Asda, Britain’s second largest supermarket group, has launched what is says is the first online supermarket pharmacy .
The Wal-Mart owned retailer claims the internet shopping service allows customers to buy potentially embarrassing over-the-counter ointments, creams and pills from the privacy of their own home .
Launched on Friday, the online pharmacy offers more than 1,000 products and is labelled by Asda as “a haven for people with haemorrhoid problems” and “a breath of fresh air for halitosis sufferers”.
An Asda spokesman commented: “We have a lot of feedback from customers who say they feel embarrassed when they are asking for certain things.”
“You don’t necessarily want to ask for hair loss treatments or treatments for excessive sweating and fungal infections in front of a queue of customers, so this service should help prevent embarrassment.”
“It could also be of huge benefit to people who are unable to get out of their homes because of illness .”
Not all pharmaceutical items are incorporated in the online drugstore, with prescription drugs and those that can only be handed out by a pharmacist excluded.
Asda says all treatments and drugs must be ‘validated’ by a fully-qualified pharmacist before being sent out, with deliveries usually occurring by the next day in “discreet non-branded white packaging .”
Customers are charged £2.95 for delivery, unless they spend £45 or more, in which case the delivery charge is cancelled.
By the end of its first day, the pharmacy’s most popular requests were painkillers and migraine tablets, followed by condoms, pregnancy-testing kits, creams for thrush and a spray to treat excessive sweating.
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