SHELF OBSESSED

You've probably heard pundits bemoaning the future of the independent pharmacist, certain that it is in danger. Two reasons for this that are often cited are:

Healthcare marketing for the independent pharmacist is changing. Thanks to the availability of healthcare information on the Internet and other sources, patients are more informed than ever before. They're making choices about their healthcare. It's up to you to make sure prospective patients know that you are the best choice rather than a competitor.

What makes an independent pharmacy attractive to the customer? In addition to providing stellar customer service, the independent pharmacist can provide services that retail pharmacies just can't, like personalized attention, prescription filling right on site, home delivery of prescriptions, the ability to offer customer discounts, and the establishment of clinical pharmacies on-site so that customers can get non-urgent healthcare conveniently and affordably. Once you've done those things, though, you can set yourself apart from your competitors with clean, attractively organized location, something you can do easily with the help of pharmacy fixtures.

It's the ultimate quandary: You have a limited amount of retail space in which to sell your wares, so you need to use that space as efficiently as you can. You also need to ensure that you've got the volume of merchandise on hand necessary for top sales without making your space look cluttered and unkept, and your customers also need to be able to find what they're looking for easily. How can you maximize your space most efficiently for a clean, uncluttered look?

Pharmacy fixtures are useful to you as an independent pharmacist or small retailer in a number of ways. They help you keep your inventory organized, and they can make it possible for you to display and arrange products so that customers will find them visually appealing and can find what they need, easily.

In order to create sterile preparations as required by law, pharmacists must create and work in so-called "clean rooms," as established by USP Chapter 797, published by the United States Pharmacopeia. To create a pharmacy clean room, the following conditions must be met:

Point of purchase displays are basically the last step in the advertising process. At their essence, they catch customers' attention and make products displayed more appealing to them so that they're more likely to buy on the spur of the moment.

As a designer or project manager, we want to provide our health care and retail clients with quality, high standard display solutions. Depending on your client’s needs, there can be many options to choose from, keeping the design of the space as well as efficient flow in mind. 

With retail pharmacies on the rise, independent pharmacies must envision their own future in retail in a new way. One of the problems with retail pharmacies versus independent pharmacies is in their very number. Because these very visible establishments are everywhere, they have name recognition just as a matter of course, while the independent pharmacist must work to make his or her name known. However, there are things independent pharmacists can do to ensure their own future in retail, even in the face of these challenges. They must:

As an independent pharmacist, you doubtless don't have a huge marketing department available to you as you work to establish your presence in your community. However, it's imperative that you become known in your community so that your customers – and your colleagues in the medical community – will come to instantly recognize you and make use of your services. Here are six pharmacy marketing ideas you can use now: