SHELF OBSESSED

Any top chef would undoubtedly agree that the secret to an award-winning dish encompasses more than just quality ingredients combined in a certain way. Presentation of the product also holds a great deal of importance in the eventual outcome of the success of the dish, and great pains are often taken to make whatever has been prepared appear as appetizing as possible. Even the most delicious and nutritious concoction served up in a fine restaurant will likely lose its appeal if presented in a shoddy, haphazard manner.

As an independent pharmacy, it's unlikely you'll ever be able to compete with the large, big-box drug stores price-wise, but that doesn't mean you can't compete with them in other ways that customers may find even more important than price. Besides the fact that your store is in a community that your customers may find more convenient to visit than the chain store pharmacy down the road, many of them may also have a preference to do their shopping where they know the money they spend will stay in their own town or neighborhood.

Studies have shown that customers in retail establishments make three basic types of purchases:

• Planned purchases, or those they come into your store with the intention of buying, often written on a list
• Companion purchases, or those they hadn't planned on making but that directly relate to their preplanned purchase items
• Impulse purchases, or those that are neither planned nor related to other purchased items, but those they're nudged into buying by sheer impulse upon sight (or even smell!). Think candy bars, chewing gum and magazines at the end of just about every grocery store counter

As a pharmacy owner, you can be pretty sure that customers coming into your store, even those you'd consider "steady" customers, appreciate having a choice when it comes to their retailing options and may frequent various other shopping locations as well. And while some of your clients may be coming in for a quick script fill and nothing more, that doesn't mean they have to leave with no additional purchases in their baskets. Your store's overall retail design can have a real influence here.

As a retail store owner or manager, you're no doubt aware that certain space on store shelves is highly coveted by manufacturers and that the middle, eye-level shelves are most desirable. In many areas, manufacturers are willing to pay dearly to have access to the choicest retail shelving spots in a store because they know that preferential product placement will garner them more and faster sales. No area in a store is more valuable for product display than at the end of an aisle on an endcap.

As the owner or manager of an independent pharmacy, you may already be aware of the potential point of purchase (POP) displays have in beefing up your front-end retail sales efforts. What you may not know, however, are the different ways you can use POP displays, the various types of displays available, and how to incorporate each to your best advantage.

Today, more than ever, effective point of purchase displays have become an important factor affecting your bottom line. Whether you’re running a grocery store, a pharmacy, or an auto parts distributorship, every retail establishment has a point located somewhere within the store where purchases are made, which provides the perfect opportunity for point of purchase displays.

Whether they're located in a grocery store, a neighborhood pharmacy, or a retail clothing establishment, all retail display cases serve a similar set of purposes. Some are more successful at this endeavor than others, and our goal here is to share some tips to get you thinking about ways to give your store’s retail display cases a functional makeover. Function, however, is just one ingredient to consider.