Will Priceline Be The Australian Forerunner In Pharmaceutical Chain Stores?

By Author: George lockwood
Total Articles: 18
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Priceline is intending to expand its chain of stores throughout Australia in spite of a number of pharmacy licenses that have been frozen. The expansion of Priceline will have to depend on recruiting pharmacists that may already be trading under the rival of Sigma’s leading market Guardian and Amcal which are not franchises but advertising groups. Priceline however, has a common point of sale system which is the distinct difference between the two models and Priceline is able to exercise control over the presentation and layout of its stores. Substantial savings from pharmaceutical benefit schemes is the main concern of the Australian government, which in turn is going to pressurize the pharmacist’s income, as the government has stipulated that it is more important for the Priceline stores to offer a vibrant dispensary and front off shop.

However, the club card loyalty scheme is posing as a real incentive for pharmacist’s to switch to Priceline, which to date already has over 3.4 million members which account for over forty percent of discount cosmetics products ...
... and the scheme has been in existence since 2002. Priceline is no signing up over twenty five thousand new members each month of which the company has shown a substantial increase of members since 2008. as opposed to non members, club card members spend around fifty percent more as they are enticed by the discount vouchers which are based on the amount the customers spend per quarter. The director of Priceline stated that Priceline needs to offer good value to their customers and incentive in order for customers to shop at their stores, as shampoo and other beauty products can be bought at hundreds of other Australian retailers. Such strategies have helped Priceline deliver a remarkable sales growth of around 1.8% in the first half of their financial year, even despite the ever increasing supermarket competition. Even in spite of the Ipswich distribution centre closing due to the floods in Queensland in January this year, the sales growth of Priceline for the first half of the year helped API write off a net loss of around 35.1 million. Following the introduction of Live Well last year, the expansion of Priceline’s network of pharmacies will allow Priceline to increase customer service by offering additional health services.

Priceline offers a non charge structured consultation process whereby the pharmacists cover medical conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma and flu and other vital needs such as contraception and the director of Priceline has also expressed that API is possibly exploring other health service options such as private health funds.

George Lockwood is an author on the subject of discount cosmetics products, womens fragrances and perfumes and beauty products etc. Also, he has a particular interest in fashion and style. On behalf of several web sites owners he spends most of his time writing contents for web publication for priceline.com.au in return.