End-to-end supply chain planning for pharmacies

With LEAFIO, build an end-to-end supply chain, achieve maximum product availability in a multi-channel environment, adequately respond to seasonal demand surges, manage analogues and substitutes, analyze layout profitability, and automatically organize and control efficient product display.

End-to-end supply chain planning for pharmacies
;

Turn the challenges Pharmacies face into the automated routine and profit opportunities

Difficulty in managing a wide range with slow-movers and a large percentage of imported goods

The assortment of pharmacies includes dozens of categories and thousands of SKUs. It includes popular and rarely sold items (expensive drugs or remedies for rare diseases). Given the strictly limited shelf life of drugs, it is crucial to avoid surplus stock while ensuring maximum availability.

The LEAFIO system allows you to:

  • Quickly analyze your product range, identifying slow-moving products and products with lost sales.

  • Accurately estimate current and predict future demand, including slow movers and imported goods;

  • Take into account lead times, goods-in-transit, and supplier schedules when auto replenishing.

  • Smoothly and risk-free assortment rotation based on accurate forecasts and analytics.

  • Use auto-facing to place SKUs on the shelf, considering their sales share, turnover, product parameters, etc.

  • When forming planograms, group the assortment considering its medical purpose, storage conditions, color, etc.

Quick adaptation of the assortment to pronounced seasonality, trends and regional specifics

Demand in pharmacies is subject to seasonal fluctuations: cold remedies in winter and allergy and sunburn cures in summer are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition, it can vary depending on the area of the city or region. To avoid loss of profits, frozen assets or expired inventory, pharmacy inventories must adequately respond to demand fluctuations.

How LEAFIO solves this:

  • Seasonality factors (monthly and weekly) for each product group are calculated and applied automatically.

  • The functionality allows you to consider holidays and long weekends when suppliers may not work.

  • The system has a set of scenarios that can be applied depending on the area, region or market situation for maximum order accuracy.

  • You can quickly perform seasonal SKU rotation across your entire chain using the auto-facing feature.

  • All seasonal changes in planograms are instantly scheduled as an assignment to the store employee in charge.

  • The reallogram, a picture of the execution of the planogram, is sent to you and can be viewed in the desktop version.

Particular control over the accounting of divisible packaging and limited shelf life drugs

The number of drugs in one package can sometimes be divided and sold in parts, which is often a cause of confusion with balances. Controlling expiration dates is even more critical here than in grocery retail since there is no possibility of selling out goods with expired shelf life.

How this is solved with LEAFIO:

  • The system automatically monitors the expiration dates of goods, informing users promptly about the risks involved.

  • The "Vendor units" function allows you to indicate the units of measurement of both the pharmacy (the units in which sales are made) and the vendor (the packages in which receipts are accounted for).

  • You can set up order quantity conversions from pharmacy units to supplier units, which improves order accuracy and reduces errors.

  • Considering high variability and unstable demand allows you to manage inventory and markups of different product categories in a "lean" accurate manner.

Effective management of goods in related categories with maximum benefit: analogs and substitutes

Besides new drugs appearing on the market all the time, pharmaceutical companies produce their versions of widespread medications. Also, they may change the dosage and packaging or have a rebranding. Under these conditions, it is essential for pharmacies to choose a substitute product for the customer professionally but also to forecast demand for the new SKU so as not to miss out on profits and to avoid generating surpluses.

The LEAFIO system allows you to:

  • Easily keep track of, replenish, and match the customer with substitute products when new drug modifications become available.

  • Predict demand for new products based on the sales history of similar products to avoid overstock and losses.

  • Maintain an adequate inventory buffer based on similar products, availability, shelf life, and delivery time.

  • Avoid lost sales and conflicts with customers if there’s no drugs they need by intelligently selecting substitute products and putting them on the shelves.

Running effective promotions

Promotional campaigns in the pharmaceutical industry differ from FMCG. Promotions for over-the-counter drugs are carried out but require more thorough preparation and quality forecasts. Such products are rarely purchased by pharmacy visitors impulsively and without additional consultation.

With the LEAFIO system, you can:

  • Automatically calculate the number of shipments needed to prepare and run a campaign.

  • See all past, current and future promotions across the chain, particular stores or categories in a handy promotional calendar.

  • Track the effectiveness of promotions during the campaign and quickly adjust the strategy if necessary.

  • Not to worry about lack of promotional goods: the system will not only ensure the availability of goods before the start of the campaign but also ensure timely replenishment during it.

  • Create promotional zones with automatic layout feature: you only need to choose the required attributes of the goods and the parameter of the SKU sorting within the shelf. The algorithms will create a planogram without any further actions.

