Making a Success of Your Pharmacy Refit
Over recent years, of the retail sectors who have survived the onslaught of Supermarkets, few have needed to embrace change more extensively that Pharmacy.
The average turnover proportion used to operate at a split of 50/50 between over the counter sales and prescription items. This has changed radically, to a point where most retail pharmacies would attribute little more than 20% of turnover to retail items with the balance coming from dispensary. The consequence has been that there has been a corresponding shift is space allocation within many premises.
When supermarkets made their presence felt, traditional pharmacy line sales just fell away and what was left was at low margin.
Pharmacies did have a couple of things in their favour however. These were the licensing restrictions on opening premises to dispense medicines and the continuation of limiting the sales of Pharmacy only items to licensed Chemists.
These constraints meant that the community pharmacy still had protection from being crushed by the Giants. It also resulted in a shift of the demographics of most pharmacy outlets, such that the Dispensary areas increased in size and the retail areas correspondingly reduced. Prescription rates have increased considerably and there have been many changes in the market as a whole, but generally Community pharmacy has done better than survive.
In particular, one could say that pharmacy has generally proven pretty recession proof, maybe even to the extent that it has profited from the higher volume of sickness originating directly from recession.
Pharmacies who currently operate, in general have made significant changes to the arrangements of their premises by refitting to account for the market moves.
The outcome of all this has meant that refitted Pharmacies are re-configured to include larger dispensaries, consultation rooms, medical testing services and facilities to cater for Disabled customers and employees. Overall, changing the face of retail pharmacy to present a much more “ethical” image.
The needs and demands of operating Community or Surgery based Pharmacy are manifold. It is therefore essential that any Design and Fit out partner chosen for a refurbishment, has the up to date knowledge and understanding to account for all the aspects involved.
Charting the best course through a refit process can be hazardous. The expenditure is likely to be significant and getting it wrong can be very costly – though harder to identify. Most important with the continuing escalation on prescription numbers, is to achieve the most efficient and ergonomic solution for the Dispensary.
Therefore, finding the right Designer is critical and achieving the right balance in all areas absolutely essential. A mistake at this level could cost dear for years to come.
Learn more about Pharmacy Furniture. Stop by Ken Rand’s site where you can find out all about Pharmacy Design and Fitting and what it can do for you.