P a g e
5.2 Travelling Salesman Problem
Pune
Algorithm 5.2 – Travelling Salesman Problem (Pune)
The route has been prepared considering the shortest route. If the deliveryman is to travel on this
proposed path the time taken will be minimum which help in optimizing the delivery time.
Analysis:
 Approximate Time Taken: 530 mins (approx. 9 Hours)
 Approximate Distance Covered: 92.3 Km
 Min Requirement of Delivery Boys: 8

36 | P a g e
Travelling Salesman Problem (Kothrud):
Algorithm 5.3 – Travelling Salesman Problem (Kothrud)
Deliverymen deployed in Kothrud should follow the proposed path to attain operational efficiency
and minimal WIP.
Analysis:
 Approximate Time Taken: 175 mins (approx. 3 Hours)
 Approximate Distance Covered: 25 Km

37 | P a g e
Travelling Salesman Problem (Koregaon Park):
Algorithm 5.4 – Travelling Salesman Problem (Koregaon Park)
Deliveryman deployed in Koregaon Park should follow the proposed path to attain operational
efficiency and minimal WIP.
Analysis:
 Approximate Time Taken: 215 mins (approx. 3.6 Hours)

38 | P a g e
Travelling Salesman Problem (Katraj):
Algorithm 5.5 – Travelling Salesman Problem (Katraj)
Deliveryman deployed in Katraj should follow the proposed path to attain operational efficiency
and minimal WIP.
Analysis:
 Approximate Time Taken: 195 mins (approx. 3.5 Hours)

39 | P a g e
Chapter VI
Management Lessons

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1. Punctuality
Punctuality is key to success. Few advantages which a person can experience for being
punctual:
 People have a great regard for a punctual person.
 Attending duties on time can help a person avoid a lot of stress due to pilling of work.
 Punctuality is a sign of professionalism and helps you stand out as a reliable and
trustworthy person
2. Discipline
Discipline helps a person to
 Be focused
 Stay active
 Relive internal stress
 Get things done
3. Planning
Planning helps a person in
 Decision making
 Providing flexibility to change
 Better evaluation and control
 Achieving desired result
4. Execution
Planning is important in making and validating a decision in theory on paper, but the entire
planning is a waste if it is not executed rightly since execution will show actual results.
5. Work Ethics
It is said that how a person behaves and reacts reflect about his ethicality and intellect. Thus it
is imperative to maintain work ethics such as
 Professional Behavior
 Dependability
 Positive Attitude
 Adaptability

41 | P a g e
6. Love Learning
Every step of the way is a learning process. One should love learning because:
 It helps you keep pace with the changing world
 It grows you
 It makes you self-efficient
 It helps you develop skills
7. Be Eager
One should always be eager to ask this question “Why?”
This will help a person to analyze situation better and assist in solving the riddle. As a manager
a person should always be eager about new innovation, new things & new learning because
that’s how one can find a breakthrough for something innovative, something different.
8. Achieving Targets
Target is the ultimatum which one is required to achieve regardless the situation because
 It increases your creditability
 There will be no pilling of work to be completed later
 Makes you reliable and trustworthy
 You can gain incentives
9. Communication Skills
Good communication skill is imperative because
 It creates a good impression
 Creates interest
 Increase productivity
10. Adopt new skills
Change is part of life and adopting to those change becomes very important. Adopting new
skills will:
 Give you higher preference at workplace
 Open up new opportunities
 Help you grow

42 | P a g e
11. Never leave any task unfinished
Today or tomorrow regardless the situation you will require to complete the task which has
been allotted. There is no point in prolonging the work as it is going to pileup till the end and
you will have to work extra hours to finish the past work. This can hinder your growth process
since you might lose an opportunity to work on a new innovative task while you were
completing the unfinished task.
12. Self – Motivating
One should not always wait for someone to appreciate. One should be self-motivated since this
will assist them in carrying optimistic approach and carry positive attitude which in turn can
help the person to grow and develop.
13. Dedication
Whether be it any circumstance, nothing will prove better than dedication. To achieve your
goal, one need to be dedicated to work regularly, consistently and with absolute determination.
14. You learn from your mistakes
Learning from your mistake is the best learning. That is the reason it is said that experience
speaks for itself. When you make a mistake, firstly one should accept it and then one should
take care that the mistake is resolved and take precautions that it will not be repeated thereafter.
15. Deadline is not your enemy
Do not consider deadline as your enemy, but as a motivation to achieve your target within the
given frame of time.
16. Maintaining relations
Maintaining relation is most crucial and important task because it
 Improves teamwork
 Increase productivity
 High retention
 Convincing becomes easy
 Effective approach

