In recent times we have witnessed the transformation of the consumer with an accelerated digitalization, caused by the growth and emergence of new technologies and the confinement and pandemic effect, which forced many brands to start operating under multichannel strategies.

While store visits fell and the e-commerce boom began, the reopening of physical stores has allowed us to see how people have started to return to the stores. The reopening has created a new opportunity: facing hybrid consumers looking for consistency between what they know about our brand and what they expect to see in the store.

When we talk about hybrid consumers, we refer to those who know the brand and how it operates, both digitally and physically—an informed consumer looking for the same shopping experience across all channels.

According to a study by Káwesqar Lab, at least 89% of consumers will continue to use the physical format to shop, and within this, 66% will opt for mixed formats, shopping omnichannel or hybrid (Ecommerce Tracker Lab June 2021 – Kawésqar Lab).

Moreover, we know that June has been the month that has registered the highest number of visits in shopping centers in 2021, increasing by 3 points the qualification of affluence to stores (source: Getin Study “the renaissance of physical stores 2021”).

This new context and changes in the consumer’s shopping style result in a direct challenge in productivity, stock assurance, and implementation to meet the current needs of shoppers and increase our average tickets.

Stock challenges

Considering the new consumers, the stocking challenge means that each store must ensure the availability of key items. For example, having stock of sizes according to the demand of the geographical location of each store, having the color curve for each product, and finally that those critical SKUs for the season or that are in online presence, are also available in our physical stores.

So, the stock challenge goes beyond just “having products” but must generate an intelligent planning and demand projection system, together with a sound logistics system that coordinates all processes efficiently. This requires technological platforms to support the operations as a whole, helping to systematize compliance at all levels in the store.

For stores, the challenge goes beyond the basic concept of the system’s stock. To achieve sales, the product must be available at the customer’s fingertips. It is essential to ensure that all the efforts made to ensure assortment are reflected in the consumer’s eyes, avoiding display shortage in the store. In other words, products should not be hidden or forgotten in the backroom but should be correctly displayed on the tables, wall displays, and cabinets, allowing them to be sold at the right time.

A technological tool, such as ShelfManager, can support stores in identifying the need for replenishment on the sales floor at SKU level so that the product is always available in front of the customer.

Implementation challenges

Currently, the average time customers spend in a store is 11 minutes per person (source: Getin Study “the renaissance of physical stores 2021”). The big questions to ask ourselves are: How do we implement with the customer journey time in mind? How do we win over the customer in less than 11 minutes?

If we think about the customer journey and take advantage of every minute of their visit as an opportunity, it is essential to consider the role played by promotional activation. This must be aligned across all communication channels in line with the company’s strategy. In addition, unique in-store opportunities can be generated to confirm and leverage the consumer’s decision to visit our stores physically.

Implementing on time and efficiently starts by ensuring communication with the store so that guidelines from different business departments, such as marketing and visual merchandising, reach the store and are correctly implemented.

In contrast, we often encounter problems of visibility and actionability to correct possible errors in these implementations, such as lack of product, POP material, or poor execution of the planogram or display, among others.

Platforms such as Frogmi allow us to send implementation tasks with all the relevant information to be executed in-store, guiding them to ensure the reception of the information and proper execution.

Considering the rise of hybrid consumers, stores must keep up with the pace of promotional activities in the digital world. Hence the growing relevance of communication to and from stores.

Technologies such as Frogmi allow HQ to receive real-time results, with valuable information such as photographic evidence. In addition, since Frogmi is a web-mobile platform, it is possible to access this information from wherever you are, thus eliminating the need for physical store visits by the areas in charge to corroborate the execution.

​​ An example of productivity with an omnichannel focus.

Based on the above, we know that increased competition and omnichannel demand greater flexibility and agility in promotions and activations, along with the need for fast and effective communication.

One retailer that today is betting on introducing Frogmi technology to its processes and workflows is La Polar. Its Operations Manager, José Ramón Sánchez, states that “The teams feel more satisfied, the level of service has improved, the products codes match, the process iteration is reduced by half, life is simplified, and everything is faster.” 

