Complete guide for new pharmacy owners

Opening up a new pharmacy is an exciting and challenging endeavour. It’s a business that requires both passion and practicality to succeed in the long run. As a new pharmacy owner, you may face hurdles while setting up your business, but with the right strategy, you can overcome them and achieve success. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover everything you need to know about running a successful pharmacy business. From understanding market demand and employing technology to enhancing customer service and marketing your pharmacy effectively, we have got you covered. We will also provide tips on how to overcome challenges that come along the way. Whether you are starting from scratch or taking over an existing community pharmacy, this guide will help you make informed decisions and grow your business steadily over time.

Understanding the Pharmacy Business

Staying up-to-date with industry trends in the UK, building strong supplier relationships, efficient inventory management, and embracing pharmacy automation can optimise operations. Plenty of digital solutions are available in the market to help you digitise administration pharmacy tasks. By employing these solutions, you as a pharmacist will be able to spend more time with your patients.

Evaluating the Market Demand

To evaluate the market demand effectively, conduct in-depth market research to identify specific medication and healthcare service demands. Stay ahead of the competition by keeping track of industry trends and emerging healthcare services. A lot of health tech solution providers, such as Charac, post regularly on their website and LinkedIn discussing new technologies in the market. Stay in their loop to keep yourself informed. The NPA also has a monthly newsletter where they highlight different technology partners. Other than that, you can always talk to your

Employing Technology

Embrace technology to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and optimise inventory management. Utilise a patient app for convenient access to pharmacy services for your patients. With an app, your customers will be able to order repeat prescriptions, browse NHS and private services available at your pharmacy, track their medication’s journey, and manage their loved ones’ medication.

Implementing a Patient App

Enhance patient engagement with a user-friendly pharmacy app, allowing convenient NHS prescription orders, access to healthcare services, easy appointment booking, and medication tracking. Ensure security features and data privacy for a seamless experience. Why can’t I just use the NHS App then? Well, the NHS App is very reliable when it comes to allowing patients to request their medication. But the app doesn’t give visibility as it only allows you to see the status when your prescription is accepted. With a patient app such as Charac, your customers will be able to follow their prescription’s journey up to the delivery or collection. This means fewer phone calls to the pharmacy!

Offering Prescription Delivery

Offer your patients a hassle-free solution by providing prescription delivery. Ensure reliable and secure delivery through trusted services like Royal Mail. With Charac, you can offer customers to get their prescriptions delivered or collected in the pharmacy. Customers will get push notifications when their prescription is accepted by the GP, dispensed by the pharmacist, and ready for collection or delivery. You can also communicate with your customers with our broadcast messaging feature.

The Importance of a Consultation Booking Platform with Video Call

From COVID-19, we learned that customers prefer remote video consultations when possible for convenience. By implementing a safe in-built video call consultation, your customers can easily tune in to the appointment. You don’t need to have different platforms for consultation booking and video calling. Charac consultation module offers two functionalities in one platform so your patients can easily book the service they need and attend remote online appointments safely. Moreover, our platform is also built following data regulations and safety procedures.

Why Should You Have an Online NHS Prescription Ordering System that Can Be Tracked?

If we have visibility on our Amazon parcels and food deliveries, why can’t we have the same level of visibility for our medication? Get an NHS-integrated prescription ordering system that not only brings visibility to patients but also simplifies your workflow. Let your patients order NHS repeat prescriptions online, and provide tracking capabilities. Enjoy convenience and time-saving benefits while ensuring coordination with GP practices and adherence to NHS guidelines.

Marketing Your Pharmacy

Developing a comprehensive marketing plan raises awareness among the target audience. Utilise SEO, engage with the local community, leverage social media, and implement paid advertising for your pharmacy services.

Embracing the Power of Digital Marketing

Pharmacists often overlook the power of digital marketing. When in reality, only 2 in 10 customers know the various services offered at their local community pharmacy (Charac customer survey, 2023). This shows that putting up posters in your pharmacy is not enough. It is time to start building your pharmacy’s social media presence and be more discoverable online.

Tips for Effective Social Media Marketing

We work with different pharmacies every day. Here are our best tips for pharmacists to start building their social media presence:

– Identify popular social media platforms among your target audience.

– Create engaging content that educates patients and promotes your pharmacy’s NHS and private services.

– Encourage patient reviews and testimonials to build trust.

– Utilise social media advertising to reach a wider audience and drive traffic.

– Engage with patients by responding promptly to comments and inquiries on social media.

Conclusion

In conclusion, starting a pharmacy business requires a deep understanding of the market demand, employing technology to enhance patient experience, focusing on customer service, and effective marketing strategies. After ensuring each component of your pharmacy is optimised, it is also important to regularly evaluate pharmacy workflow and understand how your pharmacy is growing. Evaluation is key to finding areas where you can improve or maintain. You don’t always need to research for solutions, sometimes you can look up other pharmacies and learn from what they do best. Nothing wrong going with the tried and tested 🙂

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