The medical fraternity is a key element of society owing to the ever-present demand for healthcare services. Medical drugs none or erratic availability can seriously cripple the effectiveness of healthcare initiatives in a country. This simple rationale makes it relevant for as many pharmacies as possible to be set up. If this is the kind of field you would want to venture into, then starting a pharmacy business is the way to go. Once you have everything set up you can be sure to realize revenue daily just as long as you have what people mostly look for. Starting a pharmacy business is heavily regulated though. There is so much you have to adhere to before you can start operating. However, the pharmacy business is highly lucrative. This article will outline how to start the medical pharmacy business, and the pharmacy business plan – PDF, Word and Excel.
Market Research
You cannot gamble when it comes to a pharmacy business; do your homework thoroughly. You must know what type of drugs and other value-added services are on demand. You must be so diligent on this to a point where you only stock up with what are people are really looking for. As earlier on mentioned you can get such information by striking up working relationships with healthcare centres. You can also do surveys to understand the needs of your intended target market. Having people with a pharmacy background on board can help in providing expert knowledge in your pursuit to acquire information.
You must study other existing pharmacies to draw insights from their business operations. You will be examining the types of medication and/or services that they offer. You also study the demographics of their clients, the types of clients they serve and how they market their businesses. You also consider their locations so as to get some idea on how they chose them and also musing on where it would be best for you to set up. The nature of the surrounding environment plays a huge role in determining what people mostly look for in a pharmacy. So if you have an intended location in mind, take time to study that. For instance, locating a pharmacy near an academy institution (e.g. a university) leads to different needs as opposed to locating it near a big hospital or a neighbourhood. It’s very important to have a good pharmacy business plan.
Business Model
Our central focus in this discussion is the pharmacy retail model. You can think of it as the direct to customer (DTC) or direct sales model. This means you stock up your pharmacy outlet with mainly products customers can buy. Stocking means you simply have to source the products, mostly drugs or medications then you resell. You can source pre-packed products or in some cases you purchase bulk packages that you then repack into smaller units.
It is understandable why the retail model is the most used business model for the pharmacy business. To do the actual manufacturing of the medications or medical products is costly. At times the required raw materials must be imported, depending on which country you are in. Even when available locally, they tend to be quite expensive. That is why the best business model for your pharmacy business is the retail model (also known as direct to customer or direct sales model).
Location, Premises And Equipment
Choice of location should be carefully considered if you are to realize good sales. The most obvious preference is to locate your pharmacy in a central business district. This will feed off the fact that most healthcare facilities will close by thus making it easy for prospective customers to reach you. The basic things to consider when choosing a location are the presence of substantial human and vehicle traffic, easy accessibility (by foot or otherwise) and easy discoverability. The premises must be sufficiently big enough to allow free movement of staff and clients. A pharmacy must be brightly lit (white walls and floors aid in this) and must be squeaky clean. There must be good ventilation and a generally cosy environment. This means it might be wise to choose a location with no room for sound or air pollution. You will need basic furnishings such as counter tops or booths, shelving or cabinets, siting area furniture and so on. You will also need secure and appropriate storage equipment for the medical supplies. Other required include pharmacy refrigerator, medicine dispensing equipment, compounding equipment as well as personal protection equipment. The costs of premises and equipment should be included in your pharmacy business plan.
License, Insurance And Company Bank Account
Licensing Requirements
There are several licensing aspects that are characteristic of the pharmacy business. It comes as no surprise given the sensitive nature of the business. Your pharmacy business must be formally registered as a business or company. Then you must get a shop operating license – often attainable from your respective municipality or local authorities.
You will also be required to get registered with various regulatory entities. This depends on which country you are in and its applicable laws. Examples of such regulatory entities can be ones that regulate health professionals, medicine control, and pharmacists specifically, amongst others. It is imperative that you comply with all the licensing requirements.
