Adrian Dunne Pharmacy
The Challenge
The Adrian Dunne Pharmacy Group was formed in 1999, when Adrian Dunne MPSI bought his first pharmacy in Whitehall, Dublin 9, having qualified as a pharmacist in 1997. The pharmacy prospered, and over the following years Adrian has acquired a further eleven pharmacies.
With a team of expertly trained and friendly staff, the pharmacies pride themselves on providing strong support to their local communities, and exceptional service to their patients and customers.
In recent years, the market has become increasingly competitive. From 2014 until early 2020 the number of registered pharmacies in Ireland increased by 7.3%. The development of medical centres, as opposed to General Practice Surgeries, in recent years has seen the practices relocating, often away from pharmacies, resulting in reduced footfall in some locations.
Covid came as a shock, not only to the population of Ireland, but also to businesses that had previously relied upon the friendly ‘face to face’ style of customer relations. With restrictions on the opening of retail stores, online shopping suddenly became the only means to purchase many ‘non-essential’ items.
It was very clear that the marketplace was moving on-line, and that the Group would need to develop a robust e-commerce platform.
Objectives
The primary objectives were:
- Develop an e-commerce platform that would reach new audiences, and provide an additional revenue stream
- Deliver an enhanced patient and customer experience
- Improve internal efficiencies and processes
Strategy
Emarkable and the Adrian Dunne Pharmacy team carried out a detailed market review, analysing the current situation, the competition, and the opportunities. Unique selling points were sought and a cost-benefit analysis was undertaken of the existing online store as compared to a new and more robust e-commerce platform. EPOS (electronic point of sale) also needed to be integrated with the online store. Alongside this, there would need to be continuous monitoring, measuring, reviewing, and evaluation so that any necessary remedial or corrective action could be taken promptly, as required.
The new on-line platform would need to be both user-friendly and responsive, as well as taking a strong position on search engines by the use of search engine optimisation methods. The user experience would need to be positive, page speed optimised, and new features developed for the website, including an online booking tool for patient services and pre-ordering prescriptions for in-store collection.
COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme
Emarkable assisted the team in obtaining funding support from the DETE scheme, the purpose of which was to help Irish retailers build a more resilient business, both online and offline, during the pandemic. The Adrian Dunne Pharmacy Group anticipates that the scheme will show measurable effects on customer loyalty, sales and lead generation.
Results
The outcome for the Group, even at these early stages, has seen an improvement in website sales & booking processes, as well as the user experience on the website.
Plans for the immediate future are the further improvement of the website to increase mobile and site speeds, and more developments in the on-line sales department, using targeted promotions and data harvesting on customers to increase engagement and, with that, on-line sales.
New website with positive user experience, page speed optimised, and new features developed
