Will your store attract customers?

Many elements of good merchandising can be straightforward, as illustrated in these tips from UniChem’s commercial services manager, Sanjay Pathak:

• Make your store easy to navigate

• Ensure the aisles are clear for customers to walk through

• Provide good signposting to help customers round the store, highlighting promotions

• Swap stock from the bottom shelves to higher shelves every few weeks

Where there is a high population of mothers with babies and toddlers, Mr Pathak advises pharmacists to make their shops particularly easy to access. “This may be a differentiating factor in the choice of pharmacy,” he points out.

Regarding the type of items to stock, Mr Pathak says: “Pharmacists should be aware of trends in the market and the requirements in their locality.” For example, in some areas alternative therapies are popular but in other locations conventional medicines are preferred.

“Ensure that all your products are priced and faced forwards. Routinely pull products forwards throughout the day. If you have identified some real key winning lines, allocate appropriate space.

“You may want to double-face certain lines. Keep an eye on promotional areas and be ready to fill them during the day. You may also want to revisit your stock levels to ensure you don’t miss out on any sales as a result of uplift in demand.”

He describes the benefits of cross- merchandising (see Retail Round-up, June 2007, p1–3), for example, placing thermometers next to children’s analgesics, or shampoos and conditioners near head lice treatments.

Special offers

Mr Pathak views special offers as a great way to communicate commitment to providing value for money for customers. “Identify areas of high traffic within your store and choose high impact locations. Think about visibility to the patient — special offers are often an impulse purchase. Patients waiting for prescriptions or professional services may be attracted to offers,” he says.

“Keep your offer simple and use blocks of products to ensure maximum visual impact. Maintain promotional areas well, changing layout every week to prolong their longevity,” he adds.

Tried and tested

Good merchandising does make a difference to profits according to Mike Rudin, managing director of north London pharmacy, Mintons. He explains that he inherited a store that “wasn’t easy to shop”.

“When it was busy there simply wasn’t enough space for our customers to move around,” he says.

As part of a refit at the beginning of the year, a merchandising team from AAH spent two days planning and remerchandising the pharmacy. They focused on categories needing a high level of pharmacist consultation, those with a high retail price and the possibility of being stolen, separate medicinal categories and personal care categories where consumers prefer to choose their product with some privacy.

Poorly performing products were removed, and key brands and top sellers were placed at eye level within their categories. The sections were labelled professionally. The pharmacy staff were also educated on product information, changes in the market and shopper trends.

As a result of the refit Mr Rudin says he has seen an increase in sales figures and predicts a 10 to 20 per cent increase in sales of over-the-counter products in the next 12 to 18 months. He also anticipates an increased customer base, with new customers also bringing in their prescriptions. This, he says, should lead to an additional 10 to 15 per cent increase in dispensed NHS items.

Make the store inviting

AAH pharmacy marketing manager Christine Morris says, “A good pharmacy will be inviting to customers. It will have the products they are looking for in logical places and, as much as possible, grouped together. You need to make sure that products like general-sale-list medicines are given plenty of space and not hidden away as they are very profitable for the pharmacy.”