If you manage a business, there is one point that you must always keep in mind, whatever your sector: updating. Updating or innovation both go hand in hand with transformation and future, and if there is a future it is because there is profitability, and this is a key pillar of any business.
Pharmacies are no longer outdated establishments in terms of technology, or at least they are becoming less so. If you are reading this, it is because you want to transform your pharmacy towards a more competitive value proposition that will allow you to increase your profitability.
Keep in mind that the trends we are going to tell you about must go hand in hand with a good business model that is updated or renewed in the face of changes and a good human potential within the business. These are the minimum bases to carry out an optimal relationship with our customers.
If you want to go further (and we strongly recommend you do so), here are the retail trends that are key to the most innovative pharmacies:
In any course, workshop, master or business degree there is something that is repeated a thousand times: know your customer as if it were your best friend, only then you can offer a unique shopping experience.
To this end, the retail sector has been using what large companies have been using for some time: in-store product traceability through RFID systems or beacons.
These are Bluetooth systems that allow the traceability of products within the store, in addition to knowing the movements of the consumer and thus being able to understand their preferences and interactions within the store.
A retail technology that allows the pharmacy to better understand the preferences and interactions with its products and thus offer an increasingly personalized message and experience, thus refining the consultative sales processes. The use of RFID devices also allows us to have greater control over inventory and stock, thus improving the efficiency of our team's tasks.
Data, data and more data, but what is the use of having data on our customers and potential customers if we do not know how to interpret and manage them?
Artificial Intelligence is in full splendor, although according to a recent report by Forrestor, only 15% of companies have implemented it in their businesses, even so, it is no wonder that it is gradually creeping into more companies as it allows us to understand our customer's profile: what they read, what they think, what they do and how they spend their money. A very valuable interpretation that brings us closer to a better understanding of our target that will inform us about the context in which it is more receptive.
Because with this information obtained from AI aligned with a good marketing plan, you will potentially improve the targeting of your digital marketing campaigns to your audience.
Offering your products online is a requirement for any business, a new sales channel that allows you to expand your ratio and thus have a much greater reach (if you know how to manage it, not by magic). Although the pharmacy is considered as a proximity trade where 84% of its consumers go directly to the physical store, the digital presence should not be left behind. According to Consumer Health, 60% of pharma consumers get information about online products before going to the pharmacy to buy them.
With Omnichannel, the term Omnishopper appears, a customer who interacts indifferently with the different sales channels and expects to receive an optimal service in any of them.
The consumer consults in store and buys online, or consults and buys online and picks up in store, uses the app or social networks for information and various other combinations that integrate all the channels where you have a presence.
Regardless of being in a physical store or online, users expect (and should) live the same experience in any of them. The online and physical shopping experience should not differ but there should be a unification between the different channels where our business is located.
Consistently outline and establish the experience you want your customer to live through your channels, and try to make the “line” that separates them as blurred as possible, as Felipe Marín, founding partner of FarmaKnow Consultants, points out: “the online and offline pharmacy must be part of the same environment and not be different realities”.
We can't think of a worse image than having to enter a business where there is a queue and with it, an incalculable wait. Solution for your pharmacy? the automation of services, through AI you will be able to know which services you can automate or use social listening through social networks to find out the weak points of your business.
More and more companies are looking to automate services for a more efficient and optimal internal management. among them we recommend the following:
For some years now, we have been able to find in various stores the possibility of making self-payment through screens. This service saves queues when the customer does not have to make inquiries and decides to take the product and pay for it automatically.
Collection points will allow your customers to shop and pay without queuing. It is as simple as implementing a smart box office in your store where your customers can pick up their purchases without waiting, at any time and totally adapted to their rhythm of life.
An intelligent system that most Spanish pharmacies are incorporating into their businesses.
Applying these strategies will give your pharmacy the boost it needs to be competitive. You will attract attention and if you take the right approach, you will attract new customers and retain the ones you already have.
