By Nelson R. for our 99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy blog series

There’s an independent pharmacy in my neighborhood and their front-end is not laid out well. That sounds harsh, but as a professional in the industry, I’ve been in a lot of pharmacies, and while there may not necessarily be a magic formula for store layout success, there are some definite “don’ts.” This pharmacy, with its cluttered shelves, out-of-date merchandise, and lack of signage, hits all of the don’ts. Customers bypass the front-end as fast as possible to get to the pharmacy counter, get their prescriptions, and leave. Potential front-end profits walk out the door with them.

The solution lies within the store aisles. Use them to increase your store’s flow of traffic and dictate the opportunities for purchase your customers experience in your front-end. To get the most out of your aisles, position your most popular departments close to the pharmacy to encourage shoppers to pass through and interact with the less popular departments on their way to their destination. Attract them to these departments with clear signage, or use 3D or hanging point-of-sale materials to catch shoppers’ eyes and pull them towards the departments they may otherwise walk past.

Your seasonal or themed endcaps can also be a huge help in redirecting your store traffic to high-profit areas of your store. Set up an endcap with select items for a theme or a specific category, and place a sign directing shoppers to “More in Aisle 4!” You’ll capture their attention with the endcap’s promotional messaging, and by directing them to a different aisle, you could potentially earn incremental sales as they pass by departments they may not otherwise have shopped.

If you have a discount or clearance aisle at your store, put the rest of the store to work to guide shoppers to it. Place a sign at the pharmacy counter announcing “Visit our clearance sale in Aisle 2,” or try “Did you visit our clearance section?” at check out to interest shoppers in traversing the store to check out these deals.

Most pharmacy customers will come to the pharmacy with a destination purchase in mind, but that doesn’t mean they won’t add on purchases if the opportunity or promotion presents itself. You can create that opportunity by helping shoppers navigate your store!

Nelson is responsible for providing support to the Category Research & Analysis department, and a portion of Hamacher's merchandising program, TEMPS. Nelson also develops planograms for one of HRG's key wholesaler accounts.