  • Monitor the layout of promotional goods, the order in the showcases and the relevance of price tags with the help of a convenient mobile app.

The need to manage inventory in an omnichannel environment

Managing pharmacy inventory, given the number of SKUs and the wide variety of analogs in a multi-channel environment, is becoming a challenge for a drug industry retailer. Inventory planning for each channel according to frequently changing demand and promotional activities is also a complex task.

LEAFIO helps you to:

  • Fully automate the replenishment process, taking into account all channels from the moment you calculate demand to the moment you receive your order.

  • Ensure a transparent and efficient inventory management process at all levels of the supply chain without manual intervention.

  • Have up-to-date inventory visibility considering sales and product movement across all sales channels.

Getting the most profit from the limited open shelf space

In a pharmacy, there are significantly fewer open shelves than in traditional retail, and some drugs are only available to the customer on request. Under such conditions, it is critical to use the empty display cases effectively so that the client cannot only quickly find what they need but also make impulse purchases.

LEAFIO allows you to:

  • In just a few clicks, analyze the efficiency and profitability of the display and make necessary changes to planograms.

  • Automatically create layouts considering the profitability of goods, their popularity, as well as seasonal factors and promo campaigns.

  • Create unique "promotional blocks" with special prices and places at the cash desk for goods, not customers' necessities.

  • Immediately implement planograms in each of the chain's pharmacies, monitoring compliance via an app on the mobile devices of store employees.

  • Analyze the trading floor and place racks in hot/cold zones according to your strategy.

Following strict merchandise proximity rules

In pharmacies, it is vital to adhere to the product proximity rules and the requirements of state regulators. You cannot display dietary supplements and medications, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and internal and external medications, and it is also essential to distinguish drugs by pharmacological properties.

With LEAFIO, you can:

  • Automatically create planograms taking into account the rules of drug display, storage requirements, and product proximity.

  • Create format planograms for pharmacies of a specific type, depending on the area, region and target audience.

  • Quickly make changes to the planograms and instantly apply them in the store.

  • Monitor merchandise compliance and drug display requirements remotely via a mobile app.

LEAFIO, like a properly prescribed medicine, solves the problems of managing stocks, assortment and space in your pharmacy store

Our Drug stores customers typically face the following impacts

8%

more sales

30%

faster turnover

80%

less manual labor

50%

less overstock

15%

waste reduction

50%

less lost sales

Case study

More cases
Overstock Reduction and Streamlined Promotions through Inventory Management Automation

Pharmacy chain of 299 stores, focused on the individual approach to the customer, quality drugs, and low prices.

Pharma

Strategic Growth Redefined: Operational Excellence Fueled by Automated Demand-Driven Order Generation

L Cosmetics is the only drogerie chain in Estonia that offers everyday products for the whole family. There are 26 stores all over Estonia

Health&Beauty

Boosting Turnover and Optimizing Merchandising Impact for Podorozhnyk

The chain operates 1,400+ pharmacies and manages 1500+ SKUs. The company selected Shelf Efficiency for merchandising automation to provide excellent services for their 5 million customers.

Pharma

More cases

LEAFIO top picks for you

Related materials to deep dive into our expertise 

Inventory management specifics in retail pharmacy

Trends

Inventory management specifics in retail pharmacy

The pharmacy retail industry is characterized by significant state regulation, limited shelf capacity, and, most importantly, a wide and complex product range.
Practical tips for visual merchandising in pharmacies

Trends

Practical tips for visual merchandising in pharmacies

Pharmaceutical merchandising is no longer imaginable without carefully thought-out product placement, creative packaging design, and other ways to encourage consumers to increase purchases.
Pharmacy Merchandising: 5 Ideas to Increase Pharmacy Sales and Boost Customer Engagement

Global retail

Pharmacy Merchandising: 5 Ideas to Increase Pharmacy Sales and Boost Customer Engagement

Discover powerful pharmacy merchandising rules that can increase your sales and drive success. Learn how to optimize store layout, enhance product placement, implement effective pricing, and engage customers for higher profitability.
Efficient Merchandising Tips: How to digitize a layout in 40 minutes

Webinar

Efficient Merchandising Tips: How to digitize a layout in 40 minutes
Fundamental inventory management KPIs for navigation and growth

Webinar

Fundamental inventory management KPIs for navigation and growth

Check up the LEAFIO AI platform demo

Increase the turnover and profitability of your retail!

Your data is stored for business-to-business communication purposes. See our Privacy Policy

Trusted by

#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#

Industry recognition

#
#
#