Appearance Matters: What Message is Your Pharmacy Sending?

Posted on Apr 29, 2024

From overall cleanliness to your pharmacy’s curb appeal, your store appearance matters. Afterall, customers are coming to you to improve their health and your store should reflect that. If your pharmacy is well-maintained, it instills confidence while an unorganized, messy, or downright dirty store may deter patients from coming back. To ensure your pharmacy is sending the right message, here are some things to keep an eye on:

Curb Appeal

Depending on whether you own or are renting your space, you may have limited control over your pharmacy’s exterior. However, there are several easy ways you can maximize your curb appeal either way. For example, you can plant some flowers and foliage, or place planters around the parking lot and entrance to add some color and create a more welcoming atmosphere. If you do this, be sure to keep them watered and well-groomed. Otherwise, you’ll wind up making your store look neglected and dated. It’s also important to regularly check exterior lighting and promptly replace any flickering or burnt-out lightbulbs, keep walkways clear, empty trash bins, and fill any potholes that may develop in your parking lot.

Pharmacy Signage

Whether it’s your outdoor sign, or those hanging up around the inside of your store, signs can become worn and faded over time. As a result, they not only look aesthetically unappealing, but they can become difficult to read. That’s why it’s important to walk around your store periodically and assess all signs for damage or incorrect information. By promptly updating signage, you’re ensuring important pharmacy information is accurate, visually pleasing, and easy to read.

Store Hours

It’s also important to confirm that the pharmacy hours you have listed online and posted around the store are accurate. While it may not seem like that big of a deal, nothing is more frustrating than driving to a business only to discover than the hours listed online are incorrect and it’s closed. In addition to your online business profile, your store hours should be posted at the entrance and drive-thru window, if applicable. Over time, these types of details are what can make or break patient satisfaction.

Front-End Displays

Rotating out your displays is also important. This keeps your store looking fresh and informs patients about everything you have to offer, including seasonal OTC items. We recommend using your pharmacy software to run historical sales reports to identify which products are top performers at certain times throughout the year. Then, you can position these products on endcaps and front-end displays for added visibility and convenience. Plus, when your displays are relevant and engaging your sales are likely to increase.

Will-Call Bins

Sometimes, patients aren’t as prompt about picking up their prescriptions as you’d like, or they abandon them altogether. This can quickly clutter up your will-call bins. When patients see this, it can give off the impression that your pharmacy is disorganized and messy. That’s why it’s important to utilize pickup reminders and stay on top of your return to stock prescriptions. Ideally, you should be removing prescriptions that have not been picked up after about a week to keep your will-call bins manageable.

Staff Attire

Your staff are literally the face of your pharmacy. That’s why it’s important that their attire and demeanor are polished and welcoming. Make sure employees aren’t showing up for work in stained, ripped, or sloppy clothing. Plus, they should be greeting patients as they enter the store and offering assistance as well. Afterall, how well your patients and staff interact affects your customer experience and the success of your store.

General Cleanliness

Be sure to keep windows, shelves, counters, and floors tidy as well. If you haven’t done so already, we recommend establishing a cleaning schedule to ensure all areas of your store are wiped down, mopped, or vacuumed regularly. This will not only brighten up your whole store, but it will instill higher consumer confidence as well.

In addition to keeping your physical store clean, BestRx’s user-friendly software can help you tidy up your workflows too. Request a free demo to learn more.