Medicine Shoppe To Set Up 150 Stores By 2002-End

International pharmacy chain Medicine Shoppe, which has set up India's first pharma retail network, is planning to restrict itself to western India as part of its growth plan.

The company plans to set up 150 Medicine Shoppe outlets by end of 2002, and will gradually look at building up a national presence later. It currently has 18 stores in Maharashtra.

Viraj Gandhi, managing director of Medicine Shoppe India, said: "The move is part of our broader plan of opening 500 outlets by 2006."

"Our positioning is towards 100 per cent total healthcare, so that we will provide prescriptions and value added service like counselling and free clinics under one roof, as well as camps in conjunction with doctors and pharmaceutical companies," Bruce Burnett, vice-president, international franchising, Medicine Shoppe International Inc, said.

 

Medicine Shoppe will also not stock food and other related items available at other chemists. "This is one of the things, that as being a part of Medicine Shoppe International, we and the other sub franchisees would have to adhere to," added Gandhi.

The target customers of this chain are primarily the aged and the young parents who have small children as both these age groups have a propensity to consume more medication than others age groups.

Special discounts are available for young mothers with new born babies along with registration of customers who come into the shop, for its promotional and advertising campaigns.

Medicine Shoppe India will train the pharmacists after they have been hired in order to be able to provide service that is consistent with other Medicine Shoppe franchise outlets all over the world. Medicine Shoppe International Inc has an annual turnover of $2 billion and is the fifth largest pharmacists' chain in the US.