Is It Time for an RMS System? Here’s How to Know

Most pharmacies have a point-of-sale (POS) setup of some sort. Ranging from a basic cash register and mostly manual processes to a more streamlined solution to sell prescriptions.

Whether you have true pharmacy point-of-sale is a whole different question. True pharmacy point-of-sale is more than prescription sales, credit card processing and signature capture. The basics might be enough for your pharmacy, or you could be missing out on opportunities because you need more in your pharmacy business.

How can you tell if your POS is good enough? How can you know whether the cost of point-of-sale is justifiable? There can be a lot of different reasons to make the jump from POS to pharmacy point-of-sale. Here are some of the most common reasons pharmacies make the leap to implement an RMS point-of-sale system.

You’re ready to make money on your front end.

There’s a common misconception that pharmacy front end is dead. Or that a small front end doesn’t need to be actively managed. For most pharmacies, front end can still offer a lucrative revenue stream when properly managed. This means detailed reporting on every product you’re selling in your front end, easily identifiable inventory turns, GPROI, top performing departments and more. Only when you have the right data can you truly understand your front end and make decisions to maximize profitability. And as far as size goes, even if you only have 100 SKUs on your shelf, those 100 SKUs need to be selling and making you money.

You’re looking for easy ways to monetize clinical services.

Clinical services offer another potential for revenue, many through Medicare reimbursement or partnership with clinics and physicians. But there’s one clinical service that’s easy to monetize: Drug-induced nutrient depletion recommendations. Especially when your point-of-sale system can automatically recommend supplements to help offset the nutrient depletion caused by some prescriptions.

You’re tired or paying too much for credit card processing.

Credit card processing for pharmacies is complicated because the business of pharmacy is different than any other retail vertical. As such, most POS providers have one credit card processing solution that you’re stuck with. No matter if the rates are too high. No matter if the service isn’t the greatest. Point-of-sale solutions can offer you more options. In the case of RMS systems, if our preferred solution doesn’t offer you the best rate or the right functionality, you have the option to work with many other processing companies.

You need to manage multiple locations - or just increase your efficiency at one.

There are many ways for pharmacy point-of-sale to improve efficiency but one of the most common areas where we see clunky processes wasting valuable time is behind the scenes. Product ordering should be automated and easy. Receiving should be fast and separated from your pricing processes. And if you’re individually labelling items, try automating shelf label printing based on the products you carry. Lastly, if you’re tracking inventory, what does this process look like? Is it a time-consuming, soul-crushing process? Tracking inventory is valuable for a number of reasons, but it should be streamlined and free from anxiety.

If you have multiple locations, centralizing management can be a game changer when it comes to the time you spend behind the scenes. Reporting, employee management and product management are just a few areas where you can streamline your pharmacy processes to save time.

You’re trying to curate a better customer experience.

Customer experience can bring people in the door or be the reason they don’t come back. Experience is inclusive of aesthetics, convenience, customer service, product selection and so much more. Basically, everything that happens from the first step through the door (or conversation on the phone) to the completion of the interaction. Customer experience also should include things like customer loyalty programs and convenient pickup options (i.e. curbside and home delivery).

You know you can get better support than you have.

Support isn’t just for when something breaks. It’s for when you have questions; when you need to try something new; when your business grows or changes and your point-of-sale solution needs to adapt right along with you. Support should be available on your schedule and be provided by experts who not only understand the product their supporting, but the industry and your needs.

If you’re ready to try out 24x7, US-based customer support and find out if an RMS system is right for you, it’s crazy-easy: Fill out our super quick Biz-Quiz and one of our customer success managers can help you find out if your pharmacy business can benefit from and RMS system!