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 Community pharmacist Shamir Patel believes he can compete equally with the cut price over-the-counter medicines offered by high street chemist and supermarket chains thanks to e-business.
Mr Patel, who co-runs 10 pharmacies in the North East around Stockport
and Liverpool, signed up to the pharmacy e-transfer ordering system for
OTC medicines, Comedis, when it was launched three years ago. Today,
he is confident that the company has helped him keep a hold in the increasingly
competitive market of OTC sales. “The problem with high street
pharmacies is that we are in a declining OTC market as the supermarkets
are eroding our market share. We can either just take that on the chin
or we can start to compete,” he said.
Comedis, which includes Numark and seven OTC manufacturers in its supplier
base, offers independent pharmacists the same cut-price deals on OTC
medicines which would be offered by a drug company representative.
But the key difference is that the discounts have no time limit, although
there are restrictions on the amount of goods which can be ordered to
prevent the opportunity for “grey sales”, explained Mr Patel.
He said: “Before signing up to Comedis the only way that I could
get a discount for OTC medicines would be through a face-to-face consultation
with a drug rep. Then once I had ordered the discounted medicines I wouldn’t
be able to access the discount again until the next visit which is usually
eight weeks away — even if I had sold all my stock in a week.”
The development of an e-transfer ordering system for OTC medicines is
already bringing changes to the traditional role of drug company representatives.
In the past a rep might have spent 30 minutes with Mr Patel trying to
convince him of the merits of a new OTC branded medicine. But,
today, the same rep is more likely to
spend the same amount of time training pharmacy team staff about their
products, he said.
Mr Patel said: “Some people may say that this system will put drug
reps out of a job, but I still see the reps — the difference is
they aren’t just here to sell products. They now spend quality
time with my staff educating them about the benefits of the new products.
The quality of the drug rep call is far higher and far more valuable
than it was before when they were only interested in selling.”
More than 3,200 independent pharmacists have signed up to Comedis since
it was established in March 2003. Pharmacists are able to place orders
for OTC medicines as well as nutritional supplements and health and beauty
products. They can search for product offers by individual name, manufacturer,
chosen wholesaler or by volume-related offers. The option to set up a
customised price watch on the fastest moving products in the pharmacy
is also available.
Comedis, which was acquired by the privately owned investment company
Nutech Pharma last April, is available 24-hours via its website (www.comedis.com)
and is free to use.
— Debbie Andalo
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal