Fintech Ryft to Remedy Pharmacy Application, Charac, With Strategic Marketplace Payment Platform Partnership

Payments
02.07.2024 10:05 am

British payments fintech, Ryft, has partnered with digital pharmacy platform, Charac, to provide its marketplace payment platform, reducing current processing fees for independent pharmacies by over 30%. The partnership demonstrates and consolidates the significant overall impact Ryft is having on the pharmaceutical industry, enabling independent pharmacies to access innovative payments solutions which are flexible and cost effective.

As the fastest growing pharmaceutical app in the industry, Charac consolidates and digitises the operations of independent pharmacies in four key areas - repeat prescriptions, booking consultations, deliveries, and marketing, all through one app or website. In partnering with Ryft, Charac can now facilitate the automated end-to-end flow of funds, whilst leveraging Ryft’s PCI Level 1 and PSD2 gold standard of compliance.

This partnership is tackling a significant challenge within the pharmaceutical industry, with community pharmacies seeing a major decline in government funding since 2016. With industry and NHS funding at an all time low, pharmacies must find inventive ways to digitalise in the most cost effective ways. By embedding fintech into the pharmaceutical apps at the point of service, Ryft is opening up revenue streams for independent community pharmacies, whilst also reducing current processing fees by over 30%. Moreover, by transitioning to Ryft’s marketplace payment platform, these pharmacies are able to leave behind legacy tech and welcome the latest technology available, including the use of ApplePay and GooglePay, and all major cards.

Furthermore, Ryft is helping to stabilise the Charac payments model, as many previous payments suppliers operating within the pharmaceutical industry have been known to impose harsh restrictions on client onboarding, often off-boarding clients who are deemed to have small elements of risk. Using Ryft, Charac is able to onboard community pharmacies at their own discretion, and utilise Ryft’s hosted onboarding to direct these pharmacies to create their merchant account and begin processing immediately. Ultimately, by unlocking the capabilities of modern payments technology through Ryft, community pharmacies can reap the benefits of Charac’s platform and improve their existing customer offering, whilst also experiencing a smooth checkout experience for a competitive rate.

As a true fintech disruptor, Ryft is working to support businesses across verticals to access better payments solutions in more cost effective ways. Whilst Ryft has previously partnered with businesses in hospitality, travel, and group payments facilitators, this collaboration allows the business to expand their technological capabilities by moving into the UK pharmaceutical sector. Much like previous partners, Charac believed Ryft’s compliant payment provisions to be the perfect fit to upgrade its current offering, with increased flexibility, secured risk, and automated systems, all at a far reduced cost.

Speaking on the partnership, CEO and co-founder of Ryft, Sadra Hosseini, said: “ We’re extremely excited to be expanding our capabilities within the pharmaceutical industry, consolidating the wider impact we’re having across the sector, and alleviating some of the major issues independent community pharmacies have been facing for quite some time. Ryft prides itself on disrupting the industry and supporting key verticals who are underserved, yet want to upgrade their payments streams, so we’re delighted to be onboarding Charac as the next iteration of this mission. Utilising our tried and tested product stack, we’re positive that Charac can make significant headway in furthering the capabilities of their pharmaceutical digitisation in a cost effective manner, supporting end-to-end innovation.”

Also commenting on the partnership, Trevor Williams, Co-Founder and COO at Charac said: "Community pharmacies are currently struggling with an annual shortfall in funding totalling more than £750m, which equates to around £66,000 per pharmacy. Our partnership with Ryft will help us tackle the financial issues that they face. By reducing their online processing fees by more than 30%, we can help them manage costs and utilise seamless up-to-date payment services.

“This is a vital step towards achieving our goal of making community pharmacies financially sustainable. Around half of phone calls made by patients to pharmacies are regarding their prescriptions, and Charac is eliminating this. By empowering pharmacies to digitalise, Charac saves essential time for pharmacists to focus on revenue-boosting services, such as Pharmacy First and New Medicine Service consultations, and more. We look forward to continuing to work with Ryft in modernising payment services for pharmacies, and ensuring they can run as cost-effectively as possible."