Wholesalers
July 18, 2011
Over the past few years the three
main wholesalers in Australia have
seen their businesses sold or
restructured which has presented
the opportunity for pharmacists to
review their trading allegiances.
All carry basically the same
inventory s o what should I look for
to make sure I am getting the best
value for my hard earned dollar?
With one delivery per day per
pharmacy, for maximum efficiency
“in time and in full” should be a key
criteria in selecting a wholesaler.
If your wholesaler is providing you
with this service you can feel
confident that all your customers will
get their needs met when they come
to your pharmacy.
The wholesalers have branding
offers attached either directly or
closely aligned to the wholesaler and
in recent years this includes a
preferred generic offer, and
sometimes these bundled offers may
provide the best solution for you.
Banner groups can improve profit
by leveraging through better buying
and reduced costs for some services.
Independent pharmacies should
take advantage of some of the very
compelling offers currently available
to consolidate their trading position.
This year we have seen changed
wholesaler pricing and trading terms
due to more direct supply.
In my 20 years in pharmacy this is
not the first time we have seen these
shifts to direct supply but the size of
this change is the most significant.
Price disclosure will have a large
impact on wholesaler profitability
over the next few years, as the price
of products drops, while transport
costs will continue to rise even
without the impact of a carbon tax.
New codes of practice may also
increase compliance costs which will
need to be passed on to pharmacy.
In summary, there are many
combinations of offerings that you
can make for your businesses future
- so investigate widely, talk to your
advisers and make a decision that
maintains your competitive
advantage and sustains profitability.
This week’s contributor is
Phytos Exa, General Manager of
PharmaSave Australia Pty Ltd.
Wholesalers.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 18 Jul 11To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 18 Jul 11
