Specifics of marketing tools application in pharmacies: Case study Pharmacies Subotica

Abstract

The role of pharmacies in the social and health systems has gone through significant changes in the last decades of the twentieth century. From the place for the production of medicines, through procurement and distribution, pharmacy eventually became the modern health care facilities that participates in the health system and the retail pharmaceutical market. The dualistic role of pharmacy requires adjustment to the demands of contemporary health policy and market principles. Implementation of modern tools of business, such as marketing, was not present to a greater extent until recently in pharmacies, so this study is focused on the example of Pharmacy Subotica, which emphasizes the practical importance and specifics of marketing in pharmaceutical practice. Activities in the implementation of the marketing mix in the period 2009-2012 will be shown in this paper, as well as indicators of business success of Pharmacies Subotica in the same period. Following a four-year period in which strategy related to elements of the marketing mix strategy (4P), was implemented the growth of financial performance indicators (number of issued fiscal receipt and financially volume of business). At the same time, due to the more rigid regulations, the number of prescriptions in 2012 declined in amount. Pharmacy Subotica is one of the first pharmacies in Serbia, which has structured and implemented marketing planning tools for the purpose of positioning in the retail pharmaceutical market. By modeling business policy in line with modern market principles, developments of information technology and the ethics of health care workers, this institution has made pioneering steps in pharmaceutical marketing in the Serbian pharmacy.