The contribution of technology to support retail strategy is driving and achieving faster and more effective communication, impacting team productivity. It enables staff to carry out all planned activities quickly and effectively while at the same time generates real momentum for the store’s omnichannel strategy.

Four strategies to boost Pharmaceutical Retail sales in the current contextMay 13, 2021Over the last year, we have seen a significant transformation in the customers’ habits and shopping style in pharmaceutical retailing throughout the region. For example, in Mexico, sales of the leading chains in the field increased by 13% in 2020 compared to 2019, mainly due to a higher average ticket, which in some cases increased by 21%. This increase reflects the main change in consumer behavior triggered by the current situation: fewer visits to physical stores but willingness to spend more on each purchase.

Visits to physical stores today are more planned,and customers are looking for products in XL formats, mainly for the hygiene and self-care categories. The time spent in the store has been reduced, seeking the highest possible efficiency, and limiting the time spent in the store.

All of these changes have generated a shift in impulse buying. It moved towards privileging the opportunity to anticipate later purchases, even in categories typically offered in other retail formats. Therefore, managing the profitability of shelf space and checkout counter or point-of-payment space requires recognizing the new customer purchasing decision process.

The new sanitary measures of capacity and distancing between people have resulted in standardizing waiting lines, both outside and inside the stores. In this scenario, new hot zones appear, such as the shelves alongside the waiting line. Hence the increased relevance of promotional activation at the cash register or point of payment, where traditionally featured products,special prices, and loyalty campaigns are displayed

Given the above, here are four key strategies that will help you boost sales in pharmaceutical retailing:

1. Focusing on customer segments by store cluster

Promotional activation should focus on the specific consumption preferences of the customers of each group of stores. It is necessary to have a better understanding of the communities’ compositionaround the stores.

Usually, loyalty programs and sales systems already manage the information and analysis needed to get these insights. For example, by analyzing customers’ buying habits through tickets and their tastes and interests, a greater capacity to generate strategies focused on them is achieved. Suppose psychographic variables, age groups, preferences in sports, whether more families come to shop at the store, etc., are added to the above. In that case, you attain a more robust data set thatwill help recognize the levers that move customers to convertand, consequently, identify the SKUs that each store cluster should be activating for each segment.

The impact of products and promotional activations is maximized by adding technology that providesvisibility into promotional implementation and store execution to ensure that efforts are executed as planned.

2. Generate movement through exhibits

As the customer journey at stores has changed, today’s hot zones are scarce. An excellent way to make them more profitable is to execute rotating displays, that is, to have agile activations that constantly vary. The products displayed change during the days and even on the same day, maximizing the visibility of the SKUs in the store’s hottest areas. These changes are tailored tocustomers’ needs, thinking about the consumer who frequents the store at a specific time or day of the week.

The rotational activation implies a big challenge for in-store execution. To support the stores, it is critical to have a technological platform that simplifies the reception and implementation of these activities, customized for each store. The orchestration of all these tasks is also an issue. There’s a rising need for coordination with centralized support areas, such as distribution centers, marketing, among others.

With a Task Manager in place for this process, it is possible to act and anticipate any potentialout of stock or lack of promotional material and ensure the correct execution of activations. The greater thecomplexity, the greater the risks, and the greater the need for tools to prevent deviations.

3. Excellence in customer service

Once the consumer is in the pharmacy, the touchpoints that fuel the perceived shopping experience are traditionally the in-store associates. The interaction between the customer contact employees and customers plays a critical role in evaluating the shopping experience. Therefore, it is essential that specialist personnel, such as chemist-pharmacists or dermo-cosmetics counselors, spend a significant portion of their time engaging with customers.

Considering this, the automation of routine activities and technologization of complex processes is highly relevant, as theyoften consume a high portion of specialized staff’s hours.

