The pharmaceutical industry is a specific activity in modern business, as it is sensitive to customer loyalty and local regulations. Retail trade is the relevant approach to sales in this area, as clients use services on a personal request or a doctor’s prescription. In turn, the supply chain is the leading business strategy for ensuring operations continuity and efficiency. Thus, combining it with direct sales creates a holistic trade system for the pharmaceutical industry.
Retail is the result of painstaking work to optimize B2B strategy and logistics. The pharmaceutical industry has become a classic business that increases sales and revenue from customers (McDonough, 2017). Consequently, retail is becoming an increasingly attractive model for suppliers and corporate partners. Loyalty programs and other motivational strategies increase the demand for products, which demonstrates the for-profit direction of the industry (Nobre & Rodrigues, 2018). It links retail to the supply chain in a business operating context. The main similarity of the two concepts in modern trade is the focus on technology and AI’s installation into everyday activities (Karrim, 2019). For example, automated check optimization and analytics software can speed up the delivery and retail process. In turn, the 360-degree supply chain is associated with customer relationships, as this innovative method speeds up the pharmacy operation and satisfies customers better (Berry, 2017). This model is essential for improving care services since the preliminary coordination and sale of drugs allows for more reliable control of the population (Kapoor, 2018). Thus, retail and the supply chain are interconnected concepts in the modern health system.
The pharmaceutical industry develops and implements technologies to create services and deliver them to customers. Retail is a strategy for for-profit businesses that have become active participants in the medical market. Consequently, the relationship between it and the supply chain is becoming closer to optimizing processes and providing customers with the highest quality goods. On the other hand, retail is the result of quality coordination that differentiates the two concepts from a business perspective.
References
Berry, P. (2017). Supply chain security: get 360-degree vision with the IoT. Supply Chain Times. Web
Kapoor, D. (2018). An overview on pharmaceutical supply chain: A next step towards good manufacturing practice. Drug Designing & Intellectual Properties International Journal, 1(2). Web.
Karrim, F. (2019). Six pharmacy and retail trends to expect in 2020. OnShelf Pharma.
McDonough, R. (2017). Can retail and clinical pharmacy coexist? Pharmacy Today, 23(7), 12.
Nobre, H., & Rodrigues, C. (2018). Loyalty programs in the pharmaceutical retail: The impact of a network loyalty program on the pharmacy loyalty. International Journal of Business Excellence, 14(1), 1.