By Colleen Volheim for our 99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy blog series
It can be difficult to know how to best position departments in your store to make the most of cross-selling opportunities. You may set a category adjacent to departments where it feels applicable, but it may not be the most profitable place for it. How can you determine where you can make the most of cross-selling opportunities in your store?
One place you can start is by looking at your customer base. When your customers come in, pay attention to what they are purchasing. If they come in to find items to treat a cold, what other departments do they shop? It’s likely that one place they head to is the pain relief category to address the aches and pains that can accompany a cold.
When we look at the foot care category, we know that when shoppers purchase cushions and other foot care products, they also buy pain relief products. Oftentimes they purchase bandages too. Make it convenient for your customers by placing all of these departments within arms’ reach.
A new cross-selling opportunity is developing between feminine care and incontinence. This is one you can’t miss out on! There’s a large cross-over now between these two categories that will continue to grow as more feminine care brands introduce products that address the needs of this growing segment of women who suffer with incontinence. Be on the forefront of this movement and position those two departments adjacent to each other.
Think about the products that may complement one another when treating common conditions and place them in the same aisle. If you can’t track the items your customers tend to buy at the same time, depending on your POS system, you may be able to see in your sales reports which product types are often purchased together. Or you can always call on our experts at HRG. Day in and day out, we look at data to determine the best merchandising practices for independent pharmacy. We’re always ready to help.
Colleen leads the Category Research & Analysis department in gathering category information, reviewing new items and analyzing data to develop the industry’s best planograms to maximize category results. Colleen actively supports the Account Development team by working directly with clients to understand needs, define solutions, and deliver results.
