by Megan Moyer, corporate marketing manager, for the “Profits in the front end” blog series
If you’ve positioned your pharmacy as a wellness destination for your community, consider developing a healthcare information center. It will reinforce your position and brand, and strengthen customer relationships, including building loyalty with new and current customers.
When you add a healthcare information center, you become more than a store; you become a valued resource. Providing literature with educational content such as explanations, tips, and recommendations will exemplify how you truly care about your patients’ health and well-being. Making this extra effort will turn shoppers into long-time customers. 
Consider putting the resource center in or near your waiting area to offer easy access for prescription patients. They’ll have something to read while they wait and will be able to ask more knowledgeable questions about the management of their condition or illness. Add signs in your OTC sections to direct patients to this resource who may not make it back to the prescription counter.
Where will you get the information? Visit the websites of national associations for literature you can print (American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, or American Heart Association, for example). Also reach out to local hospitals, clinics, and advocate organizations to see if they have literature they are willing to provide. By building relationships with other healthcare organizations in your community, you create a network of health providers that can be influencers and refer patients to your store. Assign a staff member to monitor the levels of literature and be responsible for printing more copies as needed or reaching out to partners when restocking is required. That associate should also always be looking for new pieces to add whether it’s for a condition that currently isn’t covered, or monitoring to see if new information comes out about a condition or illness represented in your healthcare information center.
You can also call upon this network if you decide to take it a step further and host educational sessions or other events designed to build traffic, trust, and engage customers in a more meaningful manner.
Check with manufacturers and your wholesaler to find out if they have a program that could provide or supplement your center. Many manufacturers have literature specific to clinical studies their product is designed to address.
A healthcare information center will show your patients that you see them as more than a customer. Devoting space and time to helping them manage their health and wellness demonstrates that you are a partner in their journey.
