Covid 19 has affected many businesses badly. In fact, most of them are having a hard time to surive like travel and tour agencies. But, still there are some sectors like pharma is on the positiv side. Because our top value is convenient healthcare.
We want to talk to a healthcare professional right away and we want the medicine delivered to our door the very next day. We all want to be safe in this crisis. So thinking about “How to open a medical store” is a wise decision. The pharmacy business is an evergreen business in India that is not affected by economic cycles.
India’s retail pharmaceutical market was valued at around 25 billion U.S. dollars in financial year 2017, with a projection to reach 59 billion dollars by fiscal year 2023. With over 800 thousand pharmacies spread across the country, retail pharmacies are still the dominant medical distribution channels. Offline drug stores account for over 85 percent of the overall pharmaceutical sales and include sale of over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs as well as a variety of FMCG products.
In today’s post we will talk about how to expand your medical and pharmacy business in India.
Let’ dive in:
Table of Contents
Best Ideas to Increase Sales in Medical Store
1. Friendly staff
Let’s be honest here – each client that walk into your medical shop wants to be treated special. If your staff is well trained they would greet them with simle and ask if they need any help.
Even though it seems a small task but it make a big difference. These small guestures will help keep customers from going elsewhere and will make them your loyal clients that keep coming back whenever they will need to buy medicine.
As a medical shop owner you should frequenly visit your shop to see how your staff is handling the clients.
2. Best medicine
After well behaved guesture second thing that make a big difference is the quality of medicine you are provding. After purchasing the medicine a client should have no regret that they bought it from you. Make sure you surpassed the basic standard in the area.
Whether a client is buying a small or big medical product it should be a high quality product that buyer would be proud of and eventually will increase your medical store sales.
3. Working capital
To run a successful pharmacy business you will need a good amount of budget, so you can buy medicines, medical products, and pay on other expenses. NBFC like Ziploan is providing a business loan for medical shops up to Rs. 7.5 lakh.
With a fund of MSME finance, you can buy new stocks, and products, etc. The fund from Ziploan will help you expand your medical store business without draining your capital fund.
The best good about availing finance from Ziploan is you don’t need collect bundle of documents and you can get fund directly into your bank account after getting business loan approval.
4. Good customer service
How long a business would run depend on their customer service. How well your customer support team is handling unhappy clients will show your business’s depth.
Instead of arguing with unhappy customers, staff should develop a “the customer is always right” mentality in mind to increase sales in the medical shop. Your staff should realize that the customer is the reason they are here.
Without clients there is no business and no future.
5. Authority
Similar to other businesses people wants to buy from specialists. When you start a medical shop, make sure the person is selling medicine is qualified and have knowledge about medicines.
Hire a registered pharmacist approved by the pharmacy department or a graduate with 1 yr experience in dealing in drugs or a person who has passed S.S.L.C with 4 years of experience in dealing in drugs, specially approved by the department of drug control for the purpose.
Because people love to buy from authority than someone who merely knows anything about that he is selling.
Request the suppositions of several experts in your field, and incorporate the best ones in any business as you have.
6. Comparison
Comparison helps you to understand how the business is running from time to time, and this could help you to understand the different types of promotions that are doing well in the sale.
You might learn something from your competitors, what working for them might work for your as well. Most of all you will be with the trend.
7. Promotion
Whether you are a new or an esablished business you should never stop promoting yourself. One can easliy find plenty of medical shops in his/her areas but the that thing that encourage them to buy from a specific shop is how many times they have heard about that shop.
However, promotion requires a sustainable amount of funds and effort. You can avail small business loan from Ziploan up to Rs. 7.5 lakh within 3 days* at minimal interest rates.
Documents Required to Start A Pharmacy Store
- Pharmacy License application form in the prescribed format.
- Covering Letter with the intent of the application signed with the name and designation of the applicant.
- Challan of fee deposited for obtaining drug licenses.
- Declaration form in the format prescribed.
- Key plan(Blueprint) for the premises.
- Site plan (Blueprint) for the premises.
- The basis of possession of the premises.
- Identity proof and photos of owner/partners of a medical store.
- Proof of ownership of the premises, if rented
- Proof of constitution of the company(Incorporation Certificate / MOA / AOA / Partnership Deed)
- Affidavit of non-conviction of proprietor/partners/directors under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
- Affidavit of a registered pharmacist or competent person working full time
- Appointment letter of registered pharmacist/competent person, if the employed person
Frequently Asked Questions
There are different ways to enhance pharmacy product sales in pharmacy stores:
Deep Market Research
Focusing on Upselling
Business Model
Place Related Products Nearby
Build Strong Customer Relationships
Efficient Stocking
Create a Web or Mobile Application
Before applying for registration of business, the individual should fulfill the following requirements:
Pharmacy License
Land Registration
Registration of Medical Store Business
Company Registration
Shop and Establishment Registration/ Gumasta Registration
Tax Registration
Registering for Drug License
Create a welcoming and appealing atmosphere. It’s essential to always question what customers think when they enter the pharmacy.
Rethink the store layout and shelf design
Work with the seasons
Don’t overwhelm the customer
Carefully maintain the exterior
Opening a chemist’s shop is a very good option, you will get many benefits from it. The medical store is one of the always running businesses.
According to Drug Channels, the 2017 profit margin for independent pharmacies was 21.8%. It’s a healthy margin, but one that has been on a steady decline over the last several years. It’s important to note that this is still one of the highest profit margins among any industry in the market today.