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Digital access has its place – but pharmacy shouldn’t forget what it does best, writes Neil Scobie

Summer is one of the busiest seasonal moments for community pharmacy advice. Heatwaves are now a recurring feature rather than a rarity, hayfever seasons are longer, and questions about UV exposure, hydration, medicines storage in higher temperatures and travel health arrive in waves. They rarely come neatly packaged.

The elderly patient whose blood pressure medication interacts with heat, the parent looking for the right sun care for an infant, the traveller heading somewhere unfamiliar: these are conversations a screen cannot deliver well, because the right recommendation depends on listening to the person in front of you, not matching a search query.

The same principle applies behind the counter. Pharmacy owners sometimes need someone walking the floor with them, not a quarterly report.

The most valuable kind of network support is in-person too. At Alphega Pharmacy, we provide advice and guidance through our business mentors, member communications and support teams working alongside members on seasonal category planning, team capability and the consultative conversations that actually move customers toward the right product.

Consultative selling is the connecting idea. Rather than pushing the priority Stock Keeping Unit, helping the team identify what the patient genuinely needs across sun care, hayfever, hydration and travel health.

Training matters here, but it only lands properly when it is reinforced on the shop floor, with someone present to observe real consultations rather than reviewing the numbers afterwards.

The rest of retail is trying to recreate digitally what good community pharmacies already do in person. Helping the profession be seen as clinical, not just transactional, starts with protecting that work and investing in the people who deliver it.

For Alphega members, the summer peak is a good moment to sit down with a business mentor and map out which categories and conversations would benefit most from extra in-person attention.

Neil Scobie is head of member offer and engagement at Alphega