By Noah Rosenthal, category analyst
Endcaps are prime selling real estate because they are in heavily trafficked areas, and, because it’s a compact area of products, are easy to shop. While they are often used for seasonal promotions, they are also perfect to assemble a varied assortment of health, beauty, and wellness (HBW) items that can help address symptoms of diseases and condition states.
To determine which diseases or condition states may be beneficial to address with an endcap, consider your customer segments and look at the most popular prescriptions purchased at your pharmacy. Also look at your POS reports for top-selling front-end items which may indicate products or subcategories to target. Once you have thought about your patient needs and potentially identified a group of patients that could benefit from this type of endcap, start assembling the products.
A benefit of this strategy is that you can cross-merchandise from a number of departments and give your patients a comprehensive solution set of products to help them manage their wellbeing. Timing is up to you, although do remember to update endcaps every 30-45 days to keep your store looking fresh and updated. You can always reset the endcap again later. Our monthly IN.store Category Management Tools program includes a promotional endcap every month as well as a quarterly new item endcap.
It’s best to situate these types of endcaps near the pharmacy counter. It’s highly likely patients will want to consult with you on some products, and this makes it convenient for you to point out products to appropriate customers.
Here are a few of ideas for condition-specific endcaps.
Heart Disease – It is estimated that roughly 127.9 million Americans (48.6%) ≥20 years of age have cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, or hypertension. An endcap to address heart disease could include blood pressure monitors, low dose aspirin, weight management items, fitness trackers, and vitamins & supplements designed to address symptoms.
Standing up to Cancer – Cancer patients could be facing a wide range of symptoms that need treatment depending on the type of cancer they are fighting. Some general items that may appeal to this audience include certain supplements targeted to immune boosting or energy enhancing, hand sanitizer, masks, specialty skin care, anti-nausea medications, and comfort items such as aromatherapy products.
Healthy Aging – This endcap can feature products for the mature older demographic. While not a “condition” per se, there are a common set of challenges that are largely shared by this age group. Consider including vitamins and supplements geared toward this segment, arthritis pain relievers, pill boxes and other aids for daily living, and incontinence products.
Condition or disease state endcaps make it easy for your patients to find everything they need in one spot. If you position your pharmacy as a healthcare destination, think about adding these types of endcaps.