Painkillers, Contraceptives, Blood Pressure Machines, Prescribed medication, Dressing and bandages, Allergy creams and pills, Vitamins and oils, Other_________
Q2. How often do you go to the pharmacy? (I have decided to ask this question because I want to know how many people will be using my pharmacy frequently)
Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, Other (Please state) ________
Q3. On a scale of 1-5, how important are the following things to you when deciding to purchase from my pharmacy? (1- most important 5-least important) (I have decided to ask this question so that I can see what is most important to my customers)
a) Price 1 2 3 4 5
b) Quality 1 2 3 4 5
c) Special offers 1 2 3 4 5
d) Location 1 2 3 4 5
e) Service 1 2 3 4 5
Q4. What is your age group? (I have decided to ask this question so I know the age groups which will be visiting my pharmacy) 5-10, 10-13, 14-21, 22-35, 36-45, 46-55, Over 55
Q5. What time of day would you prefer coming to my pharmacy? (I have decided to ask this question so that I have an idea of what time my pharmacy should be open)
Before 11am, Between 11am and 2pm, Between 2pm and 6pm, Between 6pm and 10pm, After 10pm
Q6. Which of these accessories would you buy from my pharmacy? (I decided to ask this to see how much stock I will need of the following.)
Hair accessorises, deodorant/perfume, shower gel, hair dye/colouring, sanitary towels/tampons/panty liners, make-up, other__________
Q7. How far do you live from my shop? (I decided to ask this to see how far my customers will be coming from.)
Less than 10 minute walk, 10-20 minute walk, 20-30 minute walk, Longer: ____ minute walk
Q8. What’s the most money you will pay for your medicine? (I decided to ask this to see how much I should sell my items and weather or not people will buy certain items for more money)
£3-5, £5-10, £10-15, £15-25, More £____
Q9. Do you have any health conditions which will require frequent prescriptions? (I decided to ask this to see if I may have a lot of customers which will regularly buy prescriptions from my pharmacy)
Yes, No
Q10. How often do you pass my shop? (I am asking this question to get more information weather I should put a lot of ads and posters in the windows and maybe a few of the latest trends in medicine and accessories which may attract customers to look around inside my shop.)
Once a day or more, once a week, once fortnightly, once a month, longer: ______weeks/days/months.
Questionnaire ResultsThe results from this show me that I will need a lot of stock of Painkillers, Prescribed Medication, Allergy Creams and pills and contraceptives. I will also need a fair amount of stock for other items. I think I not will need a lot of stock of syrup medicine.
Now I will need to think of a way to make people buy these from my pharmacy. I need make us unique in a way which will want to make people come to my pharmacy (i.e. good offers or cheap prices)
The results from this question show me how often people go to the pharmacy. From my results I can see that people are more likely to come to my pharmacy monthly or quarterly. I will make a registration service where regular customers can register for discount and special offers. With this service, the same customers will come to my pharmacy more often and therefore will make my pharmacy more successful.
Based on the results, I can see that price, quality and special offers are extremely important to my future customers. Therefore I will need to make sure my prices are just right (not too expensive and not too cheap) and when getting new stock I will need to make sure the quality of the products are good. I will also need to promote popular products by making some offers on them to get more customers.
Service is fairly important to my customers which will mean I will need to give training to my staff to give good service and to please my customers.
Finally location came up to be the least important to my customers which means that as long as I provide good price + quality + offers, they would be willing to travel a bit extra distance to come to my pharmacy.
The reason for me asking this question was to ensure that the sample of potential customers I used for my questionnaire was a fair representation of my Target Market.
From the results I can see nearly everyone who filled out the questionnaire was under 18. As I am focusing on teenagers and middle aged, it is not a big problem that I didn’t ask anyone in the other age groups. However, if I wanted to focus on other age groups as well, I would have to ask some of them to fill in my questionnaire.
The results from this question will show me the most common times my potential customers usually buy from my pharmacy. From their responses I will be able to determine what my opening hours should be as well as times when my restaurant will be busy and I will need to have a lot of workers working.
From my results I can see that people will usually buy from my pharmacy between 2pm – 6pm. Therefore, those will most likely be the opening hours of my restaurant. I will need most workers at this time range.
