To assess the pharmacy market, you can use open sources – it’s statistics, publications, reviews. The easiest way is to search for information in Yandex: the Internet today can give a lot of useful information: figures, comments of market participants, and this will allow us to understand the market capacity.
You can walk around the pharmacies in the area where you are going to open your own, and watch the work – how many visitors, what medicines are in demand. But in any case, a person with experience in the pharmacy environment has a better chance of success. And best of all, if you have the experience of doing business or leadership at least two or three people.
The hero of our article has extensive experience in the pharmacy sphere – he opened his first pharmacy in the 1990s. And the newcomers, he gives such advice: you need to be confident and tune into a long job. Maybe it will take about ten years before you manage to make a profit. However, more positive developments are also possible. Marat Bikmullin, the founder of the Sakura pharmacy network, told about the nuances of the pharmacy business.
Where to begin?
Of course, you can order an analytical study in the agency, the information will never be superfluous. There you will be helped to assess the place and demand, the level of competition in the city, assess the patency of this place, the solvency of people, how many young and elderly in the area. Based on this, we can estimate future revenue. But such work in the agency is usually about 500 thousand rubles.
The pharmacy market is very competitive. To survive in the market, an indispensable condition is to constantly study the activities of competitors, find out what innovations they use, and learn from their experience.
When we started, in 1996, there was still such a saturation of the market and such competition. It was possible not to make calculations, just throw the fishing rod and catch it. Now everything needs to be calculated and analyzed.
How to understand in which niche it is more profitable to start work? In general, in the pharmacy market, roughly speaking, there are two niches. The first – discounters, pharmacies, which work at very low prices and survive at the expense of volume. They make on their goods not a maximum possible (established by the regulator) margin of 25%, but only 10%. At first, such pharmacies work at a loss and only invest in business. The second niche is the traditional pharmacy. They have a 25% mark-up: 1 million rubles have been sold – 250,000 of them have been received.
Both are niche workers. If you have long money, and you are ready to invest 5-6 years without getting a profit, you can choose a discounter. And if not, then open a traditional pharmacy.
The pharmacy business does not have a specific target audience. Any pharmacy works for all categories of the population – both the poor and the rich, people come to the drugstore on expensive cars, grandmothers with koshelkami come in. This is a democratic business.
Investment size
You will need to rent a room of at least 70-100 sq.m. To make the premises beautiful and licensed, it will take about 1 million rubles to finish it. The purchase of the assortment will cost 7-8 million rubles. That is, about 10 million rubles you should have to just open up. And in the future you should have enough money to pay salaries, taxes, utility payments, deductions to social funds within two or three years. Also do not forget about minimal advertising. You, at least, will need to order and hang a sign (this is another 200-300 thousand rubles). If you do not rent, and buy a room, then in a good place in the metropolis 1 square. costs about 100 thousand, and this is another 10 million rubles.
These are the start-up costs and investments for the period until the pharmacy reaches self-sufficiency. And the profit will begin after about ten years.
Marat Bikmullin, founder of the network of pharmacies «Sakura»
We are not advertised in any way. Because the buyer, as a rule, just sees the drugstore and enters. Although effective advertising can be on the radio. When a person is traveling in a car, and he needs to buy something, he remembers the name, brand, and then he will prefer to drop into the place he has already heard about than to an unknown pharmacy.
What exactly you need is a signboard. A catchy, well visible and readable. And if you are a discounter, then the name should suggest that this is a pharmacy with low prices.
As this business pays off for a very long time, the hero does not recommend taking loans from the bank: the incomes will not cover the interest rate. It is better to use personal savings, ask wealthy relatives if they are ready to help. You can find an investor, take someone to share. To the aid of the state it is not necessary to count: the subsidization of the commercial business today is not a priority. Basically, subsidies relate to industries that create many jobs and high added value.
What are the running costs? For rent of a premise 100 sq.m. in a good place you will pay about 100 thousand rubles a month. Plus utilities costs about 10 thousand rubles, salary (for 3-4 employees – about 200 thousand rubles) and overhead. A medium-sized pharmacy requires about 600-700 rubles a month. If the pharmacy works 7 days a week from morning to late evening or even night shift – costs even more.
How to optimize running costs?
In large you can not optimize. The principles of energy saving can be applied. But this will give a minimal effect. To save on specialists is more expensive. Therefore, it is necessary to save only on yourself.
Step-by-step instruction
To organize a business, you will need to establish relationships with suppliers. Currently, a large number of distributors work in the market, which provide pharmacies with goods – they bring in medicines according to the application. Directly with the manufacturers to work pharmacy does not make sense, because it is profitable for the manufacturer to sell his goods with large waggons. Not to mention the import preparations, customs clearance procedures are very expensive – you need to have turnover of billions of rubles. Therefore, between the manufacturer and the pharmacy, as a rule, there are two intermediaries: distributors, who agree on the small volume of pharmacy consumption with the huge volume of the plant’s production.
You do not need to search for a supplier. The distributor will come to you.
Once you get a license and start making out, suppliers will come to you and you will choose. Between suppliers there is a lot of competition, and they will all try their best to please you.
