by Tom Boyer for our “99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy” blog series
In order to maximize profits in your store, you should encourage full-store shopping. What do I mean by full-store shopping? When we conduct continuing education (CE) sessions, we often talk about “four-corner exposure.” The goal should be to expose your customer to as much of your store as you can – lead them to each and every corner.
What you don’t want is for patients to come in, have a direct path to the pharmacy counter, and a direct path back out the door. An easy way to prevent this is to break up your gondola runs. Stay away from the “bowling alley” effect and stagger your gondolas so traffic flow is forced to go through at least some of your front-end departments on the way to and from the pharmacy counter.
Another way to encourage full-store shopping is to have dynamic endcap displays. Endcaps are the second-most shopped area of the store and are a chance for you to be creative. Endcaps can be seasonal, condition-specific, or feature local products – let your imagination go. If shoppers know they can find unique or interesting items on your endcaps, they will seek them out and make their way around the store to shop for them.
Proper signage will also encourage customers to explore various areas of your store. Use aisle markers, especially for key destination categories, such as diabetes care. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to find what they are looking for, and also discover new sections to shop.
With a good store layout designed to promote traffic flow to all areas of your store, you can foster a full-store shopping experience. If you’re unsure how to go about it, email me and I can share some of our experiences.
As Director of National Accounts, Tom manages the business relationships of Hamacher’s wholesale distributor clients. In addition, he works with industry partners such as POS vendors, data solutions providers, independent pharmacies, and retail chains, as well as directing new product development opportunities geared to pharmaceutical distribution. He is also an owner of the company and guest lecturer at pharmacy schools.