"Follow the yellow brick road" is a famous quote from the Wizard Of Oz, but it can also serve as a message for you to increase your pharmacy's front end merchandise sales. By creating your own metaphorical "yellow brick road" – one that subtly guides customers through your store in such a way that they can't help but see the must-have merchandise they might otherwise miss – you can gently lead customers to where you want them to go.
Make your "yellow brick road" part of your initial pharmacy design
When you're setting up your new pharmacy design and layout, establish a footpath that strategically leads throughout the store and provides customers with a direct line of sight towards every department of merchandise as they head towards the prescription counter.
It may be tempting to make your footpath as narrow as possible as part of your pharmacy design so that you have more room for merchandise displays... don't do that. People will feel crowded or will have to jostle each other to get by each other. That will defeat the purpose of having it: They'll avoid your "road" if it's not both comfortable and convenient to use. Make it wide enough for traffic to easily pass both ways.
Guide so that customers don't have to think about where they're going
Customers' natural tendency is to first look left and then go right when they enter your pharmacy. You will want to take advantage of this natural tendency by constructing your "yellow brick road" in a counterclockwise foot traffic pattern through your store. When you visually lay out that footpath by using easy-to-see carpeting or contrasting wood or tile flooring, customers won't get confused about where they are heading.
By simply following your "road" through the store as they're on their way to purchase what they came for, customers will also be guided past and through other departments, which quickly increases the opportunity for impulse browsing and buying. Displays are a great way to encourage impulse buys. It's estimated that some 90% of your customers buy items not on their list. Encourage this natural impulse by placing displays for each department within clear visibility of your yellow brick road so that customers will be enticed to come off that footpath and investigate further.
Make it work to your advantage
Make your "yellow brick road" work to your advantage by making it more difficult for customers to remain in a task-oriented, no-browse shopping mentality. For example, place the prescription counter at the back of the store so that customers can't help but see every department and every sale item display when they come in to fill their prescriptions. Also, place seating conveniently throughout your store so that ill or disabled customers can rest if need be.
Customers can't buy what you have to offer if they can't see it. Therefore, your footpath should pass by every department and major display on your customers' way to "destination shopping," such as prescription pick-ups or the purchase of necessary items like over-the-counter medications. They can break away from your yellow brick road to shop in each department and then rejoin traffic flow easily when they're ready to continue to their original destination.
Dorothy's not the only one to see the value of the yellow brick road!
