What Is an Independent Pharmacy?

Pharmacy chains are one of the most important forms of pharmaceutical retail in China today. Chain pharmacies are unitary pharmacies that have a common operating philosophy, standardized services, and a complete quality management system. They are connected under the unified management of a chain headquarters in a variety of ways, such as unified purchase or authorized franchise, to achieve unified, standardized, and standardized Operation and management is to combine independent and decentralized pharmacies to form a broader scale of operations.

Pharmacy chains are one of the most important forms of pharmaceutical retail in China today. Chain pharmacies are unitary pharmacies that have a common operating philosophy, standardized services, and a complete quality management system. They are connected under the unified management of a chain headquarters in a variety of ways, such as unified purchase or authorized franchise, to achieve unified, standardized, and standardized Operation and management is to combine independent and decentralized pharmacies to form a broader scale of operations.

Chinese name

Pharmacy chain

the way

Uniform purchase or authorized franchise

Realize

Unified standardized operation sharing scale benefits

Nature

Organization form

1 Pharmacy chain 1 industry overview

At present, domestic pharmacies are still in the primary form of drug retail, and their contribution to the entire medical and health industry is still at a relatively low level. Compared with the vast domestic consumer market, the opportunities are huge. Chain drug stores started late in China, but have developed rapidly. In 1996, the nation s first chain drug store "Zhizhilin" was born in Guangzhou. Then, many investors set their sights on drug stores, which led to the rapid expansion of chain drug stores. Some chain drug stores are getting larger and larger, with more stores and more assets. More and more powerful, in 2007, Neptune was listed in the United States; in 2009, Sinopharm Holdings was listed in Hong Kong. In recent years, the competition of chain pharmacies is fierce, and people in the industry have felt that chain pharmacies are difficult to operate [1].

2 Chain Drug Store 2 Chain Drug Store Category

2.1 RC (Regular Chain)

The chain stores where the head office directly participates in the operation and management, that is, the business form in which the headquarters of the company directly manages the investment and management of various retail outlets. There is no franchise store in this chain model. Its main task is "channel management", that is, the company's headquarters directly manages, invests, and manages the operations of various retail outlets. Its ownership and management rights are centralized at the headquarters, and all member companies must be a single owner, owned by a company, a joint organization, or a single person. Advantages: The company has strong restraint and control over chain drug stores, maintains a consistent image, and can effectively guarantee the quality and service quality of chain drug stores. Disadvantages: the cost is too high and the growth rate is slow.

2.2 Franchising is also called Franchise Chain (FC)

A contractual relationship is formed between the franchisor and the licensee, which provides a license for commercial operation to the licensee, and gives guidance and assistance to personnel in all aspects of drug store operation. Under the unified management of the licensee to engage in related business activities, the licensee pays the corresponding fees to the franchisor. Advantages: The company has a certain ability to control the franchise stores, the store image and service are more unified and standardized, and the number of stores has grown rapidly. Disadvantages: It is difficult and complicated for enterprises to communicate and coordinate with chain drug stores;

2.3 Free chain is also called voluntary joining VC (Voluntary Chain)

A group of relatively independent stores voluntarily belong to a purchasing association and a management center leader. The management center is responsible for providing sources of goods, sales plans, account processing, etc. In the voluntary franchise system, the ownership of the goods is owned by the franchisee, while the operation technology and store brand are owned by the headquarters. Advantages: Less investment and faster growth; Disadvantages: Poor restraint and control capabilities. At the same time, it is difficult to ensure a high degree of uniformity in the image. It is also difficult to guarantee the personnel and service quality of chain drug stores.

3 Advantages of chain drug store operation

3.1 Cost advantage

There are also three types of chain pharmacies, namely regular chain pharmacies, free chain pharmacies, and franchise chain pharmacies. No matter what kind of chain pharmacy, they have built more than one distribution center. The center collects goods and distributes them uniformly, and the pharmacy is responsible for sales. After the unified purchase, due to the large purchase volume, chain pharmacies can select suppliers in a larger range, and also have more bargaining chips with suppliers.

3.2 Advantages of Logistics Management

Logistics is one of the most important factors in the course of an enterprise. Rationalization of logistics can not only reduce the logistics costs of enterprises and reduce the cost of goods sold, but more importantly, through logistics improvements, the management level of pharmacies can be improved. Drug chain operations generally have a distribution center. The chain drug store distribution center is an organization that undertakes professional logistics management functions. It is the core of a drug chain operation.

3.3 Network Advantage and Information Advantage of Drug Chain Management

Chain pharmacies have broken through the pattern of traditional pharmacies concentrated in specific commercial centers and penetrated into residential communities or urban-rural junctions; they are generally available 24 hours a day, and changes in space and time allow consumers to get the medicines and services they need anytime, anywhere Convenient for consumers. With its strong network radiation and brand appeal, the drug chain has firmly controlled the drug sales terminals in many cities and captured the vast number of consumers [3].

4 Pharmacy chain 4 Problems with chain pharmacy operation

4.1 Professional ethics of pharmacy chain operators is low

Some pharmacy chain operators use pharmacies as small hospitals to sell various drugs to consumers. In particular, in order to highlight the effectiveness of medicines, some problems related to the efficacy of medicines are often challenged. Regardless of the side effects and adverse reactions of new special drugs, they are strongly recommended to consumers and serve as "well-known doctors" to maximize the benefits.

4.2 Lack of pharmaceutical knowledge among practitioners in pharmacy chain operations

The pharmacy service work of pharmacy chain operation is still in its infancy. The overall level of most of the employees is relatively low, the service scope is narrow, and the pharmaceutical knowledge is relatively lacking. It is common that drug practitioners do not have a relevant pharmaceutical professional background and cannot reasonably guide consumers to purchase. Medicines and medications, therefore, incidents that cause consumers to buy or take medicines by accident.

4.3 Practitioners of pharmacy chain operation are useless

Specialization is the housekeeping skill of pharmacy chain operations. However, in reality, due to the shortage of licensed pharmacists, in order to continue to engage in pharmaceutical business, most drug dealers, through pharmacy chain business enterprises, have applied for a "drug business license", hung the licensed pharmacists on the wall, and witnessed the absence of people. The "freak" in the drug business, the "door god" licensed pharmacist, has greatly affected the safety and effectiveness of the public's medication, and has hidden hidden safety hazards for consumers.

4.4 Insufficient infrastructure for pharmacy chain operation

Most of the pharmacy chain operations have low sales and small store areas. In order to maximize the benefits of pharmaceutical chain operation companies, in the process of approval of drug business licenses, they have reduced the number of drugs on the shelves to achieve the "quality management of pharmaceutical operations." According to the requirements of the Standards, a pharmaceutical business license has been obtained. Because the Pharmaceutical Business Permit can only be divided into categories I, II, and III according to the scope of business. After the approval of the Pharmaceutical Business Permit, all types and quantities of drugs that can be sold are put on the shelves, and the basic facilities are obviously insufficient. The rational layout of the measures according to the standards is serious [4].

The rapid development of chain drug stores has also brought fierce market competition and many development problems, but based on the judgment of the domestic market size, it still has considerable market potential.