There’s something satisfying about a good pharmacy design rounded out by well-installed pharmacy shelving. The team at Shelving Design Systems takes pride in our work, and our customers love the results. However, neither our work nor yours are done once the last of the sawdust is vacuumed and the last jar of ointment is placed on the shelves. Your shelving should evolve so your business can, too. That means regular shelving updates.
Condition
Even though we pride ourselves on the quality and durability of both our shelves and our workmanship, they don’t have supernatural properties. The passage of time, everyday wear and tear, and mishaps caused by everything from clumsy employees to unruly kids or wayward wheelchairs can all mean that some components will need to be replaced from time to time. Inspect your shelving regularly to make sure it’s in peak condition, maintain it as suggested, and make repairs or replacements as needed.
Visual Merchandising
Visual merchandising is important for retail pharmacies of any stripe. Some of your efforts, like time-sensitive updates to keep up with holidays, changes in season, or the “seasons” of your customers’ ailments (allergy season, cold and flu season) are obvious, and can be major undertakings.
Others can be more subtle, but no less important. These include changes to signage, making changes to your lighting, or making regular adjustments to your POS displays, each of which can bring with it reasons to reconfigure your shelving.
Inventory Management
Proper inventory management isn’t about having a lot of stuff crammed on your shelves. It’s having the right amount of the right product at the right place and time, and that applies to your pharmacy area and sales floor alike. Stock that isn’t moving represents money parked on your shelves; medications that are in low demand or that pass their expiration date for lack of need represent money you’d might as well be setting on fire.
Inventory management encompasses more than your pharmacy shelving, of course. It also means POS, compliance, and inventory management systems that “talk” to each other, and the discipline to monitor and use the data they provide. That, in turn, brings us to our next point…
Pharmacy Workflow
Maximizing your workflow means maximizing opportunities. If you have automation or a pharmacy management system, use them. But don't stop there. Pay attention to your layout, key performance metrics, and the rest of the fundamentals of your pharmacy workflow.
Eliminating waste motion, excess stock, and a number of other common issues means smarter scheduling, better payroll control, and letting your staff spend more time on the tasks that matter — the ones that directly impact patient outcomes and your bottom line.
Personnel Management
Keeping your pharmacy better-organized both behind and in front of the counter has benefits that go beyond your sales numbers, inventory management, and workflow. It trickles down to your personnel management as well, since effective pharmacy design lets you maximize each asset in your chain, including your human assets.
One thing you should have noticed by now, and that we hope will be your takeaway, is that none of these factors are one-time events; they’re processes, and you’ll see the best results if you implement them on an ongoing basis. That requires a bit of flexibility in your mindset and your shelving alike, but Shelving Design Systems’ pharmacy solutions are tailor-made to help with both. From our custom solutions to our serpentine gondola, to off-the-rack shelving that’s as versatile as it is durable, we make it easy.
