If independent pharmacists are relying mainly on proximity, chains have the budgets and the brands for coherent differentiation strategies. And another reason for trying to stand out is the market liberalization, expected for 2010.
“We will see increasingly more ways in pharmacies to differentiate portfolios, turn customers into loyal clients, and individualize, in an attempt to attract clients,” said Dorin Catana, General Manager of Centrofarm, a 68-unit chain.
The pharmaceutical market is valued at €1.8 billion by the Cegedim market research company, of which prescription medications, with prices and margins set by the Ministry of Health, make up over 70 percent. Due to the current crisis, differentiation strategies are even more important since these can ensure liquidities, considering the unpredictability of CNAS to pay the invoices.
An example of a differentiation strategy is the online project initiated by the Remedia pharmacies, a chain with over 50 units, which is due to become operational in 2010. Valentin Tarus, Remedia’s founder, said that, through this project, the price of delivered medications could drop by up to 20 percent. Although the law allows only over-the-counter drugs to be ordered online, Remedia’s shareholders said that the local market will adapt the Western European model in a few years, where 20-30 percent of medications are ordered over the internet.
Most pharmacy chains have loyalty discount cards for certain products, ranging from 5-20 percent.
