You already have all the answers you need to your business questions. They’re just buried in the data of your pharmacy’s operations, waiting to be unearthed.
When you start digging through reports, the metrics from your business will reveal details about staffing, purchasing, profitability, and shopping patterns. Once you understand what the data shows, you have the seeds of change to grow profits, weed out inefficiencies, and cultivate a customer-focused pharmacy. To start, focus on a few patterns.
When does it rain?
Some days are a downpour, while others are a draught. Do you know which days—even which hours—are overflowing with customers? And do you get the most out of those busy times? Examine traffic as well as transactions, since “busy-ness” doesn’t always result in purchases. When you figure out when you have the heaviest traffic and when you have the highest sales, you can better pinpoint staffing schedules. You can also adjust when you take on special projects, focus on re-stocking products, and deal with stacks of paper instead of lines of people.
You might also realize that you need to adjust your hours, even if only from season to season.
Trim the deadheads
You won’t know what moves—and what doesn’t—until you examine the numbers. For products that fly off your shelves, you might want to maximize your on-hand quantity so you can maximize sales. You might try moving slower-selling items or reviewing competitors’ pricing. And if they’re still not selling? Set up a clearance sale to free shelf space for more profitable products.
Take notes from big retailers and pay attention to how they change up their product lines and store layouts from season to season. Use planograms and plain ol’ “common sense-ograms” to predict what items will be most in demand, depending upon holidays, seasons, and what’s going on in your community.
Focus on the healthy blooms
It’s always great to increase sales! But are those sales the most profitable? Just because something sells doesn’t mean it’s putting money in your till. That’s why you need to measure Gross Profit Return on Investment (GPROI). By dividing your gross profit by your average industry cost, you’ll uncover the amount returned on every dollar you invest in your store’s inventory. No more guesses or hunches. Hard numbers will show you which departments and products are the most profitable in your pharmacy based on the money you’re actually bringing in.
Your data is rich with data specific to your business. And if you need help, ProfitGuard professionals are experts in the field of pharmaceutical purchasing, ready to help you better tend to your profits.
A Member-Owned Company Serving Independent Pharmacies
PBA Health is dedicated to helping independent pharmacies reach their full potential on the buy-side of their business. Founded and run by pharmacists, PBA Health serves independent pharmacies with group purchasing services, wholesaler contract negotiations, proprietary purchasing tools, and more.
An HDA member, PBA Health operates its own NABP-accredited warehouse with more than 6,000 SKUs, including brands, generics, narcotics CII-CV, cold-storage products, and over-the-counter (OTC) products — offering the lowest prices in the secondary market.
