The independent pharmacy faces some tough competition with retail pharmacies. Even though not true, customers generally have the idea that big-box pharmacies like those located in Walmart stores, etc., or chain pharmacies like CVS or Walgreens are a cheaper and better alternative versus what they perceive to be the more expensive option of the independent pharmacy.
The key to getting customers' business is to provide better customer service. In every area, independent pharmacies can beat the competition if they focus on providing individualized attention to customers they not only serve, but know personally. That's something no retail pharmacy can say.
Following are some top tips for competing with big-box pharmacies:
Provide personalized customer service
The independent pharmacist should focus on providing truly personalized customer service. Spend time getting to know each customer so that that customer's true needs and wants are heard and met. A retail pharmacy can't hope to provide this level of service, since they do business based on volume alone.
Reassure customers that their prescriptions are filled right there in the independent pharmacy
Prescription mixups can and do happen with sometimes deadly consequences in a retail pharmacy, because the prescriptions are shipped out to be filled at distant locations and then shipped back to specific retail stores. By contrast, the independent pharmacist fills each customer's prescription personally, and such errors are rare because the pharmacist truly knows the customer in question.
Provide free delivery service
Retail drugstores expect sick customers to pick up their prescriptions. Again, this is done as a so-called "cost-saving" measure, but leaves the customer out in the cold, sometimes literally. The independent pharmacist's free delivery service means that customers can stay home and focus on getting well. This also creates a feeling of loyalty and trust in customers, since they will most certainly recognize that independent pharmacists truly go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure their customers are satisfied and taken care of.
Provide a clinical pharmacy within the independent pharmacy establishment
The clinical pharmacy is a new trend in the healthcare field; with this, a healthcare clinic is established within independent pharmacies' locations, providing much-needed non-urgent healthcare for customers. The clinical pharmacy is a necessary addition to the healthcare field because it removes the need for customers to go to urgent care, the emergency room, or schedule a visit to a doctor's office for a non-urgent healthcare need.
The clinical pharmacy provides a means for patients to get these non-urgent healthcare needs taken care of quickly, conveniently, and affordably. Clinical pharmacies are staffed by nurse practitioners rather than by doctors; they focus on giving patients in-depth one-on-one attention, hearing their concerns, taking detailed histories, and in general providing the quality of care that most harried physicians would be hard-pressed to do.
Further, in the independent pharmacy setting, the clinical pharmacy allows staff to truly get to know the patients. While retail pharmacies do often offer independent pharmacies within their own establishments, as well, they cannot provide the same level of individualized attention, nor can they ever truly have any hope of getting to know their customers.
Finally, independent pharmacists can often provide reasonable payment options for services provided when patients are uninsured or underinsured; their payment options can also save uninsured or underinsured customers 25 to 50% on total costs versus those provided by retail pharmacies, if they exist at all.
