Are you thinking about opening an additional location for your independent community pharmacy?
Expanding your pharmacy business can be beneficial, but it’s no easy feat. You have to weigh many pros and cons before you decide to take the leap. If you invest in opening a brand new location without sufficient preparation, it can be detrimental to your current business.
Consider these 10 things before opening a new pharmacy location.
1. Location
Just because your current pharmacy location is successful, doesn’t mean it’ll be successful somewhere else.
When considering where to open your new pharmacy, it’s important to make sure there’s a need for a pharmacy in that location.
For example, is it a rural town where patients don’t have a pharmacy nearby to pick up their prescriptions? Or, is the only other pharmacy in town a chain that can’t provide the customer service your independent can?
Additionally, you should look at the area’s population to determine if it can support another pharmacy.
READ NEXT: How to Select the Best Pharmacy Location
2. Staff
Do you have enough employees to stretch them between two locations, or will you need to hire additional staff to run the second location?
Odds are, you’ll probably need to hire a few new people. And, hiring new people costs money.
Make sure you have the funds to pay extra salaries, and that current employees have the time to help train new ones.
3. Capital
Having enough cash flow to stay in business before becoming profitable is one of the biggest challenges when opening a new pharmacy location.
Startup costs, such as the pharmacy location, staffing, equipment, and inventory, add up quickly, especially when you aren’t making money yet.
Without enough capital, you’ll be drowning before you even open the new location’s doors.
4. Research
Before you open any business, you have to do the research.
Find out who your target market is for your new location by researching the area’s demographics, so you know who you’re trying to attract.
For example, is there an older demographic who would benefit from the focus on medication adherence your pharmacy can provide?
Market research also helps you determine where to focus your marketing efforts.
5. Marketing
If you want to attract patients to your new pharmacy location, people have to know it exists.
Be prepared to allocate time and money to a marketing strategy to spread the word about your new location.
Use flyers and direct mailings to get the attention of people in the new area, as well as those that visit your current pharmacy location. You can also create a social media marketing campaign to target patients online.
6. Consistency
Your current pharmacy reflects your brand, which means your new pharmacy should as well.
If your new location lacks consistency, it can hurt your pharmacy’s reputation, and it may not be as successful.
For example, the look of the pharmacy, the way it’s operated and the customer service it provides should all reflect that of your current location.
7. Workload
As an independent pharmacy owner, you’re already busy. But opening a second location means adding even more to your workload.
And, it’s vital that your current pharmacy is running smoothly, so you’re able to devote the extra time you need to opening another location.
Make sure your current location can handle it if you have to step away for a while to focus on the new pharmacy.
8. Physician relationships
Opening a pharmacy in a new area may mean starting from the ground up when it comes to building pharmacist-physician relationships.
You have to build new relationships with nearby physicians in order to establish credibility, increase referrals and ultimately provide better care to your patients.
And, the culture of the new area could differ from what you’re used to, which is something you’ll have to learn as you start to communicate with new physicians.
9. Competition
Once you’ve established a need for your new pharmacy location, you have to get to know your competitors.
Whether it’s a national chain pharmacy or another independent, figure out what’s going to differentiate you from your competitors to attract new business.
For example, if your pharmacy prides itself on providing the best customer service, that’s what you need to focus on as your competitive edge.
Set goals for your new pharmacy and track them regularly, so you can see how you’re measuring up to the competition and make adjustments when necessary.
10. Extra costs
It’s important not to underestimate the extra time and money that goes into opening a new location in the form of licenses, contracts, and insurance.
There’s a lot of paperwork involved, and it can take a while for everything to be finalized.
Factor obtaining permits, licenses and pharmacy insurance into your financial and time costs, and be prepared for any hiccups that may accompany the process.
Opening a new pharmacy location means attracting new business. Check out these attention-grabbing ideas to recruit new patients.
