The independent retail chemist: Chances for survival

Abstract

It is no news that severe losses have been incurred by independent chemists over the last five to ten years, both in terms of numbers and share of turnover, and that to a great extent this has been due to increased competition from supermarkets and grocery multiples. In the past, research has been done into the distribution of retail pharmacies, but now a new study has been carried out by Peter McGoldrick and Emily Chan of UMIST. Their project has a rather different purpose. Instead of looking at shifts in share of trade, they choose to focus on the pharmacy customer, her shopping problems and attitudes, and this approach has pointed up ways in which the pharmacist as retailer can effectively develop his ‘over‐the‐counter’ trade — precisely that part of his business which up to now has been eroded by supermarkets and grocery multiples.

Citation

McGoldrick, P. and Chan, E. (1979), "The independent retail chemist: Chances for survival", Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 12-16. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb017991