Insurance And Company Bank Account
Insurance starts from as basic as general liability insurance for your pharmacy business. Other examples of insurance cover for your pharmacy business are products liability, theft, professional liability, and more. The best thing to do is to approach reputable insurance providers to get expert guidance. A company bank account is a matter of business principle. Your pharmacy business must have its own company bank account. This helps nurture financial discipline plus it streamlines financial analyses. Most importantly it separates your business finances from your personal finances. Ensuring your personal finances are not liable for your pharmacy business is smart. Opening a company bank account helps you do that.
Products
The products your pharmacy business can sell depend on your type of pharmacy. There several different types, differences usually being a function of what is specialized on. The most common type of pharmacy business though is the community or retail pharmacy. The core products sold in such a pharmacy are prescription medications and over the counter (OTC) medications. Regardless, the range of products you can sell in your pharmacy is broad and diverse.
For example, you can also include herbal products, medical supplies, toiletries, home care products, and cosmetic products, amongst others. Screening or testing services can also be offered in-store. For instance, it would be convenient for people to have their blood sugar, blood pressure, weight, and cholesterol checked in your pharmacy. In the same vein you can also sell self-test kits. What is important is to stock products informed by market intelligence and customer needs. The products you intend to sell should be included in your pharmacy business plan.
Staff Requirements
Staffing requirements depend on the scope and scale of your pharmacy business. However, you do not need that many people to operate a pharmacy. At the core, you must have at least one qualified pharmacist – that is a must! In fact, it is often a law you must abide by. In some countries, the stipulation can be that the owner must be a pharmacist. Alternatively, if you are not, you can enter a business partnership arrangement with a pharmacist. Then you can have assistants or attendants that can help the pharmacist(s), lile pharmacy technicians. The only caveat though is that pharmacist salaries are typically hefty. Thus, despite needing only a few hands, the need for pharmacist(s) swells your wage bill.
Marketing And Sales Strategy
Choice Of Location Is Pertinent To Marketing And Sales
The choice of location of your pharmacy business is critically important. You must situate your pharmacy business somewhere surrounded by high vehicle and human traffic. Your pharmacy outlet must be mostly built with transparent full length glasses. You can also add in neon lighting to make the pharmacy alluring. Have colourful signage immediately around and in its vicinity.
Active Online Presence
Have a business website set up for your pharmacy business. Open social media accounts and keep them up to date and active. Be interactive online, especially to cultivate word of mouth and referrals. You can conduct online competitions or giveaways to achieve that. List your pharmacy business on notable online listing platforms or marketplaces.
Build Working Relationships With Healthcare Providers
The thrust of this is to have them refer customers to you. You can approach several hospitals, private clinics, and the like. Then you build strategic alliances so that you get customers effortlessly. Referrals are a huge driver of sales in the pharmacy business. It is interesting to note that it is possible to not only serve individual customers. You can actually have private clinics or surgeries and even big healthcare centres as clients. You might not even serve them directly but they can refer their clients to you. So in your business setup remember to work out an operational framework that enables you to build synergies with healthcare centres. They will also be a good source of information on what types of medications are usually sought after.
The prospects in the pharmacy business are significant and infinite. You just have to know that the pharmacy business is capital intensive. However, it is doable and there is lots of money to be made.
Keys To Success
Generally, people who have been active in the pharmacy industry before or those with pharmacy backgrounds are most suited to start such a business. This is because a pharmacy business is atypical and is characterised by rules of engagement that are specialist and not necessarily the same with other businesses. Even if you do not fit into those two prerequisites it does not mean you cannot start a pharmacy business. However, you will have to ensure you have someone or some people on board who wield the technical and specialist expertise.
A pharmacy is quite simple to set up i.e. you just need a store space that you furnish with appropriate shelving or cabinets to display the drugs. The work that goes into reaching that, though, is demanding because you have to research on so many things prior. There are very strict regulatory requirements to be adhered to and that can be very tasking. A pharmacy must be able, to a greater extent, to have in stock the most commonly sought-after drugs. This means one must not only know what to stock but to strike strategic alliances with suppliers.
