HIT School of business and management science

Electronic Commerce Student Research Projects

Tinovimbanashe Maduku

Bachelor of Technology Honours Degree in Electronic Commerce

tinomaduku@gmail.com | +263774387877

A SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR RETAIL PHARMACIES

The pharmaceutical industry in Zimbabwe has been facing many challenges, which could partly be explained by the low uptake of new technology by the sector. For example, most of the existing retail pharmacies still conduct their day to day transactions manually. A basic inventory management system is used to maintain and monitor the inventory and a manual stock take is done at the end of each month to balance sales and purchases. When inventory reaches a critical level, colour codes are used to alert the administrator who would then have to make the orders manually. This poses an unnecessary burden for the employers as well as challenges for effective service delivery. A Supply Chain Management System for automatic order processing, e-procurement, and collaboration in the supply chain is an innovative solution to the above mentioned challenges. It is expected to improve the quality and accuracy of the procurement supply chain within the pharmaceutical sector. If well adopted, this system could ensure that critical orders for health medication are anticipated and procured by key health delivery institutions while also ensuring that pharmacies achieve their commercial targets. In this case, the retailer system will be linked to the suppliers who can monitor the movement of the products they supply. The system will also facilitate the synchronization of purchases and sales, as it will be linked to the Point of Sale Terminal and inventory levels which will be updated from the order form sent to reduce time required to enter each item separately.