Unichem Ltd, the British division of European wholesaler Alliance Unichem Plc, is to try to improve its image as second best to AAH after its 1999 customer survey showed that even Unichem's own customers could not say that it provided a better service than AAH.
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Customers had concerns about the range of stock held by their wholesalers |
At a presentation to the pharmaceutical press on April 28, Mr Martyn Ward (sales and marketing director, Unichem) said: "We have got a lot of work to do with our customers. We have got to tell them what a good job we do."
The significance of communication to perceived image was graphically demonstrated by statistics collected from the survey over the past five years in relation to the range of products wholesalers stock. Since 1996, the proportion of pharmacists who believed that their wholesaler's range had improved over the previous 12 months has fallen from 44 per cent to 30 per cent. Conversely, the proportion who felt that the range had deteriorated rose from 7 per cent to 19 per cent. The figures showed that AAH was perceived to be performing worse than Unichem in this area.
"This is an issue of perception," Mr Ward said. "We are constantly adding to our list and we do not take anything out."
One area where the issue was not one of perception was the amount of business being transacted by pharmacies with their main wholesalers.
In this regard, both Unichem and AAH had lost business, Mr Ward said. However the loss from AAH had been greater in recent years than the loss from Unichem.
Unichem also took the opportunity to announce developments in over-the-counter services, information technology and finance that it hopes will contribute to improving both its perceived image and its actual performance.
Mr Adrian Chen (logistics development director, Unichem) said that the wholesaler was the first to automate order picking for OTC products. The installation of an A-frame picking machine and other improvements meant that a national daily delivery service could be provided and customers would be able to order split packs of the top 800 lines. This would reduce pharmacists' stockholding costs, eliminate the need for pharmacy stock rooms and release selling space. The new system could handle 1,200 orders every hour, which meant that the time taken to pick and despatch each day's orders could be cut from 18 hours to five hours.
Mr Tosh Mondal (head of pharmacy systems, Unichem) said that IT developments would include improved access to Mediphase, which would become a
Windows-based system, secure access to the internet with a web-based system for statements and invoices, and a transfer-order site.
"IT is consistently evolving and pharmacists are increasingly recognising its value to business," Mr Mondal said. "We have ensured that the Unichem system is scaleable, which means that Windows-based products can easily be upgraded without having to make drastic changes to hardware."
So far as pharmacy finance is concerned, Mr Ken Murphy (finance director, Unichem) announced the extension to July 31 of the deadline for free transfer from Unichem's loan guarantee scheme to its pharmacy finance scheme. Savings on a loan of £0.5m would amount to up to £4,500 a year.