We’re already over a month into 2023! What’s clear for us is the conversations we’re having this year is different to those of 2022. Mostly, we have been chatting with our clients about the current market and how to project store performance for the calendar year.
Last year, pharmacies were trading well! Scripts and customer numbers were up, also sales and GP$. With the positive business outcomes, there were also some downfalls, with extreme staffing shortages (Pharmacists particularly) and their teams can only be explained with one word, exhausted. Fast forward to today, things has evolved. The first signs of the inevitable impact of increasing interest rates and inflation are starting to show. We knew that at some stage that was going to hit, and it seems it is now, by the conversations we’ve been having.
It appears owners who managed to have some sort of a break, are considering where they are at. Some though are making a mistake in their forecasting and outlook for 2023! So, I feel it’s important you know some are going wrong.
Think about 2021 and 2022. Your community were in the middle of Covid, so Pharmacies were the centre of their world. Everyone in your community visited a pharmacy on a regular basis. They could get vaccinated, buy RAT’s, hand sanitizers, face masks and want to talk to a pharmacist because they have Covid and want to know what to do (then cough in your face). Customer numbers and script numbers were up, retail Sales in particularly was up. Even after you have stripped out RAT’s and vaccinations sales, GP$ were growing, trading was buoyant, pharmacies were making money and seeing good growth. Many were making GP$ at levels they have never seen! Confidence was certainly up and so were the sale values (as was the exhaustion.)
So what mistake are they making?
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