43 | P a g e
17. Better to accept failure rather than giving excuse
Accepting failure will grow you and not demote you. It can be very rightly said that accepting
your mistake and working on it is the first step towards success. It is the right direction to
improve your performance.
18. Optimistic vision
 Motivates you
 Helps you achieve target faster
 Increase efficiency
19. No task is small or of less important
Every task is important and carries its own value. One can learn allot from completing more
small tasks than by just taking up a big task and reaching half way. Also perfection can be
achieve in small tasks and adding these small tasks will in turn improve in productivity or
efficiency of the company.
20. Decision making
Decision is not just required to be taken at the execution stage but also required in planning
and early stages. Even as small as defining objectives also requires decision to be made.
21. Ask for advice where it is necessary
You might not know it all every time and not necessary that one should complete every task
by self. Taking advice from experienced people always helps to greater extent since they have
immense experience but most importantly asking for advice from the people who are closely
working on the matter since they have first-hand experience.
22. Never settle for less
There will always be scope for improvement and one should not accept to settle where there is
scope to advance further, innovate or improvise till you reach utmost perfection.
23. Accept any suggestions
Suggestions should always be welcomed no matter who is giving it because sometimes best
ideas can be generated by brainstorming and random ideas.

44 | P a g e
24. Co – ordination
Achieving of targets require a lot of coordination among the team members in order to achieve
targets within or before the given time frame. It helps you to keep yourself updates as to till
what stage you’re your project reached and what more is required.
25. Initiative
Taking initiative in the working of an organization and doing tasks and taking up
responsibilities is required for better performance of oneself and the company.
26. Be excellent listener
It is imperative to be an excellent listener because
 Idea can be generated in between the conversation
 To find solution one should first understand the problem and for that you need to be
active listener
27. Suggest only feasible and relevant solutions
One should only suggest feasible and relevant solution or else he/she will be taken for granted.
His/her creditability decreases and if the inputs are of no value addition from your suggestion,
the time and resources spent after finding will go in vague and that is what a company will
never accept.
28. Hard work is not to be taken for granted
Working hard will help you grow as an individual and help you overcome challenging
situations. It helps you analyze effectively since you have worked on the task and the effort
will be reflected
29. Team work is always appreciated
Working in team will
 Improve your efficiency
 Gives you more idea
 Attain target effectively and sooner

45 | P a g e
30. Be empathetic
Being emphatic means thinking differently or thinking from other people point of views too.
Being emphatic will help you develop good interpersonal relationships.

46 | P a g e
Chapter VII
Findings

47 | P a g e
Findings:
 Kothrud can be selected as center since 67% of the pharmacy are interested in associating
with online pharmacy business.
 Since 33% of pharmacy has all types of medicines i.e., Ayurveda, Allopathy &
Homeopathy along health instruments, body building supplements, and vaccine &
injectable, and 44% of pharmacy has all the above mentioned inventory accept
Homeopathy QuikPills has higher probability to fulfill the order without being stocked out
or due to unavailability of medicines.
 Problem faced by E – Pharmacy to associate with the vendors:
 Unawareness about the concept of E – Pharmacy
 Pharmacy association restricts them from associating with the E – Pharmacy
 Wrong perception that E – Pharmacy does not validate the prescription and the
authenticity is not maintained
 Wrong outbreak about E – Pharmacy being declared illegal in India
 Problem faced by vendors and loop holes to be tackled with:
 Fake prescription
 Prescription being reused after purchasing medicine from the pharmacy
 Considering 3 centers:
- Kothrud
- Katraj
- Koregaon Park
These 3 centers are well connected with major regions of Pune and hence optimum to
establish centers to have greater operational efficiency and minimal WIP.
 Considering 8 deliveryman, average time taken for completing entire process will be
approximately 1 hour.

48 | P a g e
Chapter VIII
Recommendations

49 | P a g e
Algorithm 8.1 – Recommended Flow

50 | P a g e
8.1 Recommended Algorithm (Description):
Step 1: Receive order from customer
Step 2: Pharmacist will check the prescription
 If order is repeat or to refill from existing customer, directly go to confirm order
 For new order
Step 3: Validate the Prescription
 If invalid or not readable, call customer to reconfirm the order or get valid
prescription
 For schedule X Drug, Exit
 If they cancel order, Exit
 If they provide with valid prescription, proceed to customer’s account
Step 4: Check if customer has an account
 If no, create account for the customer
 If yes, proceed to add prescription
 If yes & it is Repeat/Refill order, move to confirming the order
Step 5: Add Prescription to customers account
 Add unique order ID for the prescription and save it in customer’s profile and date
wise folder
Step 6: Check availability of the medicine with the vendor
 If unavailable, check with other vendors
 If not available with other vendors, check with wholesalers
 If not available with wholesaler, call doctor for alternate medicine
 Confirm with customer if they will accept the alternate medicine,
o If no, Exit
o If yes, proceed to checking listed medicals
Step 7: Check medicine on our QuikPills list
 If not listed, add medicine to the list
 If listed, confirm order with the customer
Step 8: Call and confirm order with the customer
Step 9: Send SMS & Email to customer regarding confirmation with GPS tracking link and order
details.
Step 10: Ask vendor to pack medicine, bill and pamphlet of QuikPills and get it ready for delivery
Step 11: Call delivery boy in the area of delivery to pick the medicine from the vendor to deliver

