Secrets for Creating a Modern Pharmacy with a Neighborhood Feel

As an independent pharmacist, you have to make sure you stand out from the "crowd" of retail pharmacists out there. To do that, you are going to have to set yourself apart, to go above and beyond the call of duty. You're going to need to move from focusing on just your sales volume to serving customers personally, to meeting their needs effectively even as you keep an eye on your bottom line.

In addition to these "common sense" customer service adjustments, there's another way you can create your own modern pharmacy with a neighborhood feel, so that you have a place customers will feel comfortable coming to – and staying to browse, and eventually, to buy. When customers come and stay, you can get to know them better, get to know their wants and needs, so that you can serve them better – and that bodes well for business and for you.

How do you make your pharmacy comfortable so that customers don't simply feel they have to rush through their shopping, or simply come in, pick up a prescription, and leave? The key is in your pharmacy design.

Use full-spectrum fluorescent lights

Fluorescent lights make everything brighter, so that customers can see everything at a glance, which will make finding what they need much easier. Unfortunately, standard fluorescent lights have an unpleasant flicker to them that can be uncomfortable for some, and their unrelenting glare can be unpleasant after a short while. By switching to full-spectrum fluorescent lights, you'll soften the overall effect of the fluorescent lights without skimping on brightness, creating a much more welcoming ambience in your store.

Place popular products in several places throughout the store

Another key to a welcoming pharmacy design is to make the most popular products easy to find. Aspirin and other pain relievers, common stock up items like hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol, sanitary supplies (for women), incontinence supplies, adhesive bandages… the list goes on and. Place these items in standard pharmacy shelving in their correct aisles as well, of course, but then use other pharmacy design options to create specialized and very visible freestanding displays at specific places in the store (near the checkout) and at specific times of year (cold and flu season). 

Place items where they'll be easier to reach, and avoid using topmost shelving for anything but storage

Today's pharmacy design shelving options let you create shelving for products that will serve the customers well, while at the same time making the best use of limited space. Make sure that all products are within easy reach and no higher than eye level anywhere. Many of your customers will likely be elderly and/or disabled, and placing products higher than eye level make them impossible for those customers to reach. Use topmost shelving for storage of extra items only, so that you can quickly restock lower shelves should items on those shelves run low.

Provide seating at various places throughout the store

One of the things you can do to make your pharmacy design more homey and welcoming is to provide strategic seating throughout the store. Many of your customers may be ill, elderly, and/or disabled, and maybe too proud to request use of your store's motorized scooter for shopping (which you should also provide, if you can). Even if they don't want that, though, providing strategic seating around the store (at the ends of certain aisles, for example, alongside or instead of endcaps) and in the area prescriptions are filled will show them that you go the extra mile, and will really do your best to care for them.

Need more ideas? Download our Pharmacy Display Inspirations eBook.

photo credit: Rolf_52 / Shutterstock.com