Your front end is the heart of your pharmacy’s retail.
It has to be fresh and compelling every time a patient comes into your pharmacy. If your signage is old, your shelves are bare, or if your layout is difficult to navigate, you could lose out on sales and patients. Front ends require upkeep and they need to be refreshed regularly.
Here are 30 tips to get your pharmacy’s front end in top shape.
1. Use ends caps
End caps are a highly visible way to display products. Create seasonally themed end caps or use this display to feature “pharmacist recommended” or “staff pick” products.
2. Keep promotional materials updated
Signs, posters and flyers hung on around your pharmacy are a simple way to keep your patients up-to-date about the latest events, products and services at your pharmacy. Be sure your promotional materials are easy-to-read, visually appealing and frequently updated. Don’t let flyers for events that have passed or sales that have expired stay hung up past their relevancy.
3. Create seasonal displays
Rotate front-end displays to promote seasonal products. Create a window display or end cap with sunscreen, aloe vera and bug spray for summer. Switch that display out in the fall with school supplies, and when winter comes, fill the display with cough drops, vitamin C and lip balm. For spring, display over-the-counter (OTC) allergy relief products for easy access.
4. Establish a promotions calendar
Keep your pharmacy’s promotions and displays on track by mapping out your year with a promotions calendar. Plan when you’ll rotate seasonal displays and start special promotions.
5. Strategically situate products
Keep commonly recommended products or new items near the pharmacy counter or checkout register. Placing these items in close proximity to where you and your staff have the most interaction with patients is a good reminder to make recommendations.
6. Keep your front end fresh
Change your front-end displays every month to keep your front end from becoming stale. Rotate your displays with new OTC products or health educational materials to refresh them each month.
7. Leverage knowledge
Use your health expertise and knowledge to aid patients in your front end. Vitamin selection, wound care and sleep aids are just a few examples of front-end departments where your expertise can help patients select the proper product.
8. Identify patients’ needs
Before you recommend a product, be sure to listen to patients and identify what their needs are. For example, a patient might come into your pharmacy looking for an OTC sleep aid, but after asking questions, you may discover that he’s not sleeping because his seasonal allergies have been keeping him up at night.
9. Promote a “pharmacist’s pick” product
Pick a product to promote each month. You could test a new lotion, or recommend your favorite brand of throat lozenges during cold and flu season. Be sure to mark each month’s pick with the same sign, so patients can easily recognize your product pick.
10. Educate patients
Devote a section of your front end to health education. Include brochures about health topics such as diabetes care, information about the home medical equipment you sell and pamphlets about your pharmacy’s immunization services. Educating patients builds your pharmacy’s profile as a health care expert.
11. Connect with trends
Natural products and organic remedies are gaining popularity, and your pharmacy could be missing out if it isn’t offering products related to these trends. Stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends by subscribing to a newsletter, and stocking products that are gaining popularity.
12. Incentivize purchases with a loyalty program
Offer a loyalty rewards program that rewards patients for their front-end purchases and incentivizes future purchases. For example, offering patients a discount of 10 percent off their next front-end purchase will encourage patients to come back.
13. Offer coupons to new patients
Give new patients a buy-one-get-one half-off coupon for front-end health care staples, like toothpaste and bandages, when they fill their first prescription. Giving new patients an incentive to shop your front end can help build patient loyalty, and encourage them to make their first front-end purchase.
14. Highlight staff-tested products
Ask your staff to write short recommendations or endorsements for their favorite products from your pharmacy’s front end. Highlight these products with small signs that encourage patients to ask that staff member for more information about why she liked the product.
15. Update your layout
Consider rearranging your pharmacy’s layout to rejuvenate the space. Update your floor plan with a new, modern look that can be easily maneuvered and has an intriguing focal point, such as a stand-alone seasonal product display.
16. Modernize your lighting
Make sure your lighting illuminates the space well so patients feel welcome and can read labels on all your front-end products. Use natural lighting from your windows to enhance your front end, and make sure all your lighting fixtures are clean, energy-efficient and working properly.
17. Keep it tidy
Make your front end more appealing by keeping it tidy. Straighten your shelves, keep your products arranged in a neat fashion, and make sure your best-selling items are always well stocked. Untidy shelves will discourage patients who might otherwise browse your front end.
18. Encourage impulse buys
Keep small items, such as lip balm or hand sanitizers, near the checkout and pharmacy counters to encourage patients to pick up these last-minute impulse purchases.
19. Create front-end flow
Make sure your front-end layout has a natural flow. Walk through your front end as if you were a new patient. Make sure patients can easily maneuver through the aisles, and check to make sure there’s a clear path to your pharmacy counter.
20. Space employees appropriately
Train front-end employees to space themselves throughout your front end, so patients can easily find them when they have questions. Also, encourage your employees to avoid clustering together. Groups of employees can block aisles and discourage patients from approaching when they have a question.
21. Feature new products
Use stand-alone displays, planograms and end caps to highlight OTC products that have just been released or that you’re newly offering. Rotate these displays regularly to keep your front end fresh and your patients informed about your latest OTC offerings.
22. Create a niche section
Create a niche section in your pharmacy’s front end dedicated to a certain segment of products, such as a sports nutrition section, a women’s health section, or a local products section. These niche sections will differentiate your front end from competitors, and can potentially attract a new group of patients to your front end.
23. Clean regularly
If your front end has cobwebs in the corners, dust on the shelves or trash on the floor, it can make your entire pharmacy seem dirty and unsanitary. Make cleaning a regular part of your pharmacy’s front-end upkeep.
24. Offer alternative and natural products
Natural and alternative remedies are growing in popularity, so consider carrying these products in your front end. Carrying a selection of these remedies will set your pharmacy’s front-end selection apart from competitors, and it attaches your pharmacy’s front end to a growing trend.
25. Have more than one of each item
If your front end only has one of each product, your shelves look bare and patients will be reluctant to purchase the last item. Patients often have concerns that the last product on a shelf has a defect or is past its “best by” date. Stocking multiple of each item can alleviate those concerns.
26. Stock gear from your area schools
Make your front end stand out by carrying gear featuring you local school’s mascot. T-shirts, hats and scarves featuring local schools will encourage more foot traffic in your store, and show community spirit.
27. Support a charity
Collect donations for a local or health-related charity at your pharmacy’s checkout counter. Or, sell products like pink breast cancer T-shirts or wristbands, and donate the proceeds to a charity. Supporting a charity in your front end will associate your pharmacy with a good cause.
28. Make your front end accessible
Make sure your pharmacy’s front end is accessible to patients of all ability levels. Consider rearranging your products and aisles so that patients who use wheelchairs, crutches or other mobility devices can fit through your front-end aisles and reach products.
29. Support local products
Offer locally made cards, gifts and small crafts in your front end. You’ll support local artists, while offering patients unique products in your front end.
30. Ditch products that aren’t working
If your front end has a brand or type of product that isn’t selling, don’t be afraid to ditch the product and replace it with something else. Your front-end space is valuable, and if a product isn’t selling well, try something new.
Use some or all of these tips to refresh your pharmacy’s front end.
