Happy New Year everyone! Wow, I can’t believe we are already a week into 2023 as I write this blog.
The holidays are almost a distant memory and we are well on our way to bringing you some really exciting content in 2023. Before we do that however, I want to reflect on 2022 and highlight some of the events that have driven us to create the new content we will be launching.
John and I had a big year interacting with our clients in 2022. We met with many who confirmed that it was indeed a big year for pharmacy as an industry, themselves as owners and their teams in general. The year also saw some really exhausted and frustrated owners struggle to retain pharmacists, dispensing technicians and retail staff alike. I can certainly say that we had many consider outright exits from the industry and in fact many did exit the industry as a result of the pressure they were under. We saw many consider what they should do to retain staff and what they should consider for succession planning.
What we also saw and I am super excited to report this; many current owners viewed the last few COVID impacted years as one of the best things that happened to the industry – whilst it certainly wasn’t a “fun” time, it did solidify the place of community pharmacy in the Australian healthcare space. As a result, we saw many pharmacies continue to enjoy good growth and this was reflected in the many valuations we did.
What we have also noticed with the industry in general is that in 2022, newly established owners, young pharmacists and first-time buyers are competing with larger “corporate” pharmacy groups. In a time when the values are significant and as is typical of our industry, there are always more buyers than there are supply of pharmacies.
For me personally, a common trend in 2022 that I noticed was a significant increase in enquiries into partnership and new ownership opportunities. In a typical year, I may only get 5-6 enquiries on this topic, however, in 2022 I had 3 times this number!
The enquiries came from all manner of pharmacists, with a wide range of experience levels but many of them first time venturers into business ownership. What was common amongst them is that they were all coming to see me at a point where they felt ready to become owners whether it be on their own or as a partner in an existing pharmacy.
In all of my interactions with these pharmacists, when asked what was driving them to this point, the most common answers were: