By Nelson Rodriguez, merchandising analyst, for the Resolutions for Independent Pharmacies blog series

Endcaps are an area of prime selling real estate in your store because they are easily found, and generally speaking, easy to shop since it’s a compact area of products. They are often used for seasonal promotions, but also can be used to gather health, beauty, and wellness (HBW) items that can be helpful addressing symptoms of various diseases and condition states.

How do you know which diseases or condition states may be beneficial to address with an endcap? Think of your customer demographic and look at the most popular prescriptions prescribed at your pharmacy. You should also look at your POS reports for top-selling front-end items that might indicate which healthcare areas to target. Once you have thought about your patient needs and potentially identified a group of patients that could benefit from these types of endcaps, it’s time to assemble the products.

What’s nice about putting these endcaps together 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. You can always rotate the endcap back a few months later.

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 couple of ideas for condition-specific endcaps.

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. Pharmacists should inform the selection to be included.

Stay forever young – This endcap can feature products for the 65 and older demographic. While not a “condition” per se, there are a common set of challenges that are largely shared by this age group. Items to consider including are vitamins and supplements geared toward this segment of the population, arthritis pain relievers, pill boxes, and incontinence products.

If you receive our monthly TEMPS^® Category Manager program, you will find more ideas along these lines in the endcap flowgrams we provide. If you would like some other ideas, feel free to contact me or any of my fellow category analysts for help.

If you have branded your pharmacy as a healthcare destination, think about adding disease-state or condition-specific endcaps. By making it easy for your patients to find everything they need in one spot and taking the time to thoughtfully put such an endcap together, it demonstrates your genuine concern for your patients.