The Power of Good Neighbor Pharmacy
Among many things, the COVID-19 pandemic proved that having a flexible front end is a major asset for independent pharmacies. It also revealed how much potential your front end has when it comes to engaging patients with a well-tailored in-store experience. When you can consistently deliver what patients need most in the moment, you build long-term loyalty that will transcend any barriers that arise over time. The trick then becomes understanding the dynamics of your unique community and adjusting your front end accordingly.
Fresh eyes on your front end
Our Good Neighbor Pharmacy business coaches draw from various sources of data, analytics, and insights to help our members determine what products they should be stocking in their front end at any given time. They take into consideration the demographics and prevalent disease states where our members operate, along with the latest pharmacy best practices and retail trends. Armed with this information, they provide personalized guidance so our members can make meaningful changes to their front end by rearranging displays, pulling high-priority merchandise into high-traffic areas, and swapping out low-performing products for more in-demand items.
Our retail merchandising specialists are the perfect partners for implementing those recommendations in the front end. They work in collaboration with our coaches to help execute action plans and keep stores on point. Using proven planograms that are backed by extensive customer buying habit research, these retail experts ensure our members have the right products to boost OTC sales in all the right places throughout their store.
“When the pandemic first hit, we had our Good Neighbor Pharmacy business coach work closely with our front-end sales associate so we could adjust our approach. We utilized front-end shopping lists for drive-thru and delivery patients when we had to shut our doors, and then we refreshed the front of the store to create more space on the salesfloor when we reopened. Our coach also advised us to launch a loyalty program and get more active on social media. All these things helped us drive more than $120,000 in front-end sales in one year — during a pandemic!”
Donna Avant, Owner, Ehrhardt Pharmacy
“Business Coaching has inspired me to improve our front end through continuous encouragement and motivation. Our coach always has excellent recommendations specifically for our store that help me think outside the box and drive results.”
Elizabeth Varn, Sales Associate, Ehrhardt Pharmacy
Enhancing the impact of your efforts
Working with a business coach and retail merchandising specialist is a surefire way to get your front end fully optimized, but that’s not the end of the story. New products launch, patient needs shift, and pandemics change everything. There’s always something around the corner that will require you to modify your front end if you want to keep it generating as much profit as possible. For that, we offer several tools to keep our members up to date on all things related to retail.
First, our monthly front-end magazine, Retail Remedy, is filled with the latest OTC promotions, new product announcements, and industry trends. Inside you’ll find information on our top-selling products, as well as discounted pricing on more than 400 items. In addition to being available online, a physical copy of the magazine is included in our Front-End Kit, which is a monthly mailing sent to all Good Neighbor Pharmacy members who sign up to receive it. Each kit contains a promotional calendar, a variety of easy-to-follow guides, marketing materials, and more. This makes updating your front end on a monthly basis simple and fun.
Another way we help our members keep their front end fresh is with Hot Price. This powerful program allows stores to offer steep discounts on more than 150 top-selling OTC products, while protecting margins with manufacturer credits for each item sold. We also provide our members with bold point-of-purchase display materials to make sure they capture patients‘ attention and drive more front-end sales.
The Hot Price program is complemented by our Flipp circular, which helps our members broadcast these specials to their patients month after month. With each issue averaging 52,000 views per pharmacy, Flipp is a key contributor to the success of the program, which has been proven to boost revenue — all thanks to our members working with their dedicated team of experts and leveraging the front-end tools we provide.