51 | P a g e
Step 12: Delivery boys picks the medicine
Step 13: Order is delivered and take feedback from customers
8.2 Research Based Recommendations:
 There are seven highly potential vendors (pharmacy) with ample inventory in area of
Kothrud who can be approached and targeted to convert them in associating with QuikPills
(Names and data of the pharmacy cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality clause).
 In case there is no medicine available with the Vendors (Pharmacy), QuikPills should also
associate with the wholesalers and the distributors so that in case of emergency medicine
can be arranged quickly and delivered within the time frame.
 QuikPills should also associate with a doctor who could suggest alternatives for a particular
medicine if the ordered medicine is not available with the Vendors (Pharmacy) or
Distributors/Wholesalers.
8.3 Operational Recommendations:
 The proposed travelling salesman algorithm should be implemented in developing software
which will provide the deliveryman a well-defined shortest route once the order is received.
 There should be 2 pharmacist, one to receive prescription from QuikPills website and
application, and the other pharmacist will receive prescription from customers through
WhatsApp and simultaneously be involved in creating accounts of the customers who are
not registered with QuikPills.
 Feedback link should be sent to the customer after the ordered has been delivered QuikPills
can get review about their service and can determine the efficiency of business. Since
QuikPills is a startup, feedback will provide them a clear idea on what changes and
challenges they are to require to tackle to innovate and evolve.

52 | P a g e
Chapter IX
Conclusion

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Looking at the future scope and shifting trend towards online buying of products, QuikPills has
the right approach to minimize the time of delivery to less than 2 hours. Medicine and related
products being critical and it is imperative to deliver within the minimum possible time.
With the research conducted in all the three region Kothrud, Koregaon Park and Katraj, QuikPills
has decided to commence with the operations in Pune. The recommended algorithm will be
implemented at the time of commencing their operations in Pune and QuikPills will also
implement the same in its future operations as well as for operations in Delhi and Jaipur. Travelling
salesman algorithm is being implemented in developing the software which will provide
deliveryman the shortest route for delivering the medicine.
Implementation of the following will minimize the delivery time to obtain optimal operational
efficiency with minimal WIP.

54 | P a g e
Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.investopedia.com
http://www.slideshare.net/
http://quikpills.com/
https://www.legitscript.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Country_by_Country_-
_Internet_Pharmacy_Regulations_-_3-23-15.pdf
http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/38829/PharmaDistributionIndia.pdf
http://www.bioplanassociates.com/publications/articles/BPIBioPlanDISTRIBIndiaTodayOct08.p
df
http://www.slideshare.net/anupsoans/march-medicin-man-2013
http://www.drugscontrol.org/pdf/Licence_sales_Allopathic.pdf

55 | P a g e
Annexure A
Questionnaire Design
1. Name of the Pharmacy
2. Are you aware about E – Pharmacy?
 Yes
 No
3. Are you associated with any E – Pharmacy Company?
 Yes
 No
4. If yes, name of the company you associated with?
5. If no, have you ever been contacted by any E – Pharmacy Company?
 Yes
 No
6. If yes, mention the name of the company that contacted you?
7. What type of Pharmacy are you?
 General
 Retail
 Wholesaler

56 | P a g e
8. What are the different types of medical products you offer?
 Allopathy
 Ayurveda
 Homeopathy
 Health Equipment
 Body Building Supplements
 Vaccines and Injectable
9. Do you perform home delivery?
 Yes
 No
10. What is your minimum order value for home delivery?
11. How long do you take to deliver medicine?
12. What is the radius of delivery?
13. Do you provide bill to every customer?
 Yes
 No
14. Are you a VAT & CST registered pharmacy?
 Yes
 No
15. Do you offer discount?
 Yes (_________)

57 | P a g e
 No
16. How is your Inventory resupply mechanism?
17. What is the lead time of procuring medicines from wholesalers or distributors?
18. How do you manage your inventory?
 Software
 Manual Book-Keeping
19. If software, which software do you use?
20. Do you follow prescription of any particular Doctor?
 Yes, Name:_______________
 No
21. What is the timing of your shop?
22. Do you keep you pharmacy close on any particular day?
 Yes, Which Day:__________
 No
23. Ownership of the pharmacy?
 Sole Proprietorship
 Partnership
 Private Ltd.

Integration of Inventory and the Delivery Model for Operational Efficiency and Minimal WIP in Pune City for QuikPills

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