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PERSONAL APPROACH

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Calvin LeRoux, PharmaChoice founder

CHFA WEST ISSUE 2016

COGNITIVE HEALTH:

As concerns rise, so does the market

CONTENTS

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VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 4

46

28

“We’ve been dealing with families for 20, 30 or 40 years: we know the father, the mother, the son, the daughter and grandkids—all the way down.”

U P F RON T

F E AT U R E S

14 PUBLISHER’S LETTER

28 COVER STORY: THE PERSONAL APPROACH WINS

42 COMPANY PROFILE: ROOTALIVE

34 COGNITIVE HEALTH: AS CONCERNS RISE, SO DOES THE MARKET

46 AMAZON’S IMPACT ON THE SUPPLEMENTS MARKET

16 GET THE GOODS 20 SKU REVIEW

By Inna Levchuk

By Inna Levchuk

By Inna Levchuk

By Louis Robert

38 COMPANY PROFILE: NOVA SCOTIA FISHERMAN

By Phill Feltham and Corrina Mosca

FIND US ON

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PUBLISHER’S LETTER

ISSN 1197 - 1495 | V O L U M E 1 6

ISSUE 4

FOUNDER, PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Olivier Felicio

O

ver the years, we have had to adapt to the ever-changing market. We constantly have to ask ourselves, “Are we looking for consumers in the right place?” The answer, unfortunately, is “absolutely not.”

Although Millennials are often dismissed, they are actually redefining consumerism. Instead of ignoring them, we need to realize that they are a force to be reckoned with. Some sources state that Millennials represent about 25 per cent of the U.S. population with an estimated buying power of over a trillion dollars—and that’s just out of their own pocket, not their parents’.

What sets Millennials apart from other consumers is that they have knowledge right at their fingertips and aren’t afraid to use it. They care about the products they buy and they’re shopping differently than their parents. For years, social media has been on the rise, and we’ve taken note, however, it’s not the driving factor behind purchasing decisions for Millennials. These people buy with meaning, so where your products come from are just as important as the product itself.This is an opportunity to make your business more personal. Your community can be the first step, sharing news with them—such as a new product—will draw in those who want to support your efforts.

Olivier Felicio Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Inna Levchuk A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

Cayla Ramey E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T

Corrina Mosca ART DIRECTOR

Scott Jordan JUNIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Janelle Scriver CONTRIBUTORS

Phill Feltham, Louis Robert

THE

Know your market

MANAGING EDITOR

G R O U P

PRESIDENT

Olivier Felicio GENER AL MANAGER

Melanie Seth GENER AL CUSTOMER CARE MANAGER

Lucy Holden Subscription Rates Canada $50 (gst included) for nine issues (one year) USA $60 Change of Address email: circulation@thergmgroup.net telephone: 416-203-7900 fax: 416-703-6392 or send your cover label and new address to ihr c/o Rive Gauche Media 1235 Bay Street, Suite 700 Toronto, ON Canada M5R 3K4

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Olivier Felicio

T: (416) 203-7900 x 6107 E: olivier@rivegauchemedia.com

Weng Ng

T: (416) 459-2254 E: weng@thergmgroup.net

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COVER STORY

THE

PERSONAL APPROACH WINS

How PharmaChoice keeps it in the family

BY INNA LEVCHUK

I

t’s very impressive to see how PharmaChoice has grown over the years. Founded in 1999 as a company exclusively serving Atlantic Canada, it has recently celebrated a milestone—600 stores under the banner, located in nine of Canada’s provinces.

“It’s a lot different now than I thought it would be,” admits Calvin LeRoux, the company’s founder, also sharing the challenges he had convincing pharmacy owners to sign up when the venture was first started.

“I talked to about 80 stores and ended up with 33 or 34—these were the leaders and eventually, others signed on.”

Currently, PharmaChoice has Eastern and Western divisions. The Western division, led by co-CEO Grady Brown, works closely with PharmaChoice East on a centralized vision and development plan.

