Driving Pharmacy Sales Through Unconventional Means

Drive thru and curbside have become bread and butter for pharmacies. As well as for all kinds of retail businesses. Even as stores begin to reopen, the demand for limited contact retail interactions remains high.

While drive thru and curbside keep your customers up to date on prescriptions, and likely keep you very busy, they don’t allow for browsing, impulse buys, or “that’s right, I also need some….”

This doesn’t just impact your bottom-line but also results in patients that aren’t getting the most out of their experience with your pharmacy. Even if they don’t know it yet.

Here are 4 tips to maximize transactions and interactions with your customers, both over the phone and in the drive thru.

• Nutrient Depletion
  • Nutrient depletion-based supplement recommendations have always been a great way to drive sales. They still hold up in a drive thru environment. A quick recommendation doesn’t take long and if you keep your top supplements handy, can be quickly grabbed and added to the transaction. Or print the recommendation so the customer can consider adding the supplement to their next order. This is especially great for curbside transactions where you want to avoid running back and forth, but still want to help patients learn about nutrient depletion.
• Maximize any interaction
  • As we shared in last week’s article, your customer interactions likely look much different than they used to. Those interactions, however brief, are still important. Take the 30 seconds to ask about any other item’s customers might need when they call in orders for pickup
• Don’t neglect your Customer Loyalty Program 
  • Customer loyalty is no less important today than it’s been before. Keep sending those rewards certificates, running loyalty promotions, and adding new customers to your loyalty program. Remember, they don’t have to have a physical card to join the program or redeem points.
• Highlight your private label products–
  • We always recommend that you pay special attention to how you promote your private label products. These traditionally higher margin products also save your customers money. Something pretty much anyone can appreciate. When customers ask for a brand name OTC to be added to their curbside or drive-thru order, don’t hesitate to recommend that substitution.

As the point-of-sale for your pharmacy begins to claim territory far away from your front counter, the way your customers shop is also changing. Create habits for drive thru, curbside, and delivery transactions now, for healthier, happier customers, and a more profitable pharmacy business.

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