The holiday cards sit untouched on your shelves, trees have been tossed to the curb and neighboring businesses are slowly taking down their holiday lights.
The 2015 holiday season is over.
Now that it has ended, what’s next? You’ve likely spent a lot of time planning, decorating and promoting your holiday specials and front-end merchandise, but it’s important to have a post-holiday plan, too. Creating a post-holiday plan can help ensure your pharmacy has a successful start to the new year.
Use this checklist to get your pharmacy prepped for the coming year.
1. Clean up
Old decorations make your store seem behind and outdated. Promptly clean up your storefront, remove holiday decorations and put up new signage for 2016.
Don’t let inflatable candy canes and decorative reindeer clutter your pharmacy. Start the year fresh by putting holiday decorations away and restoring your storefront to its typical appearance.
2. Move seasonal merchandise
Those peppermint scented candles, Christmas cards and seasonal gifts might have been top-sellers during December, but now that the holidays have passed, it’s time to replace seasonal merchandise.
Mark holiday items as clearance and offer 50 to 60 percent off discounts for a couple of weeks. Consider donating those leftover items to a charity, a school or even a local nursing home.
It can be hard to stomach a loss of profit on surplus holiday items, but remember that those items are taking up valuable space on your shelves, where you could be featuring products that patients want and need.
3. Take notes for next year
Now that the holidays are over, make a few notes about the 2015 holiday season. Record what sold well and what didn’t, so you can reference these insights when you plan for your 2016 holiday season.
Did you have any end caps that were particularly successful? Did you order enough holiday products in time, or do you need to order earlier next year? Include photos with your notes and be sure to save them somewhere you’ll remember next year when it’s time to order seasonal products.
4. Refresh your front end for the new year
Focus your front end on helping patients achieve their New Year’s resolutions.
Feature weight loss products and healthy snack options in an end cap for patients interested in shedding pounds they put on during the holiday season.
Also, consider starting a smoking cessation program to help patients with this common resolution. Promote it in your front end with signage next to your smoking cessation products.
5. Start planning for Valentine’s Day
Refresh your pharmacy’s front end after the holidays by preparing for Valentine’s Day.
Switch out your end cap displays of Christmas cards and candy canes for Valentine’s Day cards and heart-shaped boxes of candy. Also, post updated signage to promote any Valentine’s Day products or sales you’re featuring.
Replacing displays of holiday items with Valentine’s Day products can help make the post-holiday transition efficient and simple.
6. Set resolutions for your pharmacy
Set front-end goals for your pharmacy to work toward in 2016.
Start by reflecting on the past year. What worked well in your front end? What didn’t? Then, create specific and realistic goals. Share these goals with your staff and start taking small, actionable steps toward achieving your resolutions.
Hold yourself accountable and measure your progress. That way you can see how your efforts are improving your business as you go, and you’ll be more likely to achieve your goals.
If your pharmacy needs a fresh start after the 2015 holiday season, consider reinventing the way your pharmacy approaches services, products and patient care.