We have to choose among the best, and not among the worst: who has better prices, who brings more quickly, who gives chocolate, discounts give. But the main thing is that the supplier maintain the terms, quality and range. These are the three main points.
There are no special ways to promote the pharmacy. Your main task is to win the trust of customers. And this means, politely meet, serve with a sincere smile, work honestly and efficiently. The assortment and prices in pharmacies of one city are approximately the same. But every trading institution has its own internal atmosphere. And the sympathy of the customers is divided.
What kind of staff do you need to work? Undoubtedly, a pharmacist must have a diploma of the corresponding medical education – these are the rules of licensing. In addition, to work in a pharmacy you need a person emotionally seasoned, cordial, smiling. Both competent and open to training, because the assortment in the pharmacy is constantly updated, new medicines come in, clients come with different situations that need to be given a recommendation.
You need at least two pharmacists and two cash desks. When people go into the pharmacy, going home from work, and see in your drugstore queue, while in a nearby pharmacy quickly serve, the people will not stand in line. Also need an accountant, the head of the pharmacy, people for the night shift, cleaner.
There are no special recipe for finding employees – with the help of work sites, ads in newspapers and so on. In serious companies, they conduct an interview at a high level to understand how a person suits the collective, the pharmacy format.
How do we hire employees to work in our pharmacy? First of all, considerate attitude to their needs. In our pharmacies the head for each employee spends a lot of time. We are aimed at finding mutual understanding.
Think of a system of bonuses, promotions and discounts. All customers like some surprises: you need to get more than expected when you visit your pharmacy. The reverse situation: when a person receives less, you can say that you have lost the client. Therefore, discount cards, prizes and prizes are only welcomed.
A place
To open a pharmacy is best in a place with high traffic. Ideal option – where people have high solvency. But it is natural that renting a room in such a place will be more expensive, and competition, most likely, is higher. Therefore, notes the hero of our article, any location has both pluses and minuses in the form of expensive leases or the number of competitors around. Therefore, the effect eventually becomes equal. For example, the shopping center has high traffic, but the rent there is much higher than on the first floor of a residential building. More than others, you will not be allowed to earn. Unless you come up with something unusual, not like everyone else.
What should be the room? To obtain a license, the premises must meet certain requirements, which are prescribed in the order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on the terms of licensing – how many meters, what installation, air exchange, lighting and so on. This document with requirements is easy to find on the Internet. You will also need to obtain opinions from the fire department and the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station.
Documentation
Open a pharmacy and start working in it only by obtaining a license. It is issued for five years. In this case, pharmacies are constantly checked.
Prices and markups, quality of the goods and conditions of storage are checked. Step aside – shooting. If you lose a license, it will be very difficult to restore it, and you risk losing all investments. In the pharmacy business, the imputed taxation system is applied.
Check-list of opening
- Analysis of the market and competitors (range of services, prices, programs, personnel, etc.),
- Choosing a niche,
- Search for a room,
- Evaluation of the rental location, the choice of the best option,
- Conclusion of the lease agreement,
- Registration of IP or LLC, registration with the tax inspection,
- Search for colleagues,
- Interviewing, selection of candidates,
- Scheduling shifts,
- Repair work, purchase of equipment and furniture,
- Obtaining a license,
- Order of drugs, installation,
- Development and coordination of the signboard, its installation,
- Development of shares, discounts and other marketing activities,
- Opening.
Is it profitable to open
There is a list of vital medicines – the price for them is regulated by the state. Therefore, you can not influence the cost of these medicines. On the rest of the range the controller allows you to set a maximum of 25% of the mark-up, if more – you will be fined.
As for the payback period, it may take ten years before you manage to make a profit. Of course, there are rare exceptions, when you can cover all costs for 3-4 years – in the event that a person is smart and will find some «new stream». But if you act like everyone, then the payback will take ten years. Note that the yield will be about 10% per annum from the investment, that is, slightly more than in the bank.
What are the options for increasing profits in this type of business? Only one – to pay more attention to the customer and improve the quality of service. The room should be clean and the staff friendly.
This type of business has a number of risks. For example, it happened that we were telephoned and said that they were dying and they could not come. Asked to send medications, send a taxi, we rush headlong, and there sits the inspector. And he says that we have no right to release medicines outside the pharmacy. Especially if the device is powerful. In general, the medicine can only be sold in a pharmacy. You can not deliver through the courier.
There are many risks. Hundreds. It is necessary to monitor the quality of products, not to violate the storage conditions. Will come check – you can lose your license. It’s not so easy to find a good pharmacist. There is a poor-quality service, can be rude or mislead the medicine, for example, without a prescription, for which you have to pay fines.
This type of business is also affected by the seasonality factor. In the spring, winter and autumn people are more often sick with colds. In the summer frequent poisonings are observed. Therefore, each season, its products are in demand. The pharmacy will not be idle, but there may be fluctuations in revenue. Revenue is definitely higher in the cold season.
Consider that the business is socially responsible and the state is seriously controlled, every year there are new restrictions for market participants. State pharmacies are also being created, which are not entirely in market conditions and can significantly affect the economy of the industry.
