Paper Keywords drug retail enterprises; Competition; Management; change
Drug retail enterprises are the link of commodity circulation directly facing the final consumers (patients) and the final link of drug circulation. The pharmaceutical retail industry, like other retail industries, is influenced by political, legal, macroeconomic, consumer demand, market competition and other factors. From a macro point of view, but from a micro point of view, it is also affected by factors such as goods, prices, services, site selection, advertising promotion, store design, commodity display and so on. These factors are an important prerequisite for retail operators to formulate business strategies and marketing strategies. At present, the variety of OTC drugs in China can basically meet the demand of self-medication, the expansion of retail terminals is accelerated, the number of drugs is increased, the profit margin is reduced, and the industry competition is fierce, which leads to the diversification of pharmacies. This paper analyzes the diversified operation of pharmacies at present, and puts forward some personal views on the operation of pharmacies.
1 Analysis of the present situation of pharmaceutical retail enterprises
1. 1 external environment analysis
From the external environment analysis, pharmaceutical retail enterprises have been affected by the following aspects:
1. 1. 1 related policies
In recent years, the state has rectified the pharmaceutical industry, reduced drug prices for many times, and standardized the sale of prescription drugs. Hospitals began to be forced to gradually reduce drug prices, and gsp certification expired and re-certified. These are the pressures of pharmaceutical retail enterprises.
1. 1.2 intra-industry competition
The entry threshold of pharmaceutical retail industry is low, and the access conditions are low, while foreign capital and non-industry capital continue to enter the pharmaceutical retail industry; In addition, large chain pharmacies are constantly moving from regional chains to national chains through mergers and acquisitions, opening stores in different places, etc., and the concentration of pharmaceutical chain retail market is constantly improving, which also causes increasingly fierce competition among industries, focusing on price forms, leading to a decline in drug retail prices and a significant decline in corporate profit margins.
1. 1.3 From the perspective of customer demand,
Drug retail enterprises mainly sell over-the-counter drugs and health care drugs, and the main consumers are ordinary people, who are very sensitive to prices and have strong bargaining power. In addition, with the improvement of people's self-care awareness, the service requirements for pharmacies are also constantly improving.
1.2 Analysis from inside the enterprise
From the internal analysis of the enterprise, the impact on the development of the enterprise mainly includes the following aspects:
1.2. 1 The quality of personnel is not high.
The main employees of pharmacies are rarely qualified as licensed pharmacists, so pharmacists, licensed pharmacists and resident pharmacists should be licensed pharmacists and undertake the work of licensed pharmacists. Improving the professional level and comprehensive quality of employees is the need for enterprises to improve their competitiveness and for customers to use drugs safely. The cost of users will increase by 3-5 times.
1.2.2 the strategy of drug management has not changed much, and there is no obvious difference between enterprises.
1.2.3 the internal management level of single pharmacies and small and medium-sized chain pharmacies is low and the management is not standardized, which hinders the development of enterprises to a high level. At present, the development direction of pharmaceutical retail enterprises is divided into two categories: one is to advocate professional management development, and the other is to advocate diversified management development. Now many enterprises are trying to use these two business strategies respectively in order to be invincible in the fierce competition.
2 drug retail enterprises diversification
The so-called diversification means that enterprises add new products or business strategies on the basis of existing business fields. The degree of correlation between many existing business areas can be divided into two types: related diversification and unrelated diversification. From the perspective of strategic management, enterprises can achieve economies of scope, disperse business risks and enhance their competitiveness by implementing diversified operations.
2. 1 Diversification of foreign enterprises
The global pharmacy business model can be divided into two categories: diversified operation represented by the United States and Japan and specialized operation represented by Germany and Sweden. The pharmaceutical chain stores in the United States and most European countries are diversified, mainly dealing with drugs, but also dealing with health-related products and other daily necessities, increasing the average gross profit of pharmaceutical chain stores from 28.3% to about 32%.
