Do you want to run an effective pharmacy business in Kenya, Nairobi or any other area?
A pharmacy is a good business and you might have opened one recently.
Now that you have opened a pharmacy, what next? How do you move from there? How will you get the business going?
In short you wish to make the business sustainable.
The process of opening a pharmacy is straight forward and easy but the big deal is running the business.
I am going to talk about the community pharmacy but generally the factors here can be considered for any pharmacy.
I assume that you have already done market survey, registered your business, identified the best location and ready for business.
Every aspect of the community pharmacy operations is measured according to quality, pricing and service policies.
First of all, ask yourself the following questions;
What do you hope to achieve, how are you assisting?
What gap are you trying to fill?
Do you have competition? If yes, what is your catch?
Here are some of the factors you should consider when running an effective community pharmacy business;
Procurement process.
Do you have and effective procurement process?
Medicines have to be cost effective and this depends on the selection of suppliers with highly quality products. Ensure you bargain for better discounts and always get suppliers with the best offers.
Ensure that you have a procurement system that ensures timely and unpolarized deliveries
The process should guarantee the lowest possible total cost.
Personnel
Do you have the best personnel in place?
Having a well skilled all-round pharmaceutical technologist or pharmacist should be your priority. For a start you will need 2 or more staff to run the business. The problem usually arises when it comes to how much you should pay them, having in mind you need them to provide quality services. On the other hand, you also don’t want to be overburdened with salaries yet your business is struggling.
Strike a balance.
Price
How are you going to price your medicines?
Could be overlooked, but how you price your medicines is very important. This will depend three factors; a) the quality of service you want to offer. b) your competition c) your location.
Let the client feel they are getting what they are paying for.
Remember, the higher the price of a service, the greater the proportion of what the prospect and the client alike expect and experience.
Opening an closing hours
How many hours are you going to open per day?
There is no need of opening your pharmacy at 6am yet the first customer that you serve comes at 9am or probably between that time you only see less than 3 clients. Having a clue what time your area is busy will guide you on how many hours to open and the number of staff to hire.
For an urbanized area you might consider opening late night.
If your business is in a business center or mall you will realize that you will have to adhere to their opening and closing hours.
Security
Is your business secure?
If your business is large or located outside of the downtown area, late-night openings might not be suitable. Security concerns would be at risk if your employees went home late.
Consider the logistics of how staff will go home.
If you feel the area is not secure it is advisable to hire a security firm. It is important to protect your business from bad people who might bring it down in one day. You can prevent unnecessary losses by securing your business well