What will the pharmacy of the future be like?

For new generations, the “pharmacy of the future” is based on a set of changes that not only involves a change in the paradigm of the role of the pharmacist, but also in the physical space.

Are you ready?

Millennial customers – increasingly demanding and informed

We have already talked here aboutmillennial patients, what their personality is like, how they behave, what they expect from their health and how they relate to all these factors. When they look for a healthcare professional, they are very informed. When they arrive, they demand more information than they have already acquired in their digital research, they question the professional and the decision to follow the prescription will be entirely up to them.

Dr Google and self-care

This generation is hyperinformed. They have access to all sources of information, through digital channels, where they swim like little fish, but they do not have the scientific knowledge to discern what is really true and what is created just to generate traffic or false needs. They arrive at the pharmacy and ask for the active ingredient that will not only cure their illness but also prevent other illnesses.

Digital marketing for pharmacies

If you already know that your patients will search the internet about the problem that concerns them, anticipate it! Be the first to give a credible opinion. Think about the topics that would interest most people in that month or time of year and create content on your website/blog or directly on social media.

Create conditions for your audience to hear you, as they will have less availability in the physical space of your pharmacy. Think of several themes and adapt the formats: be creative! We give you a tip: millennials are immediatists and extremely visual, so: try short videos with subtitles so that they can be effectively watched even without sound, on a metro journey.

Whatsapp service

In Portugal, there is already at least one pharmacy that offers service via WhatsApp. How it works: the customer sends a written message with their order – product name or medical prescription – the pharmacy acknowledges receipt of the order and informs when it is ready to be collected, with the total value of the invoice. Do you think you could adapt this service to your pharmacy? You don't need a big investment: just availability and dedication to this new medium. Digital is the future.

And when does the future arrive?

1 – Former pharmacy (Kuks, Czech Republic)

2 –Medd project in pharmacy(Dijon – France)

In fact, it's already arrived! In theory, Portuguese pharmacies should already be responding to the public in this way, today, in 2019. The future is, after all, present.

Let's think about a 10-year future: What will have to change?

Your value! The pharmacy inevitably has to add value. And this necessarily involves putting the patient at the center and offering them the best experience. After all, for a simple sale of medicines we will have drones! With the dizzying growth of technology, where the health sector is no exception, consumers are increasingly adopting the most comfortable approach: buying remotely, without queues or possible surprises due to lack of stock.

It's a question of survival

We cannot watch the advancement of large networks inertly. Independent pharmacies, which are still a reality in Portugal and most European countries, increasingly need to specialize in what they do best: service. And this is where their social and community roles lie.

And this is where the solution comes in: the provision of other services. This should be the alternative for its sustainability. Survival, we would say, even!

Premium Users

Of all consumers, there is a specific group that deserves special attention and that could be the “salvation” of the sustainability of pharmacies in the future: users with chronic, physical or mental illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes, depression or anxiety. These patients will not only buy their medicines forever, but will also require monitoring and special dedication. Understand them as your main customers and position yourself as a value adder for these users who need not only products or medicines, but also control and management of their disease.

So see: your diabetic patient, knowing that he takes a certain medication under a restricted dosage, establishes a long-term ethical relationship that includes not only the sale/delivery/shipping of monthly medications, but also obtaining information about the valid prescriptions that the user still has, reminding him to reschedule appointments to order new ones, alerting him to the intake and preparing his weekly medication.

Only in this way can physical pharmacy have a future, adding value for both parties and developing innovative solutions capable of tackling the difficult challenges of unprecedented aging.

And personalized service requires a dedicated space

This type of service does not fit in a standing, narrow and impersonal counter. This type of service is relational, even emotional. For it to be effective, it needs seating positions, where pharmacist and user can talk, with privacy, tranquility and confidence. This is not such a distant or utopian reality. InMedd We already have an innovative pharmacy that chose to create seated service stations.

Want to know more about how to build the future of your pharmacy?Contact us!