Ways to Boost Your Non-prescription Pharmacy Sales

Prescriptions are a vital source of revenue and perhaps the number one reason patients come to your pharmacy. Nonetheless, it is important for your business to boost non-prescription sales as well.

Over the recent years, prescriptions have been posting a dropping profit margin across the industry while margins for front-end products have been consistent and strong. If taken seriously, this merchandise can be an important source of revenue for you.

Below are strategies that you can use to entice patients to purchase non-prescription products and in the end boost your revenue.

Must Know Before Starting a Pharmacy Business

Conduct a market research

Relying on your intuition in determining the best ways to boost your non-prescription sales is damaging. Just because you like a certain product does not mean everyone else like them as well.

Analyse data and do a market research to determine which over-the-counter and retail products are on demand.

Your sales figures are an important source of data. Review them to determine which product categories are most popular with your clients.  Based on the data obtained, take steps to make these products easily accessible and visible in your pharmacy.

Design your pharmacy’s floor plan to your advantage

A well designed pharmacy layout will clearly display your products to optimize sales.

For pharmacies with fitted aisles, some areas may be receiving more foot traffic than others. Areas next to the prescription counter and aisles that lead to the checkout registers tend to be higher in traffic.

Rotate your products in and out of these heavily trafficked areas to determine which products see increased sales. Testing different floor areas will give you an idea where prime locations in your pharmacy are located.

Train your team to upsell and cross-sell

A large number of drugs dispensed may cause drug-induced nutritional deficiencies. Many of the patients that you attend to are already buying nutrients. Having this knowledge, the questions you should ask yourself are:

• Where are they buying from?
• Are they buying quality supplements that are beneficial to their health?

Patients buying supplements elsewhere may not consult a pharmacist at the time of purchase, so are often not taking the correct nutrients needed by their bodies with drug-induced depletion.

Your team is key in this strategy. Train them on how to build relationships with customers and make relevant product suggestions based on the drugs they are prescribed.

Hold weekly meetings with your team to inform them what inventory needs to be moved, marked down or removed.

Strategies for Building a Strong Financial Foundation

Establish strong customer relationships

Clients who establish good, trusted relationships with their pharmacy tend to return compared to visiting stores where they don’t have a personal connection.

Encourage your team to create an atmosphere of comfort and trust. Train them on how to engage with customers and establish personal relationships whenever possible.

Guide your staff to identify repeat customers and great them by their first name. They can go a mile further by asking questions about their families, work or pets. Everyone appreciates a personal touch.

Stock related products close to each other

Knowledge of how products relate to each other will be of help to increase your pharmacy retail sales. For instance, customers purchasing a knee brace may also find it helpful to buy joint cream; clients with a cold might be looking for a box of tissues.

Let related products be displayed next to each other. This will help your customers find what they are looking for. Remember to use your pharmacy floor plan to help you determine how to position related products for maximum impact.

Be your own secret shopper

This strategy entails forgetting everything you know about your pharmacy and walking through the doors as a secret shopper.

You can take a walk along the aisles and ask yourself if the look is inviting.

Would you continue to shop in this store? If there is a hesitation, it may be an indication that you need to change a few things.

Brightening the lightening, updating your decor, or adding a fresh coat of paint can go a long way in enhancing your customers’ shopping experience.

A Pharmacist’s Internship Experience

Unique pharmacy customer care services

In any business, everything begins and ends with customer care services.

Exceptional customer care service is one of the proven anchors you can bank on to boost product sales at your pharmacy.

Frequently, find out from your clients if there is anything you can do to improve their shopping experience. This shows that you care about what they think. It also allows you to get direct feedback to inform your team and implement changes.

There is more to a pharmacy than just a place to fill prescriptions. It is a place where clients can find convenience products, supplements, food, souvenirs and other household items. Having the right knowledge on how to effectively increase sales of these items will pay off well.