The results from this will tell me the extras I will need to sell in my pharmacy and how much stock I will need get of extras.
The results from this show me that people would buy mostly make-up, shower gel, deodorant/perfumes and hair accessories. This means I will get more stock of these than other extras I will sell in my pharmacy.
The results from this will tell me far my customers will travel to come to my pharmacy.
From my results I can see that majority of my customers won’t be travelling from a long distance and live near the area. But I will need to make my pharmacy a good quality pharmacy with good offers and good prices so that I can impress those that do not live near. If I make my pharmacy impressive people from further away are likelier to come to my pharmacy. To get more customers from further away I will need to advertise in lost of areas around Waltham forest and maybe other boroughs.
The results from this question show me what kind of price range my potential customers will be willing to pay for medicines I will sell.
From my results I can see that the majority are willing to pay £5-£10. However, there is also a big percentage that would be willing to pay £3-£5. Since Question 3 told me that Price is the most important I think I will be able to charge around £3-£10 or slightly more for my medicines as long as I have good quality medicines.
The results from this will tell me how often the same potential customers will come into my shop to receive frequent prescribed medicine.
From my results I can see that more than 50% of my customers will not be receiving frequent prescribed medicine which means I will not see the same potential customers a lot. This will mean will see new customers rather than the same customers.
The results from this question show me what the Footfall Rate of my pharmacy will be – this rate is a measure of the number of customers that pass by the shop.
From my results I can see that the majority of my potential customers will pass by everyday. This means that I must ensure that my shop front always looks appealing and well-kept so that people will be enticed to come in. Also, I may decide to advertise my Special Offers on the outside of my shop since my potential customers pass by so often.
Summary
I have looked at the results of my questionnaire and I have come up with a summary of what the results mean to my; what it will include and how we will run our business.
Who are my customers?
My business is aimed at adults between the ages of 18 - 50 years. This is because people in this age group are allowed to buy medicines (under 18’s cannot buy medicine). Also this age group is usually wealthier than other groups. This means that I will be getting more money from them.
From my results I can see that most of the people I asked are 10 – 20 years, this is because I couldn’t find people from different age group’s to ask. Most of my customers go a pharmacy once a month. My customers are most likely to come to my pharmacy between 2pm – 6pm.
Most of my customers live 10 – 20 minutes away from my pharmacy, therefore I will make sure I advertise locally in the borough (Waltham Forest) and nearby borough (Newham). Also the results show that people will pass my shop once a day or more which means I will need good windows ads and offers to make people want to come to my pharmacy.
What do they want?
My results show that people want painkillers, prescribed medication, contraceptives, and allergy creams and pill the most. This is good because my pharmacy sells these items. I have also found out that my customer wants make-up, shower gel, deodorant/perfume, and hair accessories the most. This means that I will be selling a lot of these items which are ‘extras’. Most of my customers said they would pay £5 – £10 for medicines and medication. This means I will sell most of my medicines for £5 - £10 to customers on NHS. This is good because it is cheaper than other pharmacies nearby. This gives me a competitive edge over all the other pharmacies around.
Opening hours
After looking at the results of my questionnaire most of my customers said that they would prefer coming at 2pm to 6pm or at 11am to 2pm. I have now decided that my opening times will be:
Monday: 10am to 1pm - 2pm to 6pm
Tuesday: 10am to 1pm - 2pm to 6pm
Wednesday: 10am to 1pm - 2pm to 6pm
Thursday: 10am to 1pm - 2pm to 6pm
Friday: 10am to 1pm - 2pm to 6pm
Saturday: 11am to 12.30pm – 1.30pm to 3pm
Sunday: 12pm – 2pm
Bank holidays: Closed
My pharmacy will have a 1 hour lunch break in the middle of the day.
Who are my competition?
After having a look around in the local area, I have identified that there are quite a few pharmacies which are on the same road as mine and which are surrounding mine. I know I have to compete with these pharmacies, and I will do this in various ways to attract customers. Like advertising, special offers, free samples, business cards posted to people locally and much more.
What marketing will work?
I think marketing with window ads will work as the results from the questionnaire say there is a high footfall rate which means that a lot of people walking past seeing the ads.
