Welcome to our new blog series for independent pharmacies that will include ideas, tips, tools, and actions you can take to build your front-end profits. We’ll be covering the areas of merchandising, pricing, product promotion and assortment, and more to help you grow your business. Each post will include a graphic with an indication of the amount of resources needed to accomplish it and the impact it will have to your business. If there’s a topic of interest, let us know through our contact us form!
By Tara Kaifesh, category analyst, for the “Profits in the Front End” blog series
One way to drive sales in the front-end of your pharmacy that takes a relatively minimal amount of time and effort is keeping your endcaps fresh. Strategic placement of products on endcaps is a great way to encourage add-on sales and build your customers’ baskets.
If you are able, locate endcaps in heavily trafficked areas or near the pharmacy counter. You can keep these displays fresh with new themes so as customers visit the store or stop by the pharmacy counter, there will be different products to check out. Rotate your endcaps every 45-60 days.
When picking the products to stock on endcaps, try to focus on a theme. This could be a holiday, like St. Nick or Easter, disease state such as heart health, national themed month like National Diabetes Awareness Month in November, or new items. Take a few minutes at the beginning of the year to brainstorm ideas for each month and set a goal of when to have the product mix determined, when the products should be ordered, as well as when you will feature that theme. Having these ideas and goals determined helps all involved plan and accomplish a smooth transition when it’s time to update.
OTC-focused endcaps are best placed near the pharmacy counter so if consultation is needed, customers can easily seek advice while new items are perfect to feature on an endcap in the front of the store. Shoppers may not know about these recently launched products and showcasing them where everyone entering your store can’t miss them not only can jog impulse sales, it also demonstrates you stock the latest health, beauty, and wellness products on the market.
The moral of the story is, keep your endcaps fresh and stocked. Otherwise, you could be missing out on many impulse sales!
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