Operational Reports
Dermot Ryan
Managing Director
Uniphar Retail Services
Retail Services
Tipping the balance in favour of
Independent Community Pharmacy
The focus for Retail Services is to supply and support retail
pharmacists nationwide. In the first half of the year, the
division traded well, achieving a leading share in the wholesale
pharmacy market for the first time. In March 2016, Uniphar held
a very successful major conference for community pharmacists
in the Convention Centre in Dublin. The purpose was to
showcase the additional services and supports that Uniphar is
now providing its retail pharmacy customers and to celebrate
the fact that Uniphar has almost doubled its market share in
5 years. The Axium buying group deal added approximately
€4 million in revenue per month and during that period,
Uniphar fulfilled more orders than ever in its history, on one day
achieving an impressive 110,000 lines.
Negative impact of IPHA Agreement
The second half of the year was seriously negatively impacted
by the IPHA agreement which left the wholesale business with
a reduced margin over the period. Effective from August 2016,
the impact in 2017 will be even more significant. This was a
major blow to the business and a series of cost saving and
other measures were undertaken immediately to mitigate
the damage.
Reference pricing pressures pharmacists
We are not alone in feeling the pressure. Our retail pharmacy
customers felt the full force of reference pricing in 2016, losing
approximately 45 cent per dispensed item. This occurred in
an environment where there are changes to some of the HSE
schemes, upward pressure on pay rates, especially locums,
and a greatly increased burden of compliance from bodies
such as the PSI, with the advent of self-regulation and the
new OTC guidelines.
Renewed focus on customer margin creation and
cost reduction
In this context, Retail Services has focused, firstly, on
supporting the independent pharmacist to concentrate
more on Front of Shop, where they control their margins.
Secondly, we have been providing expert-led training in areas
such as regulatory compliance and category management.
Thirdly, through continuing to invest in our digital strategy,
we have been making it easier, quicker and cheaper for
the pharmacist to do business with Uniphar.
Improved range and supports in consumer sales
In 2016, Retail Services moved closer to its long-term aim of
being able to provide a ‘one-pipe supply’ to retail pharmacists,
expanding its Front of Shop product offering by adding 1,500
stock items through LinkUp, the country’s largest buying
group. In May 2016, we launched our new Christmas range
16 | Annual Report 2016
at the Cosmetics Show in the RDS in Dublin which was very
well received by the market. In the second half of the year, we
established our strategic buying team and added new skills
and expertise to Retail Services to support the Front of Shop
consumer product strategy. We launched our new eCommerce
platform in autumn 2016 and have added new and improved
functionality to allow seamless ordering through our digital LinkUp
brochure, where the customer can click on the product in the
brochure to add to their cart and order.
We also looked at pilot projects to examine optimum ranging and
the most successful way to grow the wellness category in retail
pharmacy, which yielded very promising financial results for the
pilot stores. In Quarter 1, 2017, we launched our new wellness
brands to the Irish market and supported this with regional training
events in March and April 2017. Uniphar also launched a branded
accessories line called Kit & Kaboodle and a new eyewear brand,
Filtral, in March 2017. There are also a number of new Front of
Shop ranges planned for launch in the second half of 2017.
Training that supports real needs amongst independent
pharmacists
Launched in 2016, our Category Management and Regulatory/
Compliance services were immediately successful and are heavily
over-subscribed. They are clearly meeting a need in the market
place and we will be expanding