Promote safe sun and increase holiday sales

Sun awareness week will run from 7–13 May. As the weather gets warmer and customers begin to plan their summer holidays, community pharmacy staff should help to promote safe sun messages, and can use this as a chance to stock up on products to maximise holiday sales.

The British Association of Dermatologists and the British Skin Foundation have produced a series of educational posters and leaflets to promote the campaign’s key messages to the public. These focus on knowing your skin type, checking moles for any visible changes and understanding UV forecasts. There are also and tips on how to protect your skin from the sun.

The British Association of Dermatologists recommends that people use a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15. Raj Nutan, pharmacy business manager at the National Pharmacy Association, says that pharmacies are missing an opportunity if they do not stock this sunscreen, especially those located near beaches or in market towns.

Sun awareness week can also be incorporated into window displays, increasing the opportunity for linked sales of products that customers might need for their holiday.

Patient education

Sun awareness week is also an ideal time to help educate customers about the sun protection they are buying. New results from a survey carried out by the British Association of Dermatologists and the British Skin Foundation show that customers do not fully understand what they should be looking for in a sunscreen. Key results are as follows:

• One third of respondents did not know that children can develop skin cancer

• Only 13 per cent of respondents knew that the SPF on sunscreen indicates the level of protection against UVB

• 70 per cent of respondents were not aware of the star rating system used on sunscreen (indicating the level of UVA protection)

• Of the 30 per cent of respondents who were aware of the star rating system, 43 per cent gave an incorrect answer when asked what it shows.

Maximising sales

Mr Nutan says that over the next few months pharmacies should be looking at how they display their summer products. “Holiday health care products are often dotted around the store,” he says, “So it would make sense to display them all in one area”.

Mr Nutan also points out that there are sales to be made when customers return from their holiday, for example, from printing photographs. Customers could be given a discount voucher to encourage them to use the pharmacy for this service when they return (see p7 for more information about photography services in the pharmacy).

The NPA has produced a business brief on maximising sales in the holiday season. This includes advice on:

Merchandising Proprietors are advised to display signs in the “holiday section” pointing customers towards the pharmacy counter. Families going on holiday, for example, may require larger pack sizes of common holiday medicines.

Targeting customers Customers bringing in prescriptions for antimalarial tablets can be targeted for sales of other holiday products. Local business could also be targeted by delivering holiday checklist leaflets to them (see below).

NPA members can order the business brief free of charge by telephoning 01727 858687 ext 3257 (e-mail pharmacybusiness@npa.co.uk).

Holiday checklists

A marketing tool sometimes used by the larger pharmacy chains is to produce a checklist of health care items that customers are likely to need for their holiday. This can be branded with the pharmacy logo and can either be handed to customers who enquire about holiday health care, or placed in the shopping baskets of customers browsing the store. Items that are commonly included in such checklists are outlined in the panel below.