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OBJECTIVE：To p rovide policy suggestions for the development and supervision of online drugstores in China. METHODS：By literature review ，the relevant literatures and policy documents about the development of online drugstores were searched，screened and sorted out to summarize the development process of China ’s internet drug trading mode and policy ，analyze the development status of China ’s online drugstores ；on the basis of the development experience of some developed countries ，the suggestions were put forward for China ’s relevant policies. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS ：China’s medical e-commerce started relatively late ，and the policies related to online drug trading were basically released during last 20 years. The number of online drugstores showed a growing trend. The online drugstores were geographically allocated widely but unevenly. They sold many varieties，and policies on selling prescription medicines were gradually liberalized. These online drugstores provided diverse payment and delivery choices ，but their pharmaceutical service needed to be improved. The development models of online drugstores in the United Kingdom ，the United States and Germany could be referred. According to the current situation of online drugstores in China ， combined with the development mode and operation strategy in foreign countries ，it is suggested to improve relevant laws and regulations，and strengthen legal support ；strengthen the government supervision to ensure drug safety ；use the industrial power to standardize medicine operation behavior ；set up the third part trading platform to promote medical insurance payment.
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OBJECTIVE： To investigate the current situation and existing problems of online drugstores in China and put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions， so as to provide a basis for promoting and improving the standardization of online drugstores in China. METHODS： The number of online drugstores was counted by inquiring about the online drugstores in all provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government published by the “Public inquiry” column on the official website of the previous China Food and Drug Administration （CFDA）. According to the administrative division， stratified sampling of online drugstores was conducted. The website domain names of sampled online drugstores and their Taobao stores， Jingdong stores， Wechat public accounts， Wechat small programs and other platforms were retrieved to analyze their operation methods. At the same time， the online drugstores which actually had online trading behavior were investigated and analyzed from three aspects， including business scope， propaganda behavior and service behavior. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS： A total of 693 online drugstores were obtained from the official website of CFDA， and the domain names of only 14 （41.2％） of 34 online drugstores selected by stratified sampling were their corresponding online drugstores. Other online drugstores had some problems， such as domain name could not be opened or was not related websites. There were 14 online drugstores dealing in drugs through their own websites， of which 12 also operated on third-party platforms such as Taobao， Jingdong and Wechat. The problems of 27 drugstores with online online trading behavior mainly included non-standard operating varieties， illegal sale of prescription drugs， disunity of qualification mark，false propaganda，untimely online customer service response and imperfect drug distribution system， etc. It is suggested that relevant supervisory and administrative departments strengthen supervision， standardize the management of domain names and trading platforms of online drugstores， and vigorously crack down on and control illegal online transactions. Online drugstores should improve their service levels， standardize their own website construction， improve the level of real-time customer service and drug distribution services， so as to improve the current operation situation of online drugstores in China.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for further development of Internet drug transaction services in China. METH-ODS:The data of online drugstores with top 20 approvals data and sales amount were collected bu the Internet,the normative man-agement was evaluated. Meanwhile,questionnaire was conducted to survey and analyze the cognition,buying drugs and correspond-ing requirements of some Shanghai citizens for Internet drug retail. RESULTS:By Jun. 12,2015,totally 307 retail chain drug-stores(online drugstores)had got the License of Internet Drugs Transaction,only 62 online drugstores(20.2%)were in full compli-ance with the normative management;the top 19 online drugstores supplied averagely 1 072±815 OTC medicines,including 259± 165 chemical drugs and 813 ± 650 Chinese traditional medicines,and the top 3 were jianke.com (3 658 species),J1.com (2 071 species)and 360 kad.com(1 523 species). Totally 216 questionnaires were sent out,and 183 were effectively received with effec-tive recovery of 84.7%. The 183 surveyed citizens showed high cognition in distinguishing the authenticity of online drugstores (75.4%) and the authenticity of drugs (67.1%),but low cognition in online drugstore opening qualifications and Internet selling drugs;only 22.4% had the experience of buying drugs online,the degree of satisfaction towards online shopping,from the highest to the lowest,were drug price(62.5%),professional consultation of pharmacists(50.0%),variety of drugs(45.0%),quality of drugs(37.5%),delivery time(35.0%),etc.;the most probably purchased medicine category were vitamins and minerals(63.9%) and medicines for common diseases(40.4%). CONCLUSIONS:Currently the demands and confidence of online drugs shopping of Shanghai citizens are still scarce. Though the access of retailing prescription drugs would spur the Internet drug business,the condi-tion is still immature. It is suggested to sell prescription drugs in a limited way and improve their access threshold,promote Medi-care settlement to multi-faceted promote the orderly development of Internet drug transaction services.