Helping owners help each other

LAS VEGAS — For independent pharmacy owners, one of the biggest challenges they face is driving front-end conversions among their patients. In order to help solve what it calls the “conversion conundrum,” Cardinal Health is bringing tips to their customers with a new video platform — and allowing them to share their best practices here at its annual Retail Business Conference. 

 

The conundrum Cardinal Health and its customers are trying to solve is that 94-out-of-100 patients at big-box pharmacies make a front-end purchase when they leave the store, but only 44-out-of-100 do so at independent pharmacies. So the company launched its Consumer Health Retail Academy in January — a series of weekly videos that give its customers merchandising tips on how to drive front-end purchases among patients coming to pick up their prescriptions. 

 

“The retail academy is a tool in the pharmacists’ toolbox that they can use to have better merchandising tips that will help them drive more conversion in the front of their store,” Cardinal Health’s senior marketing manager for Consumer Health Jackie Stegemann said Thursday. “It’s a great way for them to get quick merchandising tips in two-minute videos.”

 

At RBC, in addition to filming an on-location edition of the Retail Academy’s monthly Fab Five video series — which highlights potential products for customers to feature in their store — Cardinal Health also is turning to its customers to provide insights on what works for them. Cardinal Health filmed pharmacy owners discussing how they drive front-end sales through eye-catching displays, loyalty programs, building relationships with patients and focusing on customer service. 

 

“Really, this program spawned from customer feedback,” Stegemann said. They told our retail independent business partners that they wanted to learn from their peers, and share with others the things that are going well for them.”