Pharmacy app to remind customers to refill their medicines

Keep a file for every regular customer, work out when their medicine runs out, and send the reminder before they default.

Who it's for

For a chemist in a shopping centre or along a busy road, run by the owner with one or two attendants at the counter. Many of the customers are on pressure, diabetes, asthma or ARV medicine and come back every month. The problem bites at the end of the month, when the owner looks at the shelf and realises some of the usual faces have not come in, and nobody knows which ones.

The problem today

The owner says it like this. My regular customers I know by face, not by record. I write the sale in the book, but the book does not tell me that mama from the flats was supposed to come back two weeks ago. Sometimes an attendant remembers and calls. Mostly we only find out when the customer comes back after a long gap and says they stopped the medicine because they ran out of money or forgot. I lose the sale and they lose their treatment. When somebody asks me for a letter or their past collections for the clinic, I have to page through the book while other people wait at the counter.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Counter search — The attendant types a name or phone number and opens the right customer file in seconds while the customer is still at the counter.
2. Customer file — Staff record what medicine was collected and how many days it covers, and the file shows the next refill date and the past collections.
3. Due and overdue list — Staff and the owner see who is due this week and who has already missed a refill, so the follow-up calls and messages go to the right people.
4. Reminder and follow-up log — Staff see which reminders went out and write down what the customer said when they were called, so nobody is chased twice.
5. Customer portal — The customer logs in to see their next refill date, what they have been collecting and any letter or clinic form the chemist has attached for them.
6. Owner view — The owner sees the whole customer list, who has gone quiet, and which attendant is doing the follow-ups.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Customer — Name, phone number, where they stay, how they want to be reminded, and a short note about their condition. Staff and the owner see this; the customer sees only their own.
• Collection — The medicine collected, the date, how many days it covers and which attendant served them. Staff and the owner see all of them; the customer sees their own history.
• Refill due — The date the medicine is expected to run out and whether the customer has come back. Visible to staff and the owner, and to the customer as their next date.
• Reminder and follow-up — Which message went out, when, and what the customer answered when called. Staff and the owner only.
• Attached document — Letters, clinic forms and receipts the chemist uploads for one customer. The owner and staff upload them, the customer sees only their own.

What it changes for the business

The chemist stops relying on memory. Every regular customer has a file, and the shop knows before the month ends who is about to run out. Reminders go out before the date, so fewer customers disappear and fewer come back weeks late. Follow-up calls land on the right names instead of guesswork. A customer asking for their past collections or a letter is served at the counter without the attendant digging through the book, and the owner can see at a glance which regulars have gone quiet.

The one decision that matters

The one decision is who the app reminds. Option one is to remind everyone who buys anything, including a person who came once for painkillers. Option two is to remind only customers on long-term medicine who have agreed to be contacted, and to mark that agreement in their file. Go with the second. Reminders about medicine are personal, and a message to somebody who never asked for it reads as a nuisance and can embarrass them in front of whoever holds the phone. Fewer, wanted reminders are opened and acted on, and the attendant can always ask at the counter whether the customer would like to be reminded next time.

What to build first, and what can wait

Build the customer file, the collection record that works out the next refill date, the due and overdue list, and the reminder going out before the date. Add a simple portal where the customer sees their next date and history. Leave the document uploads, stock levels and linking to supplier orders for later, and add the Android app once the counter staff are using the website every day. The reminder is the part that brings customers back, so it earns before anything else.

How BooDoo builds it

You describe the chemist and the way your counter works in plain words, and BooDoo builds it, including the database and sign-in so the owner, the attendants and the customers each open their own screens. The same request gives a website on its own live address, and an Android phone app you can publish under your own Google Play account when you want it. Reminder messages and a WhatsApp button that opens a chat with the shop come in through ready integrations. Later you describe the change and it is changed.

How you'll know it works

The due list empties as the week goes on, because the people on it are walking back into the shop. The attendant stops saying it has been a long time since we saw you.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I run a chemist and most of my regular customers are on long-term medicine for pressure, diabetes and asthma. I want a website where my two attendants can open a customer's file at the counter, record the medicine collected and how many days it covers, and the app works out when the next refill is due. Before that date a reminder should go out by SMS, with a WhatsApp button so the attendant can chat with the customer. Show me a list of who is due and who has already missed their refill so we can follow up, and let staff note what the customer said. Customers should log in to see their next refill date, their past collections and any letter I attach for them. I see everything, attendants only their counter work. Start with the website and add an Android app later.