INDEPENDENT VS. CHAIN LeRoux says there is a huge difference between an independent and a chain, or mass merchant, pharmacy—something that helps PharmaChoice stay competitive in this ever-changing market.

“At independent pharmacies, we have a very high level of contact with our customers,” he says. “In many cases, it goes from generation to generation: we’ve been dealing with families for 20, 30 or 40 years: we know the father, the mother, the son, the daughter and grandkids— all the way down. When you walk into an independent pharmacy, we know your name, we know your history.”

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COVER STORY

LeRoux says the approach to customer care also remains very personal on the other side of the counter with the same technicians, pharmacists and owners serving the communities for years.

“It has a nice warm feeling. It’s very difficult for our competitors, mass merchant and chain drugstores, to take our customers, because we do a great job in terms of bringing value,” says LeRoux. “I call it the pharmacist–patient equity.”

Although PharmaChoice has been able to adapt its business model to accommodate for the market changes, LeRoux says there is still a challenge to “make a case to the various payors , such as government and third party payors” that the services provided at independent pharmacies have to be “fairly compensated.”

“This is especially true for stores that are in rural areas, or stores that have modest script volume,” explains LeRoux. “That’s always a concern but we’ve been very successful in holding our customer base.

While chains can get into discounting and dropping prices and fees, what we stand on is our personalized service.”

He adds that PharmaChoice is not affected by the Internet pharmacies—something that was the case 10 years ago—and believes that the challenge today is becoming more technology-based. For that reason, PharmaChoice has developed its own mobile app that helps its patients access their prescription profiles from a mobile phone and receive timely refills.

MEMBERS According to LeRoux, one of the secrets of PharmaChoice’s success is the relationship they’ve built with all of its members.

“We have a very keen focus on ROI. Every program that we do and deliver is to make sure that it meets member expectations, and it has a meaningful ROI.” When it comes to membership, PharmaChoice is looking for pharmacies that are focused on patient care, are in a good to strong market and have a great chance of succeeding if it is a new start-up.

“We also look for members that have an appetite to execute on our plans,” explains LeRoux. “To make sure there is a good fit, we show our ‘recipes’ to potential members and see if they are committed to supporting our plan.”

TOP SELLERS While PharmaChoice is primarily focused on prescriptions, it is also witnessing growth in home healthcare products. Although this niche hasn’t received the velocity yet, LeRoux’s prognosis is positive.

“As baby boomers age, there is a bigger need to have a stronger focus on home healthcare products.”

“Also, we have our own line of private label called Option+,” LeRoux continues. “It’s one of our fastest growing and one of our most profitable lines. We certainly focus on that.”

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From the disease prevention and health promotion perspectives, PharmaChoice’s stores support flu vaccinations—in the provinces where they are permitted by the law.

“In most provinces, our members are giving flu shots in the fall and a lot of our owners put on travel vaccination clinics,” says LeRoux.

Also, he adds that at all PharmaChoice locations across the country, owners do med-checks for their patients, reviewing their medications and if any health problems are identified, recommending them to consult their family doctors.

“We encourage doing follow-ups to ensure patients are taking their meds so that they don’t end up in emergency rooms. The oneon-one counseling that we do is at the highest level.”

LeRoux says that with the number of stores joining PharmaChoice, the challenge he sees now is making sure the company has enough staffing to support all their members.

“The PharmaChoice experience has been pretty amazing for us,” he says.“The question is where we are going to land. I suspect that before we see 2017, we’ll probably be very close to the 700 store count.”

Being a Canadian-based company, PharmaChoice stays loyal to the local market and has no plans to expand to the U.S. “We still see there is a lot of room for us to grow,” says LeRoux.

“There are about 4,000 independent pharmacies in Canada and PharmaChoice has 620*.”

“We have a very keen focus on ROI. Every program that we do and deliver is to make sure that it meets member expectations, and it has a meaningful ROI.”

*At the time of interview.

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