Pharmacy is a consumer driven service industry and failing to meet the demands of your customers is not an option. The success of a pharmacy business, in common with other retail businesses, is based on developing a loyal customer base. Large retailers spend significant amounts of money to understand the needs and desires of their loyal customers and make plans to deliver them. This is understandable when you consider that these customers contribute the lion’s share of their turnover.

Failing to recognise that customers want something different from the service you currently provide guarantees failure. Marks & Spencer traded on its customer loyalty for many years, based on traditional values of quality and service and, in many respects, price and fashion were secondary. As the marketplace changed, sales and profit fell dramatically as the company failed to respond quickly enough to their customers’ demands. The company faced a long battle to win back customers and it is now a very different business.

The natural consequence of not recognising or ignoring your customers’ call to change is obvious; customers shop elsewhere and turnover falls. Fixed costs remain consistent so profit falls more rapidly. What is it that they are not telling you?