Everyone knows that a pharmacy has to stay on top of its prescription drug inventories, but there’s another aspect of product inventory that is often forgotten: the task of keeping non-prescription items stocked and available at low costs. This task is usually easy enough for big pharmacies that function as part of a larger chain store, but for smaller, independent retail pharmacies, this can actually be a pretty difficult task.
But why inventory management one of the most essential things for creating a successful independent pharmacy?
- Small pharmacies need to maximize shelf space — too many unwanted items will clutter shelves and limit the amount of in-demand items that can be stocked.
- Knowing when purchases, returns, and exchanges take place will help determine if (and when) theft is occurring.
- Too many unwanted items (i.e., items that the store overstocks and has to sell at a greatly-reduced price) could be very harmful to a small pharmacy’s financial stability — more so than overstocked items would hurt a larger chain store.
- Understanding which items customers want (i.e. which items they already buy) will help the manager determine which future products could become in-demand as well.
- Filling shelves with the greatest variety of in-demand products will increase the chance that customers will go to their local pharmacy for both prescription and over-the-counter medical needs, and the smaller pharmacy will have a better chance at competing with bigger stores.
Here’s the catch: managing a pharmacy’s inventory isn’t the same as managing the inventory in any other retail store. Pharmacies have to be aware of both prescription and non-prescription products — and making one small mistake with a prescription drug could potentially ruin the business entirely.
For this very reason, more independent pharmacy owners are turning to retail pharmacy POS systems that have been designed with local pharmacies in mind. Newer POS systems help pharmacy managers take care of the front-end inventory tasks, like transactions and sales trends, so that more attention can be given to the prescription side of the store.
And let’s face it: even though local businesses are more important to the American economy than ever before, and even though most people want to support their local businesses in theory, small mainstreet businesses still need as much help as they can get in order to become valid competitors with big chain stores. Quite simply, strong inventory management is the backbone of a successful, competitive pharmacy. Helpful sites.