How to choose pharmacy software in Pakistan: a buyer’s checklist

Why the choice matters

Pharmacy software touches every part of a medical store: the counter, the stock room, distributor orders and the end-of-day cash count. A good system saves minutes on every sale and money on every expired box you no longer write off. A poor one slows the queue and leaves your stock figures wrong.

Most pharmacies in Pakistan still use a mix of a basic billing program, a stock register and a notebook for distributor orders. When you replace them, the aim is one system where every sale and every delivery updates the same stock.

1. Fast billing at the counter

Billing speed decides how long customers wait at rush hour. Test it yourself during a demo or free trial:

• Can you scan a barcode and have the item in the bill immediately?
• Can you bill without a mouse, using keyboard shortcuts?
• Can you apply a percentage or fixed discount quickly?
• Does it take the payment methods your customers use, such as cash, card, mobile wallets and bank transfer?
• Does it calculate change due for cash sales and print a clear receipt?

2. Search by brand and by salt

Customers ask for a brand, but brands go out of stock. Your staff need to find every product with the same salt (generic name) in a second, so they can offer an alternative instead of turning the customer away.

Ask whether the search covers brand name, generic name and active ingredient, and whether it works from the same search box used for billing.

3. Batch and expiry control

Expired stock is one of the biggest hidden losses in a pharmacy. The software should track expiry per batch, not just per product, because two deliveries of the same medicine rarely expire on the same day.

• Does every batch have its own batch number and expiry date?
• Does the system sell the earliest-expiring batch first (FEFO)?
• Will it warn you well before expiry, for example at 90, 60 and 30 days?
• Can you see a list of everything expiring this month?

Our guide on reducing expired medicine losses explains how to use these features day to day.

4. Purchasing and distributor orders

Stock goes wrong when deliveries are added by hand, or not at all. Look for purchase orders that are linked to suppliers and that add stock only when you mark the delivery as received. Low-stock alerts based on your own minimum levels tell you what to order before you run out.

5. Pakistani rupees, sales tax and FBR

The software should price and report in PKR, and calculate sales tax at the rate you set.

Depending on the size and tax status of your business, you may be required to integrate your point of sale with FBR. The rules change from time to time, so confirm with your tax adviser whether this applies to you, and ask every vendor directly whether their software supports FBR POS integration today.

6. Reports you will actually use

Owners need answers, not raw data. Check that you can see, for any date range:

• Daily revenue and how customers paid
• Top-selling medicines and sales by category
• What you spent with distributors
• Low-stock items and stock expiring soon

Also check that you can export to CSV, so your accountant can work in Excel.

7. Staff accounts and permissions

Shared logins make it impossible to know who made a sale or a refund. Each staff member should have their own account, and roles should limit what they can see. A counter salesman, for example, does not need access to profit reports or settings.

8. Cloud or installed software

Installed (desktop) software runs on one computer and usually stores data on that machine, so a hard-disk failure can lose your records unless you back up carefully. Cloud software runs in a web browser, stores data on secure servers and can be used from more than one device, but it needs an internet connection.

If your area has frequent internet outages, ask the vendor what happens when the connection drops, and consider a mobile data backup for the counter computer.

9. Your data, support and price

• Data ownership: can you export your sales and stock data at any time?
• Support: how do you reach the vendor, and how quickly do they reply?
• Price: is there a monthly fee, a one-time licence, per-user charges or setup fees? Are updates included?
• Trial: can you test it with your own products before paying?

How RunMyPharmacy fits this checklist

RunMyPharmacy is cloud-based pharmacy software built for Pakistani medical stores. It covers barcode billing with keyboard shortcuts, search by brand or salt, batch and expiry tracking with FEFO and tiered alerts, purchase orders, PKR and sales tax settings, reports with CSV export, five staff roles and a built-in online store for pickup and delivery orders.

It is free during early access, so you can test it with your own products before deciding.