Do not be too hung up on stocking with all the most common medications from the onset. This type of business thrives on user-generated data meaning that you get to understand the needs of your target market better as you tread along. The requests you get and your basic sales records will give you a comprehensive picture on what is mostly needed.
Some of the value-added services you can include in your value proposition are several. Some examples are screenings (e.g. blood pressure), immunizations, medical wares, and supplying oxygen amongst many others. The type of services will be informed by either prior research or by realizations borne after some time in operating the business.
If you are contemplating starting a pharmacy business you are on the right track. Just remember to cross the t’s and dot the i’s when it comes to any licensing, certifications and regulatory requirements. Getting legal advice can be very beneficial so that you know what is expected of you. You can also approach pharmacy-related boards or institutions to get more information.
Pre-Written Pharmacy Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel): Comprehensive Version, Short Funding/Bank Loan Version and Automated Financial Statements
For an in-depth analysis of the pharmacy store business, we encourage you to purchase our well-researched and comprehensive pharmacy business plan. We introduced the business plans after discovering that many were venturing into the pharmacy business without enough knowledge and understanding of how to run the business, lack of understanding of the financial side of the business, lack of understanding of : the industry, the risks involved , costs and profitability of the business; which often leads to disastrous losses.
The StartupBiz Global pharmacy business plan will make it easier for you to launch and run your pharmacy business successfully, fully knowing what you are going into, and what’s needed to succeed in the business. This is a complete business plan for a pharmacy. It will be easier to plan and budget as you will be aware of all the costs involved in setting up and running the retail pharmacy business.
Uses of the Pharmacy Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The retail pharmacy business plan can be used for many purposes including:
- Raising capital from investors/friends/relatives
- Applying for a bank loan
- Start-up guide to launch your pharmacy business
- As a pharmacy business proposal
- Assessing profitability of the pharmacy business
- Finding a business partner
- Assessing the initial start-up costs so that you know how much to save
- Manual for current business owners to help in business and strategy formulation
Contents of the Retail Pharmacy Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
The business plan for pharmacy includes, but not limited to:
- Marketing Strategy
- Financial Statements (monthly cash flow projections, income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, break even analysis, payback period analysis, start-up costs, financial graphs, revenue and expenses, Bank Loan Amortization)
- Industry Analysis
- Market Analysis
- Risk Analysis
- SWOT & PEST Analysis
- Operational Requirements
- Operational Strategy
- Why some people in the pharmacy business fail, so that you can avoid their mistakes
- Ways to raise capital to start your pharmacy retail business
The retail pharmacy business plan package consists of 4 files
- Pharmacy Business Plan – PDF file (Comprehensive Version – 99 Pages)
- Pharmacy Business Plan – Editable Word File (Comprehensive Version – 99 Pages)
- Pharmacy Business Plan Funding/Bank Loan Version- Editable Word File (Short version for applying for a loan/funding – 42 pages)
- Pharmacy Business Plan Automated Financial Statements – (Editable Excel File)
The business plan can be used in any country and can be easily edited. The financial statements are automated. This implies that you can change eg the markup, salaries etc, and all the other financial statements will automatically adjust to reflect the change.
Click below to download the Contents Page of the Pharmacy Business Plan (PDF)
Get the Pharmacy Business Plan (PDF, Word And Excel)
Click Buy Now below to purchase using Paypal, Credit Card, or Debit Card. After you have purchased, you will immediately see the download link for the business plan package on the screen. You will also immediately get an email with the business plan download link.
The Pre-written business plan package (PDF, Word, and Excel) costs $30 only!
If you want to purchase multiple business plans at once then click here: Business Plans Store.
The business plan package is a zipped compressed file containing the PDF, Word and Excel documents. To open the package after downloading it, just right click, and select Extract All. If you have any problems in downloading and opening the files, email us on shop@startupbizglobal.com and we will assist you.
We wish you the best in your pharmacy business! Check out our collection of business plans , and more business ideas.