American pharmacies take the concept of "healthy and beautiful product stores" as the main theme, and their core products are divided into three categories: prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, beauty care and health care products. The variety of its products is also influenced by the trend of suburbanization of American population and centralization, large-scale and integration of retail industry, which is in line with the new concept of "one-stop shopping".
2.2 Diversification analysis of domestic drug retail enterprises
China's diversified drug management originated in the United States, and Neptune Health Pharmacy was the earliest attempt in China. In addition to medicines, its business projects also include skin care products and daily necessities, and then it was introduced to Sun Liang Store and photo printing business was carried out in pharmacies. After that, China's pharmaceutical retail enterprises followed suit.
Analysis on the diversified management of current pharmaceutical retail enterprises;
2.2. 1 according to the form is divided into
Related diversification and unrelated diversification: ① Related diversification: drugs and cosmetics, health care products, nursing products, medical devices and other commodities that have a greater correlation with health status, which is the business strategy adopted by most pharmaceutical retail enterprises. ② Irrelevant diversification: baby products, medical books, glasses, laundry, leisure, printing, supermarkets and food markets. A typical example is that Beijing Jiashitang chain boldly tried the concept of "great health", covering infant products, cosmetics, health food, nursing products, medical books, glasses and other fields, and has a unique product structure, which makes it stand proudly in the retail market of pharmacies in Beijing.
2.2.2 According to the subjectivity of operation, it can be divided into
Consciously implementing diversification and unconsciously implementing diversification: ① Consciously implementing diversification —— Neptune, the pioneer of diversification of Chinese pharmaceutical retail enterprises, mainly studied the diversified business model of overseas pharmaceutical retail enterprises, consciously and planned to implement it, fundamentally changed the business philosophy, and carried it out after careful preparation. (2) unconsciously implement diversification-some enterprises unconsciously began to diversify in the process of operation. For example, Jiangsu Baijiahui Chain Co., Ltd., its "diversification" inadvertently formed the characteristics of "diversification" becoming "Baijiahui".
2.2.3 according to the positioning clearly divided into
Clear positioning and unclear positioning: ① Clear positioning. With a clear positioning, implement the diversified business strategy of enterprises. For example, Chongqing Heping Pharmacy defines chain pharmacies as four types, namely, central flagship stores, prosperous regional pharmacies, supermarket stores and community convenience stores. Its central flagship store advocates "health and beauty". In the prosperous areas, drugstores combine counters with open shelves, while in supermarkets, stores emphasize the concept of "health" and community stores operate in convenience store mode. ② There is no clear positioning. This kind of pharmacy involves diversified operation and comes from pharmacies with uncertain economic benefits or losses. I have been to a pharmacy in the city, and changed the original 80-meter storefront into a small grocery supermarket, which covers an area of less than 30m2. The signboard outside the store is still a pharmacy, but it is no longer worthy of the name.
2.3 Problems in Diversified Operation of Pharmacy in China
Through analysis, it is considered that there are the following problems in the diversification of existing pharmaceutical retail enterprises in China:
2.3. 1 The problem of high cost.
Diversified projects and products are subjectively attractive, the scale is not large, the management cost cannot be shared, the sources of purchased goods are diversified, and small batches lead to high costs, high liquidity pressure and unit container turnover. If you need to increase product sales or service projects, you must invest capital, and the overall cost will increase significantly.
Unknown location
Blindly choose diversified business projects and product combinations. In recent years, pharmacies have tried to diversify food, daily necessities, cosmetics and various convenience services. At present, diversification has to face a brand-new, more intense and complex market environment for fast-moving consumer goods, and has not shown a clear and clear positioning in terms of customer aggregation effect, diversified product sales performance, drug (health care products) sales promotion and so on. The internal consumption correlation between business items and commodity categories is not high, which fails to form the interactive relationship between the main products and related products that are common in chain supermarkets, and fails to strengthen the analysis of the needs of target customers.