SMS and WhatsApp for pharmacies and healthcare retail in Bangladesh
Send Bangla or English SMS to regular customers for monthly refills, and use loyalty points and coupons for repeat buyers. Messages go through local gateways with templates and delivery logs.
A pharmacy knows something valuable that most retailers do not: roughly when a regular customer will run out. Chronic medication is bought on a cycle, and a message a few days before the cycle ends is useful rather than intrusive.
The same channel handles the less pleasant conversations too, such as chasing a due from a customer on credit, and it works in Bangla on a basic handset, which email does not.
What goes wrong for pharmacies
Everyday problems in this trade, from the industry guide.
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Expired medicine found on the shelf
Expiry dates are checked by walking the shelves once a month, if there is time. Strips expire quietly at the back, and the loss is only noticed when a customer points it out.
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Supplier returns missed
Companies accept near-expiry returns within a window. Without a list of what is approaching expiry and which supplier it came from, the window closes and the stock is written off.
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Thousands of items in a khata
Purchases from many distributors are noted in books, stock is a guess, and the same item is bought from two sources at different prices without anyone noticing until the money is gone.
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Slow counter at peak hours
Evening rush, one person on the counter, prices looked up by memory. Mistakes on price and change are common, and a held bill for a customer who forgot their prescription is lost.
Refill reminders and offers by SMS
How SMS & WhatsApp handles it.
Send Bangla or English SMS to regular customers for monthly refills, and use loyalty points and coupons for repeat buyers. Messages go through local gateways with templates and delivery logs.
What you get
The parts of SMS & WhatsApp that matter most here.
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Bangla Unicode encoding
The ERP detects whether a message fits the GSM 7-bit set or needs Unicode, then shows the character limit, 160 or 70 per part, the number of parts and the estimated cost before you send. No more truncated Bangla messages.
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Templates with variables
Write templates in Bangla or English with placeholders for customer name, order number and amount, and keep separate templates per event. Staff sending a one-off message pick a template and the values fill in from the record.
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Bulk campaigns to customer lists
Send a promotion or Eid greeting to a filtered list of customers, schedule it for a sensible hour, and watch processed, success and failed counts as the queue works through the list in the background.
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Trigger rules per event
Turn on automatic SMS for order created, confirmed, shipped, delivered or cancelled, web order received, payment received, payment reminder, low stock, purchase order created, leave approved and payslip ready, each with its own template and on-off switch.
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Sixteen gateways supported
Configure Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink, SSL Wireless, Reve, BulkSMSBD, BoomCast, ElitBuzz, KhudeBarta, AlphaNet, AjuraTech, BDBulkSMS, Route Mobile, Twilio, Vonage or AWS SNS with your own API credentials and sender ID. Switch gateway without touching a single template.
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Delivery logs and balance
Every SMS is logged with mobile number, gateway, encoding, parts, unit rate, total cost, provider message ID, status and error text. A balance ledger per gateway records top-ups and spend so you know when to recharge.
A working day for pharmacies
The sequence this trade actually runs, from the industry guide.
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Receive stock with batch and expiry
Company representatives deliver against orders. Staff enter the GRN with batch numbers, expiry dates and purchase price, and print barcodes for loose items that lack one.
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Sell at the counter
Items are scanned, the earliest-expiring batch is picked, cash or MFS is taken and a receipt is printed. Held bills wait for customers who return with a prescription.
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Act on near-expiry alerts
The near-expiry list shows items and their suppliers. Short-dated stock is moved to the front, discounted, or returned to the supplier with a purchase return.
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Transfer between outlets
Stock the branch is short of is transferred from the main shop with a transfer record, and both outlets' stock figures update immediately.
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Close and review
Each counter runs a Z-report, and the owner checks sales by outlet, supplier dues and the reorder suggestions produced by replenishment rules.
Questions
Answered plainly, including where the answer is no.
Can refill reminders be sent to regular customers?
Customers can be segmented from purchase history and sent a templated SMS campaign, in Bangla Unicode, through Bangladeshi gateways with delivery logs.
Can due reminders go out automatically?
Yes. Trigger rules cover events including due reminders, so customers on credit are reminded without anyone maintaining a call list.
See SORS ERP running on your own numbers
A 30-minute demo in Bangla or English, with your products, your VAT setup and your questions.