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South Africa: Netcare, Woolies Open New Pharmacy
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Tamar Kahn
Cape Town
SA's biggest private hospital group, Netcare, and retailer Woolworths have launched a new pharmacy in Athol Square, Johannesburg, their second dispensary since they announced their partnership a year ago.
The pilot pharmacy was launched in a Woolworths food store in the small Kloof Street shopping centre in Cape Town in August. The venture had a slower than expected start, largely due to the regulatory uncertainty clouding the pharmacy sector. Netcare's marketing director, Tumi Nkosi, said last year that the company hoped to have a dozen co-branded pharmacies in Woolworths stores within as many months.
The pharmacy sector is awaiting the outcome of a four-year legal wrangle with the health department over the fees pharmacists may charge for medicines they dispense.
The Netcare-Woolworths pharmacies target well-heeled customers who place a premium on the value of their time, said Netcare's group pharmacy director Ingrid Davis. The pharmacies are in stores with extended hours, and enable customers to buy prescription medicines along with groceries.
Unlike retail pharmacy chain stores such as Clicks and Dis-Chem, Netcare and Woolworths were not discounting their dispensing fees. They had applied a four-tiered pricing model devised by the pharmacy industry, she said.
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Customer surveys from the Kloof Street venture had been "extremely positive" said Davis. The Athol Square pharmacy, which opened on Thursday, had seen an even stronger response, she said.
Davis said Woolworths and Netcare planned to launch a third pharmacy, in Rivonia, by the end of the year. It would test the concept in a full-line Woolworths store selling food and clothes, and would enable the partners to gauge reaction among a different group of customers from those frequenting outlets that sold only food.
Under the terms of the venture, Netcare obtains the pharmacy licences and is responsible for staffing and managing the dispens aries. Woolworths manages the rest of the health products on offer, such as vitamins and supplements. Netcare has acquired extensive pharmacy business experience .
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