Running a pharmacy is not easy, and you might feel that all the effort you’ve made to stock new products, cut costs, or adjust your prices haven’t resulted in higher profit margins. You might even feel that stagnant profits have become something of a chronic health condition for your company.
Looking for a remedy?
We might have just the prescription for you! NOVA has worked with a wide variety of pharmacies and we have partners who succeeded in boosting their sales and growth by shocking margins (see our independent pharmacy profit case study for SuperNOVA Certified Partner, Oswald’s Pharmacy).
Here are the best ways to create a profitable pharmacy, based on our experience with pharmacies like yours.
How Can You Make Your Pharmacy Profitable?
You can make your pharmacy more profitable by creating a retail experience that’s focused on empowering your customers and bringing them joy.
That’s the short answer.
The long answer is that pharmacies are at the mercy of a difficult business model. Many customers come to your pharmacy for prescription refills, which aren’t profitable. You can earn higher sales from OTC medication, but you also face stiff competition from major retailers. For these reasons, many pharmacies have become reliant on using snacks and impulse buys to punch up sales.
We’re assuming that you didn’t enter the pharmacy business to sell soft drinks and fidget spinners. We know that pharmacy owners are passionate about helping people find their way back to better health and happiness, and we’re happy to tell you that goal is also the main ingredient in creating a profitable pharmacy.
So how exactly do you incorporate your mission into your store?
Offer High-Margin Services
You can increase your sales by adding products to your pharmacy that earn higher profit margins. OTC medications take up the majority of your shelves, but these products are also available at grocery stores and other retailers so you have competition and pricing limits.
Consider adding more home medical equipment (HME) to your store. Not only are these products high in demand (every day, 10,000 Americans turn 65 years old!) but they also have much higher profit margins than medications, vitamins or supplements.
You can also offer services such as repairs, product servicing, and part replacements. This keeps customers coming back to your store, and shows them they can trust and count on you to support them and improve their quality of life.
Consider adding HME products that have some degree of customizability, like the products offered by NOVA. People love being able to mix and match the colors and styles of their HME gear because it allows them to express themselves, just like with the clothing and fashion accessories they wear.
The shopping experience and use of the products is more fun for customers when they have personalizable options to choose from.
Turn Your Staff Into Experts
Your staff are a crucial part of the customer experience and have a major role to play in building trust and loyalty with customers. The challenge with adding HME products to your store is that your staff might not be knowledgeable about how the equipment works or how to assist customers in choosing what’s best for them.
We recognized this problem and created a simple, video-based training on NOVA products. The training takes less than 2 hours to complete and turns your staff into NOVA MVPs. Your staff will know how to help your customers find the right equipment and will be ready to answer all their questions and concerns.
Create an Engaging Retail Space
Your customers shouldn’t feel like they’ve entered a grocery store when they visit your pharmacy. They’re coming to find products to make their lives better, so pharmacies will benefit by infusing a sense of hope and possibility into their retail space.
“We’ve helped pharmacies reimagine the way they display their HME products, and this has transformed not only the aisles but the atmosphere of the store,” says Sue Chen, founder and CEO of NOVA.
“Giving customers a space where they can try out mobility products with guidance from expert staff members makes people feel as though they’ve discovered a special wellness space where they’re cared for and empowered. They know they can trust the pharmacy as much as their doctors.”
With NOVA you can make a similar transformation in your own pharmacy, even if you’re upgrading just one aisle at a time.
Make Your Pharmacy the One-Stop Shop for Wellness
Choosing products that empower your customers is one of the best ways to create a profitable pharmacy. When you partner with NOVA, you can infuse your store with hope and joy. All you need are products that will make a lasting difference for your customers who need more than medication to improve their quality of life.
Contact NOVA today if you’re ready to get started!
