SHELF OBSESSED

When an efficient pharmacy workflow allows things to run smoothly in the back end of your drugstore, everyone benefits.

Customers are more satisfied because their orders are filled more quickly (and with fewer errors), and staff members are happier because they're able to work at their highest appropriate levels to provide the greatest value.

The pharmacist isn't busy performing tasks that could and should be done by lesser-certified technicians, and technicians aren't spending their time completing tasks that could just as well be performed by automated (robotic) equipment.

Finally, a freed-up pharmacist allows more time to spend face to face with patients dispensing advice and performing other important services, such as immunizations and blood pressure checks.

As an independent pharmacy owner or manager, you're required to wear many hats simultaneously to keep things running smoothly, including that of, conceivably, a pharmacist, a sales trainer, a manager, a motivator, a hirer/firer, an accountant and, perhaps most important, a dedicated pharmacy customer service expert. It's been determined through numerous studies that many pharmacy customers place your fast, friendly, personal service high on the list of reasons they choose to shop at your smaller, independent pharmacy rather than at the various big-box, chain store pharmacies at their disposal. In a study conducted by Drug Store News, it was found that, besides price, the two top criteria for choosing a pharmacy are service and location. As a neighborhood independent drugstore, you can offer both.

When you're building a new or remodeling an existing pharmacy there's so much to think about that one of your very first considerations should well be whether you feel it would be advantageous to retain the services of a pharmacy design firm. This is an economical way to bypass any number of potential mistakes often made by those less experienced in the area of successful pharmacy design/construction. Depending on the expertise of the available professionals in this area, their influence on your new project should allow you to make the most of your ideas and the resources you have to turn them into reality.

Point of purchase displays, commonly called POP displays in the retail industry, are a proven method for increasing customer interest in certain products and stimulating those customers to buy what's being displayed, often impulsively. Initially, point

For many, the word “gondola” is sure to conjure up visions of the narrow, flat-bottomed boats being poled by singing gondoliers through the canals of Venice or the cars dangling precariously from cables taking passengers, especially skiers, up the mountainside. It's also the name given to that part of a hot air balloon or zeppelin where the pilot and passengers travel. In the world of retail sales, however, a gondola is a particular shelving arrangement that can be found in just about every possible type of retail sales establishment and that has long been the most popular means of displaying goods for sale.

The retail pharmacy industry is undergoing a significant transition, and independent pharmacy owners who are able to adapt to the rapidly changing trends will find themselves positioned well to profit from some newly created circumstances.

It's been 50 years since the Medicare program was enacted, and since its inception, millions have signed on to this federal insurance program. At last count more than 55 million Americans were currently receiving benefits from the program. Medicare Part D, which went into effect in January 2006, is a prescription drug plan that, according to The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2015 Budget in Brief, has more than 40 million participants enrolled, most of whom are seniors, aged 65 and older. It's estimated that seniors fill nearly 30 prescriptions per year at retail pharmacies, compared to only about half that number being filled by individuals between the ages of 19 and 64.

Modern pharmacy design has come a long way from the traditional beige and white colored, linoleum-floored, fluorescent sterility so common in the big-box stores so prevalent in many American communities. Thanks to a new focus that independent pharmacy owners and managers have adopted, often as a way of helping them stand out from the large chain-store drugstores, pharmacy design has started taking into account the feelings of the customer. Many are striving to create a shopping environment that's homey, comforting, responsive and ultra-service oriented. There are lots of things that go into creating a kind of store where people enjoy their shopping experience enough that they're happy to come back often and anxious to share the experience with friends and family. Consider some of these.

Pharmacy shelving is one of the most important aspects of any pharmacy design. In the front end of the store it's the shelving and other fixtures that display your merchandise, hopefully to its fullest advantage, and make what you have to offer logically arranged, easily accessible and attractively shown. Nice looking, strategically placed pharmacy shelving throughout your merchandising area can either set the stage for your customers to have an enjoyable and fulfilling shopping experience or misplaced, unattractive shelves can leave them feeling something altogether different.

Properly placed, the gondola shelving used in the center area of the store can guide your customers along a prearranged footpath that allows them to view the maximum number of departments as they make their way from the front entrance to the rear of the store where you've located some of your most popular items and the prescription drop-off counter. These shelves are used to create aisles and can act as temporary, movable walls and even enhance security by allowing staff to easily keep an eye on shoppers.

Pharmacy design should be seriously considered by drugstore owners in an ongoing effort to make things more convenient and accessible for patients and customers and improve efficiency and operational workflow for staff.

Sometimes patterns develop through mere redundancy, but just because that's the way you've always done things is no reason to continue on with systems that could be improved through some dedicated observation of what could be changed for the better.

Whatever type of retail enterprise you're running, if you've got a brick-and-mortar facility you're going to need some display fixtures to show off your wares. The type of shelving and fixtures you decide to employ will say a great deal about your store's purpose and merchandising philosophy and some real thought and consideration about the design, placement and installation of your store's display fixtures should be accomplished up front during any building or remodeling project.

Too often, store owners put their shelving requirements on the back burner, adding their shelves in only near the end stages of a project, utilizing what budget remains rather than having earmarked their budget for needed fixtures early on. This could be a mistake that ends up short changing you in the quality and quantity of these important furnishings that will convey so much about your brand. Whether you're outfitting a pharmacy, a convenience store, a clothing retailer, pet supply, party supply or office supply outlet, the shelving and other fixtures that take up most of the space in your merchandising area can make a huge difference in how your customers view their shopping experience and how soon they'll return to you for another visit.