Installing a specialist television service to boost pharmacy sales

No matter how slick a service a community pharmacy operates, it is inevitable that most patients will spend a few minutes browsing or waiting for a prescription to be dispensed.

One company that wants to make use of this waiting time is Pharmacy Channel, which broadcasts a pharmacy-specific television service in 800 independent pharmacies across the UK.

The service

Quentin Soldan, business development manager at Pharmacy Channel, explains: “We provide health care information programmes on a variety of subjects, and we use the screens as a vehicle for advertising products in the pharmacy and beyond.”

The screens are hung from the ceiling over the pharmacy counter so they can be seen by people queuing or waiting for a prescription.

In designing its programmes, Pharmacy Channel has to be aware that patients might only be watching for a short time. “The NPA says that the average wait in a pharmacy is about six minutes. So we aim for a loop of programmes lasting six minutes which is repeated throughout the day,” says Mr Soldan. Within each loop are three or four topics. A topic will typically last two minutes and consists of an editorial programme followed by linked advertisements.

“The split is about 60 per cent editorial content to 40 per cent advertising,” he explains.

Benefits

The benefit to the pharmacy is boosting sales. “The advertising drives sales of the featured brands, and of other products in the same category,” Mr Soldan says. The actual increase depends on the individual category but he quotes increased sales figures of between 40 and 400 per cent.

The big question is does a constantly repeating programme drive pharmacy staff up the wall? Mr Soldan says not. “Pharmacy Channel is an overtly visual channel. It is constant sound that people find irritating, and our sound is modest. We use text in bullet points and subtitles to ensure people can see the message without having to hear it.”

Pharmacy Channel's service is currently free, although it is only available to independent pharmacies who can guarantee a good audience (ie, high enough footfall). “Some multiples have expressed an interest in our technology and we hope to work with them. It is likely they would want to create bespoke programmes,” he comments.