Bright Ideas

In-store robots and online doctors serve customers 24/7 at Dingdang Medicine Express

  • China
  • 4 min read
  • Sep 10, 2019
  • By Hua Nan

Image: Shutterstock

Dingdang also offers cheaper medicines and 28-minute home delivery, thanks to its innovative logistics and partnership models

Around 2012, when smartphones began their explosive growth in China, pharmaceutical giant Renhe Group saw their sales slowing despite the same level of ad spending. Its 62-year-old founder and chairman Yang Wenlong realized that mobile was fast turning into a consumer trend – and a new business opportunity.
But it was after meeting Xu Huansheng, who was then head of Baidu’s smart hardware unit, in early 2014 and the pair became fast friends, that the whiff of opportunity concretized into a new business venture.
"We were thinking how about trying medicine delivery service. Whether it's at...

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Edited by Suzanne Soh

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