"Enhancing Perceived Ease of Use and Trust in existing Apps can boost the adoption of Online Pharmacy in India- an Empirical Study"

Purpose – To explore the most significant factors which would enhance consumer likelihood for online pharmacy during and after Covid -19 pandemic using a sample representative of Indian users. Design/methodology/approach – It was a primary data based exploratory survey study using the structured questionnaire with homogenous purposive sampling. Sample size was limited to one hundred respondents from few big cities of India. The Extended TAM (technology acceptance model) model was constructed after testing 11 hypotheses of constructs by using Smart PLS-SEM software. Findings: Two factors- Perceived ease of use (PEOU) and Perceived trust were found to have significant impact on consumer attitude and intention towards choosing online pharmacy apps. Of the proposed Eleven hypotheses, six were accepted and five were rejected. Consumer attitude directly impacts user intention for online pharmacy apps, and PEOU strongly affects user perceived usefulness. While Perceived security positively builds user trust and perceived usefulness positively affects user satisfaction level. Practical Implications: The study resulted in identifying two factors which can boost the adoption of online pharmacy apps by Indian people and keep them safe by minimizing the contacts. Factors for consumer adoption allow building stronger, robust, secure and reliable online pharmacy model handling increased traffic safely during and after Covid-19 pandemic. Originality/Value: On-line pharmacy is one of the latest health apps and a new technological entrant, so very few studies have been conducted so far in India. Moreover, the related works from other parts of world have been limited to the merits, demerits & regulatory concerns of online pharmacy. During and Post Covid-19 pandemic online pharmacy may represent a new norm which may help Indian consumers to reduce the impact of covid-19 infection. This unique research highlights the two most important factors which can significantly affect consumer likelihood for online pharmacy mobile apps.