Goobat.care becomes first Malaysian pharmacy to accept Bitcoin

Pharmatech firm Goobat Sdn Bhd has become Malaysia’s first online pharmacy to accept Bitcoin on its local e-commerce store Goobat.care.

“There is a growing number of cryptocurrency enthusiasts in Malaysia. In fact, we have listened and learnt that there is an increasing demand from consumers calling for the acceptance of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a payment option and so, we believe this is a step in the right direction,” said Asher Looi, Co-Founder of Goobat.

Bitcoin has been in existence since 2009. Its growth within the financial market since inception has earned its spot as a valid new store of value, thus presenting itself as a new payment form in a growing market. 

“Goobat believes that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance. We have watched how it has gradually gained global acceptance and confidence.

“Numerous central banks have been reported to begin exploring and adopting these cryptocurrencies. As part of the retail industry, we feel it is important and timely to educate the public that Bitcoin transactions are safe, and that users will still have full control of their money in their wallets,” Looi said.

Bitcoin transactions on Goobat.Care webstore will go through the Bitpay gateway – United States-based crypto clearing gateway that is the world’s largest provider of blockchain payment services.

Looi explained that the push factor in establishing the online store stemmed from the realisation that many pharmacies in suburban areas did not carry a full range of products. Further, due to the lack of economy of scale, these outlets would tend to retail products at steeper prices.

“When we set up Goobat.Care, we wanted to ensure that we could help suburban consumers find what they need. So now we have more than 3,000 products online to offer, at affordable prices,” Looi said.

Not only does this give people the option to shop at their convenience, but also with ease knowing there is a dedicated team of 15 people working at any point in time on Goobat.Care. The team comprises those in the technological unit, in operations and three pharmacists whose services are available via WhatsApp.

Once a transaction is completed on Goobat.Care, Klang Valley customers can choose to receive their products by Goobat.Care’s 3-Hour Express Delivery, or opt for the Standard Delivery option. The latter is available to customers nationwide.

Goobat assures that it will provide special handling for some products that may be temperature sensitive, or can be affected by changes in humidity like probiotics and other medicines.

In the near future, Goobat.Care plans to introduce a mobile app and incorporate more languages into its platform by the end of January 2021. 

Pursuant to its digital launch and growth, Goobat targets to achieve 100,000 registered consumers in the coming months, and RM10 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2021. The platform intends to focus and build on its Malaysian foundation before regionally expanding to Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and India, Looi explains.

Founded in August 2019 under parent company Health Estate Sdn Bhd, Goobat Sdn Bhd – the operator for Goobat.Care online store – was launched on December 11 on a fully customisable open-source platform running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.

“We integrate Big Data concept into the core of all touchpoints. Our end goal is to build an artificial intelligence (A.I.) model in the future to serve our clients better.

“In the long run, this A.I. model will serve to identify risk groups based on their consuming patterns, or buying patterns off Goobat.Care, and we will offer personalised supplements suggestions to our consumers,” he added.