Less obvious but as important as the interaction with the in-store team is to use the same technologyto generate other mechanisms to communicate and establish closeness with the customer while in the store, respecting all existing sanitary protocols. The use of QR codes is now widespread both inside and outside the store, but it’s what you do with them that truly counts.

4. Omnichannel experience applied to the point of sale

Our current scenario requires generating more actions and greater diversity per store, increasing the interaction, relationships, and organization needed within the different responsible areas for proper
in-store execution. Retailers can count on dynamic and adaptable solutions such as Frogmi to support integrated management and achieve successful strategies for pharmaceutical retail.

People mainly recognize the omnichannel experience as the ROPO (Research Online Purchase Offline), which looks online and purchases in brick-and-mortar stores or showrooms.We propose connecting other channels from the point of sale to provide a complete face-to-face shopping experience with the brand.

In practice, these actions have had a positive impact on both channels. In the case of a Frogmi’s customer in the pharmaceutical sector, the average sales ticket of the remote channel doubled due to the additional sales generated during the call. There are many cases like this one. It is a clear example of the actions taken, leveraging various channels to improve the purchase experience and build customer loyalty

Advanced in-store customer service managementMar 17, 2021We live in a time where agile Customer Service management can make a big difference in a company’s success.

Customers now know that all companies have different customer service channels and want to use them according to the needs of the subject they are contacting and, at the same time, find solutions tailored to their requirements.

A Gartner report (“Delivering Relevant Content and Knowledge to Customers Is Key to Great Customer Service”) predicts that by 2023, late-stage organizations will find that poor customer experience is their biggest obstacle to greater success. This finding makes customer service takea leading and urgent role.

Customer Service Types

Within companies, we can find two types of customer service, depending on the customer’s needfor contact. We can divide it into proactive and reactive.

Proactive customer service refers to all the calls-to-action in the customer journey generated by the company to anticipate customer needs. This category includes FAQ sections, forums or communities, public bases with terms of use, chatbot, customer service, information, and all kinds of self-service tools available to contact, write, and be informed whenever he wants.

Reactive Customer Service refers to the type of service that is (or should be) available when a customer has a complaint, grievance, or compliments to deliver to the company. Contact forms, phone calls, complaint books, e-mails, etc., count as reactive services. Reactive customer service is one of the most difficult to deal with since it is generally occupied by people who are dissatisfied in some way with the brand, and it is the one to which we should pay more attention.

Advanced in-store customer service management tools

According to a customer service study conducted by Wow Cx, the three aspects that customers value most when contacting a company are:

• 56% the ability to solve problems
• 40% that they do it quickly
• 31% knowledge and skills of employees.

These percentages indicate, above all, the need to manage customer service requirements correctly and effectively to respond to their needs and meet expectations.

Many companies apply CRM software to manage and centralize their customer requirements. However, what seems to be a “modern solution” as a CRM, has limitations because its range of action reaches only the point of digital contact with the customer. It does not allow to integrate or identify the true nature of the claims, often ignoring what happens in stores and delivering unsatisfactory or late responses.

Advanced customer service management begins when we integrate Customer Service with the store and the area or person responsible for the incident, generating effective and immediate solutions.

An effective in-store customer service and experience tool can be seen, for example, in the use of Frogmi QR. The application of a QR code at different spots within the store allows channeling any type of incident happening directly.

Response times are shortened by up to 30% with the implementation of Frogmi QR.

In this way, the complaint arrives directly to the area that resolves it, shortening response times by up to 30%. Frogmi becomes a new channel that takes the responsibilities to the expert areas. This directly impacts consumers’ three most critical variables and completely streamlines the management process. As a result, knowledgeable and skilled employees quickly solve the customer’s problem.

Modules such as StoreWork and Frogmi QR allow automating tasks and requirements to each area in charge of solving them and generate automated flows according to the nature of the requirement. In this way, StoreWork connects the different areas of the business in an automatedway, optimizing response times and productivity in the resolution of problems and requirements.

With Frogmi, the input flow of a requirement is not only worked by customer service but also generates company-wide indicators for all areas involved, allowing for data-driven visualization ofincidents.