As some of you know, I recently travelled to Madrid for the Champions League final in May. Whilst spending time in this beautiful city, I noticed most pharmacies (see above photo) are still heavily regulated.Like most metropolitan pharmacies in Australia till the mid 90s, they were mostly small, dark & drab & only ranged medicinal items.
This observation brought back sentimental memories to me as I remembered my days at school & as a young pharmacist when most pharmacies were smal. But as a pharmacist in Sydney, I also realised how much our shopping preferances as consumers in Australia have changed in the past 15 or so years.
As a pharmacist, I found the pharmacies in Spain a rather depressing environment to work at! On the other hand, as a consumer I saw the range offered in the pharmacies very limited & "boring" (consumer hat remember?), the variety non existent, self selection range very small & the size of most stores simply clausophobic!
Then I realised that the various larger chain store pharmacy brands in Australia from Priceline to terry White to various discount models do provide an exciting "shopping experience" for many consumers in Australia! Of course, we have mostly changed tour business practices to these models as a direct result of fierce competition from food & discount retailers, as have pharmacies in e.g. Canada, USA & parts of UK.
But it is important to acknowledge that we have also done so as a result of trying to meet our customers needs & wants. our customers enjoy shopping at e.g. Priceline Pharmacies due to the good range, competative prices & great shopping experience, as well as availability of advice & medicines.
In Spain, pharmacies may provide advice & medicinal needs, but nothing else. Therefore, none of the 10 or so pharmacies I visited had more than one customer in them.
Posts
