Whether you’re renovating an existing space or building a new pharmacy from scratch, you need to make some decisions. These decisions include more than the appearance and aisle width of the pharmacy gondola shelving. Your pharmacy shelving systems design can be a part of your business success or failure, if properly planned, it can not only play its part but also have powerful features. To help you make a successful pharmacy business, we are here to give you valuable guidance.

3 Reasons to Plan Your Pharmacy Shelving Systems Ahead

In a pharmacy, a lot of aesthetics depend on the design and placement of pharmacy shelves and fixtures, so this should be the main indication that research and planning are needed when deciding how to equip a pharmacy store with shelves and fixtures. Shelves are more than just what you use to place your products. Your pharmacy gondola shelving is the most important and should be considered from the beginning of any pharmacy shelving systems construction or remodel. Here are some other factors that support this idea:

1. It is essential that the exterior area or entry to your shop is designed to attract customers to come in, and once they go inside they have to be greeted with some sort of eye-catching displays that can slow them down to have a look. This will be a great chance to showcase seasonal products, and having the pharmacy gondola shelving or fixtures that can be easily moved or repositioned to accommodate various items could be a real advantage in this space.

2. Numerous studies have shown that when customers enter a pharmacy, they naturally look to the left, then to the right, and then continue in this direction. You can take advantage of this by consciously creating customer flow paths that they will inadvertently follow. Avoid seemingly long and continuous aisles. Build some dead-end aisles with attractive and festive pharmacy shelving systems at the end of aisles. Keep your most important items away from the entrance door. This will require customers to travel through the store to get to them.

3. Remember to display your most important products at eye level. Items on low shelves are often considered lower value items. High shelves can make it difficult to get certain items. Shelves can also be used to create movable walls, saving the construction of permanent walls. Best practices require the careful design and placement of the pharmacy shelving systems from the beginning.

5 Tips for Pharmacy Shelving Systems

Do you think your pharmacy shelves are just "there" for simple storage and display purposes? Wrong. By arranging pharmacy shelves in a specific way, you can actually add value to yourself and your customers.

Optimize workflow with proper pharmacy shelves and fixtures.

Optimize your pharmacy shelves so that technicians take as few steps as possible to get the job done and make sure there are no bottlenecks or "traffic jams" that can affect efficiency. Also, make sure your pharmacy gondola shelving is dedicated to prescription filling and is private. Your pharmacy shelving systems should be designed with the correct height so that you and your technicians are physically comfortable, which will reduce your chances of making mistakes and help increase efficiency.

Direct customers with the right gondola shelving layout.

Gondola shelving actually gives you a way to optimize your store's floor layout. Set it up to accommodate the customers' tendency to look left and walk right when they are entering. Establish a footpath along the pharmacy gondola shelving that customers will be automatically guided to the route. The sidewalk should rotate counterclockwise around the store so that customers can see each department at a glance. This way, they will not miss anything you need to provide.

Make sure your pharmacy shelves go no higher than customers’ eye level.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive to put pharmacy shelves in the customer's line of sight, it actually means better sales for you. Of course, you can use lower shelves to store and display fewer items, but your customers will be able to more easily see and reach the items they want to buy, which means they are more likely to buy. Although some might say that if customers can’t reach the pharmacy gondola shelving, they can simply “seek help,” they may not bother at all. This means lost sales. Also, keep in mind that your patients and customers may feel unwell and/or may have disabilities, which will limit their ability to reach.

Make sure your pharmacy shelving systems are in compliance with HIPAA regulations

In addition, you should make sure that your pharmacy shelves and fixtures planned to be used to store any device containing the patient's personal health information are locked in safety cabinets, behind counters, etc. This adds value to you and your customers, as it does not expose you to the risk of violating your patient's privacy or HIPAA regulations.