Like an experienced chef testing an unfamiliar recipe,
pharmacies adding DME products to their retail mix might not have
the same degree of familiarity with DME items as they do with typical
pharmacy products. Furthermore, many DME products are complex
and serve patient niches that may be unfamiliar to the pharmacy staff.
To help pharmacies with their DME retail sales, industry experts sound
off regarding the differences between typical pharmacy and DME sales
and offer tips for increasing your DME business.

Renae Favata-Storie, Director of Pride
Field Sales and Strategic Accounts

“More and more, DMEs and pharmacies that
sell DME have the same opportunities for retail
success,” said Favata-Storie. “Gone are the days
where consumers are simply looking to fill a
prescription. Retail DME consumers are just that —
consumers — and while they may enter a pharmacy
for a specific item, an inviting showroom
that displays retail DME products in an inviting way
can introduce customers to products that they
may not have thought of and encourage browsing and purchasing.”

The goal of an DME retail showroom is four-fold: display product,
encourage browsing, create comfort, achieve a sale. An effective
pharmacy DME retail space encourages customers to interact with
products in an intuitive way — and having a product floor-plan inventory
is key. A lift chair displayed in cozy décor, with accompanying fabrics
and educational kiosk, for example, encourages a customer to first
touch the plush lift chair, then sit in it, and then move to the kiosk. It’s an
initially tactile impulse that leads to further exploration, followed by a
conversation with a salesperson. Therefore, whether a lift chair, scooter
or power chair, having well-positioned product displays with reinforcing
educational and point-of-sales resources is essential.

To enhance the DME retail product display and demonstration experience,
pharmacies should use advertising techniques, ranging
from hang tags to posters and banners, to videos and point-of-sale
accessory selections. The more ways that a pharmacy can demonstrate
an HME retail product’s features and benefits, the better.

Todd Carter, Director of Sales for
Pharmacy/HME, Apex Foot Health

“In most cases, retail product offerings are very
similar in both DME and pharmacy settings,” said
Carter. “Pharmacies have the advantage of a
large volume walk-in business where DME businesses
must beat the bushes, so to speak, and
rely more heavily on referrals. A minor difference
is that DMEs carry larger DME items like power
chairs and beds. They are similar in that they
usually carry the same smaller DME items such
as lift chairs, manual wheels chairs, shoes, compression, OTC bracing
and off-the-shelf cash items.”

Patient education is the key to the kingdom. At Apex, we provide
pharmacies with signage to hang and display throughout the store.
These collateral pieces are designed to prompt those customers with
diabetes to ask their pharmacist about diabetic shoes.

Pharmacists should make the best possible use of prescription
bags. Placing stickers on the outside of the bag with big and bold calls
to action can be very useful. For instance, stickers that ask the question,
“Are you Diabetic? You may qualify for a pair of diabetic shoes!” can
both educate the consumer and drive them to have a conversation with
their pharmacist for more information.

Todd Blockinger, Senior Director of
Sales, The MED Group

“DME retail is different due to the fact that
customers are coming in because they have a
need for a supply or piece of equipment,” said
Blockinger. “Often times, they come in for one
thing and, if the people working the retail floor do
a proper job, utilizing their expertise and delivering
on the obligation of keeping people living
safely and independently in their own homes
for as long as possible, they leave with much
more than that. Pharmacy retail differs in that the majority of customers
walking through the door are coming in for a refill on their prescriptions.
The challenge for the pharmacy is how to engage with that customer
and see if there are any products in the store that might be needed.
Also, impulsive sale products can play a large role in increasing your
sales-per-customer ratio.”

Understand your products. It is extremely difficult to be successful in
selling DME without knowing how the products will benefit the customer
once they get them home, so educate and train all of your staff on the
products you keep on your shelves within the store. Host a “lunch and
learn” training session with the manufacturers who have inventory in
your store — most manufacturers will jump at the opportunity to train
your staff on their products. They can cover details such as adjustability
and why it is important, weight capacity, where products should and
should not be used, and, ultimately, why their product would be helpful
to a customer. They will also be able to provide suggestions on proper
product staging, offer planograms, and help with easy selling tips. These
are all vital pieces of information to covey to the customer in order to
have successful selling. Once your staff has a comprehensive understanding
of the products you sell, they will be better at cross-selling and
up-selling, which will help increase your sales-per-customer ratio.

Establish a customer e-mail list if you are not already doing so.
Some very successful companies have been utilizing their e-mail
lists to help their customers stay safe and independent by informing
them of sales on particular products, health fairs offering blood pressure
and glucose tests, cleaning and checking CPAP machines, etc.
This is a great way to attract customers to your stores, as well as keep
current customers engaged. It is very easy for pharmacies to become
yet another “faceless entity” in the homecare world; engaging your
customers, even at a very basic level, helps you to stand out and
creates loyal customers. Once you have created your customer e-mail
list, decide on an e-mail schedule (do not flood their inboxes) and
decide on the kind of content you want to send (make it relevant). You
can spend some time once a week scheduling your e-mails to send
automatically, which will help take the work out of remembering to send at the same time and on the same day every week, or there are companies
that specialize in e-mail customer contact management.

Cy Corgan, National Sales Manager,
EZ-ACCESS

“The challenge for pharmacies has been
two-fold: the first is the Internet,” said Corgan.
“E-commerce has impacted the pharmacy business,
primarily the smaller to mid-size, independent
owners. Typically, when caregivers are told
they need a ramp for their home, they are going
to go home and start searching for products
online. Second, pharmacies can’t compete with
the selection that is online, so it comes down to
how do they handle their special orders? Pharmacies don’t traditionally
buy direct from the manufacturer; they usually go through a distribution
partner. How they handle those special orders can make it challenging
for the pharmacy.”

Have the products readily available in the store. Having the product
on the shelves and in the showroom will help increase sales. EZ-ACCESS
is working with pharmacies across the Midwest to place their ramp products
within the store, complete with signage and educational materials.

Have a solution for special orders. Because of the confined space,
pharmacies closely look at their sales per square foot. So pharmacies
will certainly use the products that sell the best to occupy the space
within the store. In addition, they may not be able to carry the full assortment
and styles of a particular product. Therefore, they need to be able
to immediately address special ordering with the product company.
For example, EZ-ACCESS provides the pharmacy a card with the special
order information printed on it. The special order items are already
loaded into the pharmacies POS system. That way the customer knows
right away that the item will be available and shipped to the store within
a couple of days. Pharmacies should work with manufactures and
distributers that can create special ordering with pharmacies.

Brandon Noble, CO, LO, Director of
Medical Sales and Marketing, Vionic
Group

“In the footwear world where I am from, there
really isn’t a big difference between DME and
pharmacy retail,” said Noble. “It’s still the same
message and still the same patient but it is a
different setting. So if you embrace good retailing
habits, you are going to get consistent results
across all channels.”

Categorize your merchandising. For example,
make sure that if you have an area for pain relief that you are
combining all your pain relief items into one category. Don’t spread
them around. Don’t put topicals in one spot and taping in another. Bring
them into one space so when the patient comes in looking for pain
relief, there’s a multiple sales opportunity in one selection area. Categorize
by condition or type of treatment versus by product. It appeals to
the senses of the consumer more. There is a specific reason (condition
or treatment) why customers come into the store, which means they are
likely not looking for a specific product.

Make sure your retail space is stocked and inventory is full. Don’t
create an environment in which you are apologizing for your retail
because you are out of an item a customer needs. When you have
empty spaces on shelves or displays, it makes the customer feel you
don’t care about your retail environment. Check your shelves once a
day, either at the end of the day or first thing in the morning.