How to boost your profits as a pharmacy business in Africa

We have seen that pharmacies and patent medicine stores are at the forefront of providing healthcare services in Africa. This is not surprising as these two are the most accessible healthcare facilities to the everyday person. People are more likely to walk into your pharmacy or patent medicine store first before thinking about visiting the hospital.

While this has been the case, you may have realized that even with your wide range of products and services like pharmaceutical care, counselling, dispensing, compounding, wound dressing and so on, making profits in the pharmacy or patent medicine store business seems like the hardest thing right now. Left, right and centre, pharmacies and patent medicine stores are closing down, forced out of business because they’re barely staying afloat and so cannot maintain steady profit levels. It’s sad to watch because many of them don’t know what’s wrong. That’s why we’ve put together this article: to help you stay in business or get back out there if you’ve been badly hit also.

Here are the ways you can boost profits in your pharmacy or patent medicine business;

Keep Patient Medication Records

It’s daunting to recall every patient’s medication history by memory. That’s why you need to keep patient medication records. Keeping patient medication records helps you deliver healthcare services more efficiently. First, it makes patients feel important and cared for because you’re taking notes. Then, it helps you know when a patient needs a refill so that when they miss an appointment, you can follow them up. It would also be useful when a patient presents with a side effect but can’t pinpoint which particular medicine caused it. You run through your patient medication records, identify the medicines and provide solutions.

These records also help you make decisions based on facts. By putting these records together, you can notice disease patterns in your neighbourhood and note which medications you should stock up more. Without these records, you will not stock enough of those particular medicines to meet the demand. So, you’ll be sending patients away from your premises. Thankfully, you don’t need capital to get all the stock you need. With Remedial Rx, you can keep all the patient medication records, identify medication consumption patterns and stock up the inventory you need with our inventory financing solutions.

Track your sales

Another way to boost profits is to track your sales. Tracking your sales helps you notice your peak periods — the times and days you make the most sales. This is usually different for every branch or premise you operate. So, you or your managers and superintendent Pharmacists should track sales for each premise differently. By tracking sales and noting your peak periods, you’ll know when to deploy more staff to the counter at those peak periods. You’ll also plan to stock more inventory in advance. Like the patient medication records, tracking sales also help you note the sundries, supplements, particular brands and medical devices that are more popular in your region. Then, you can order enough to meet the demands.

Provide incentives

Providing incentives like offering free BP checks, free consultation, free face masks and other benefits can attract more customers to your premises. These freebies may seem little but every smart business owner knows that these little things keep patients loyal to your brand. You can also go the extra mile by sending text messages on birthdays and new months and happy holiday wishes to keep your brand top of the mind.

Procure Medicines at discounted rates

Another amazing way to boost profits is to procure medicines at discounted rates and sell at competitive or at market prices. By bypassing multiple middlemen and ridiculous delivery and transportation costs with Remedial Rx, you get the best direct-from-manufacturer rates and make the most profit margins. Download Remedial Rx here to get started.

Pay only what you dispense

Prevent losses from expiry and damaged goods and maximize your profits by exploring Remedial Health’s pay only what you dispense option. With this option, you will never have to watch your money run down the drain as you discard big boxes and many cartons of expired items. Visit remedial.health to begin.

Explore inventory financing options

Explore inventory financing options tailored to your needs. Whether you’re running a chain of pharmacies or you have a patent medicine store, we have a variety of inventory and stock options available. You can buy now and pay only what you dispense. Download Remedial Rx to get started.

Merchandising

Merchandising is marketing and selling products that improve customer experience and drive sales. Merchandising includes competitive pricing, discounts and marketing strategies. It should not be a one-off approach but you should do it from time to time because re-merchandising helps your customers look forward to patronizing you because they believe something new and different awaits them. This helps build expectations among your consumers to buy new products launched in the market. You will need to re-merchandise to match new consumer demands.

Manage your inventory

Manage your inventory by keeping proper stock records. Conduct a monthly stock assessment and dispense electronically. Monitor stock levels by matching physical stock with stock value on the software. Then, restock as soon as you get to the emergency or minimum order levels.

Minimize lead times

When someone places an order of an unusual product, how quickly you can get it across to them can be the difference between your business and your neighbour’s. Exceeding expectations in these situations can turn strangers into loyal customers. Minimize lead times to 24 h or less when you order on Remedial Rx.

Train your staff

Train your staff to be polite and friendly to customers. Train them to take inventory properly, keep patient records and use the electronic dispensing software every time they want to dispense. Train them on conflict resolution and on how best to calm patients down and refer them to you when there is dissatisfaction. A great team increases your customer retention and helps you boost profits. Invest in your staff.

Closing thoughts

Running a pharmacy or patent medicine business in Africa can be an uphill task but with the right knowledge, partners and tools to make day-to-day operations more efficient, you can maximize profits. To learn more about how your pharmacy or patent medicine store can maximize profits with our revolutionary solutions for healthcare providers, contact us today.