Amid the ongoing economic challenges in Nigeria, which have taken a toll on numerous businesses, including pharmacies, experts in retail pharmacy operations have outlined crucial strategies for pharmacies to stay afloat. They emphasised the need for robust expiry management practices and the introduction of value-added services (VAS) to enhance customer satisfaction, while also recommending staff-related policies to curb internal theft, which accounts for 42.7 per cent of stock losses in retail pharmacies.
In separate interviews with Gbenga Adeshina, lead consultant at AG Consulting, and Pharm. Adeshina Opanubi, project catalyst at Pharmalliance Consulting Ltd, during the recently concluded Panel 16, the experts urged pharmacy operators to enhance their services through value-added offerings and effective staff management.
Adeshina emphasised the importance of prioritising revenue generation within the business, criticising the tendency of some pharmaceutical start-ups to seek bank loans rather than maximising profits from existing stock. He asserted that all employees must be educated on the significance of revenue to the organisation and should contribute to generating adequate funds through their daily activities.
The retail pharmacy auditor, who has assisted numerous community pharmacists in successfully managing their organisations, also advocated for the use of a first-expiry model to reduce losses. He stressed the need to arrange products by their expiry dates, allowing staff to sell those with shorter shelf lives first, thereby preserving longer-lasting items for future sales.
“Many pharmacy CEOs make the mistake of seeking external funding, which is where the problem lies. If they don’t begin to internalise financial matters within their businesses and ensure that everyone in the organisation understands the importance of money to the pharmacy, they risk collapse. The staff are responsible for the figures the organisation records, and their actions will reflect in the sales. Moreover, the CEO must ensure there’s no intellectual constipation at the top and intellectual kwashiorkor below. If the management team knows a lot but that knowledge isn’t passed down to junior staff, the business may suffer due to a lack of information to improve operations.
“Every community pharmacy should consciously practice a first-expiry, first-out policy. Ensure that products on your shelves are arranged by expiry date. By working with this model, you can avoid surprises with expired or damaged stock,” Adeshina advised.
Pharm. Opanubi highlighted the need for retail pharmacy managers to go the extra mile in meeting their clients’ needs to survive the economic downturn. He noted that this was the primary focus of Panel 16, which aimed to encourage community pharmacists to think creatively about the extra value they can offer customers for a fee. He argued that for retail pharmacy operators to thrive, they must go beyond simply selling medicines to ensure clients adhere to prescriptions, find medications affordable, and receive effective follow-ups.
He provided an example of how pharmacists can help clients navigate tough times by bending the rules on breaking bulk purchases, thereby fostering convenience at the lowest price and encouraging clients to stick to their therapy.
“No matter how hard things are, money always follows value delivery. The mantra is, ‘What value can I add to my customers?’ We need to move beyond selling medicines. What else can we do to endear customers to us? This comes with value-added services.
“How do we ensure that, beyond selling medicines, clients adhere to their treatments? If they can’t afford their usual brands for economic reasons, how can we help them stay on therapy by possibly switching to other brands? We need to guide them through this challenging period, ensuring they know their pharmacies were there for them when times were tough.
“And in situations where customers are at rock bottom, how can we still help them? For instance, a pharmacy might need to bend its rules, perhaps by selling in smaller quantities to ensure affordability without breaking therapy. This ensures the flow continues,” Opanubi explained.
Continuing his recommendations for managing a retail pharmacy successfully, Adeshina proposed assigning staff to specific sections of the premises to enhance accountability. Each staff member responsible for a section would be accountable for everything within that area, whether right or wrong. He added that if a staff member fails to maintain stock accuracy, the inventory expert is bound by the business terms and conditions to take appropriate remedial action.
He also urged pharmacy CEOs to adopt the practice of unpacking products to check for content accuracy. He emphasised the importance of this practice in all cases, except where unpacking is impractical, such as with gadgets and machines like blood sugar monitors and blood pressure devices.
“Everything else can be unpacked. You unpack and literally count all these items for accuracy,” he stressed.
The inventory expert also provided additional guidelines for pharmacy owners: “Don’t allow your staff to come in with bags or anything handy. Ensure that search procedures are conducted at the beginning, end, and during the business day.
“Staff should always account for the money they bring in. Let them sign in. Often, staff may trade your products while on duty. By tracking their finances from the start of the business day and monitoring how they spend it, you can determine how much they should go home with. A staff member shouldn’t come in with N1,000 and leave with N3,000,” Adeshina concluded.
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