Pharmacy Merchandising Training

Lesson 1 • Key Stakeholders and Their Roles

Maps pharmacists, technicians, buyers, and store managers to their merchandising responsibilities. Clarifies decision-making authority across the retail pharmacy team.

Lesson 2 • Customer Profile in Pharmacy Retail

Defines the pharmacy shopper's motivations, health literacy levels, and purchase triggers. Connects customer insight to product selection and placement logic.

Lesson 3 • Pharmacy Store Formats and Models

Covers independent, chain, and specialty pharmacy formats and their commercial priorities. Provides context for all merchandising decisions made throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Assortment Breadth and Depth

Covers the trade-off between offering many SKUs versus deep stock in fewer lines. Students apply breadth-depth analysis to real pharmacy category scenarios.

Lesson 2 • Assortment Performance Metrics

Introduces sell-through rate, days of supply, and category contribution as assortment KPIs. Enables data-driven decisions to add, retain, or delist products.

Lesson 3 • Planogram-Ready Assortment Output

Translates the finalized assortment into a structured product list ready for space planning. Bridges assortment planning to the visual merchandising chapters that follow.

Lesson 4 • Category Definition and Hierarchy

Explains how to define product categories, subcategories, and segments within a pharmacy. Establishes the structural framework used in all subsequent assortment decisions.

Lesson 1 • Building and Validating Planograms

Walks through the step-by-step process of creating, reviewing, and approving a planogram. Includes compliance checks for restricted product placement and accessibility.

Lesson 2 • Planogram Design Principles

Teaches horizontal and vertical blocking, eye-level placement, and flow direction rules. Applies these principles specifically to health and wellness product categories.

Lesson 3 • Planogram Implementation and Reset

Covers the in-store execution of planogram resets, including scheduling and staff briefing. Ensures students can manage a reset without disrupting dispensary operations.

Lesson 4 • Store Layout and Traffic Flow

Analyzes how customers navigate pharmacy stores and how layout drives category exposure. Informs where high-priority categories and impulse zones should be positioned.

Lesson 1 • Signage and Point-of-Sale Materials

Covers design standards, placement rules, and compliance requirements for in-store signage. Ensures all price, promotional, and educational signs meet regulatory guidelines.

Lesson 2 • Visual Merchandising Fundamentals

Introduces color, contrast, signage hierarchy, and product grouping as core visual tools. Establishes the visual language used in all pharmacy display work.

Lesson 3 • Display Types and Their Applications

Covers endcaps, freestanding displays, counter units, and clip strips for pharmacy contexts. Matches each display type to appropriate product categories and traffic zones.

Lesson 4 • Display Evaluation and Maintenance

Introduces audit checklists and scoring methods to assess display quality over time. Builds habits for ongoing maintenance that preserve visual standards between resets.

Lesson 1 • Price Architecture and Good-Better-Best

Teaches how to structure price tiers within a category to guide customer trade-up. Applies good-better-best logic to OTC and personal care categories.

Lesson 2 • Shelf Price Execution and Compliance

Addresses accurate shelf labeling, price change processes, and regulatory price display rules. Prevents pricing errors that damage customer trust and create compliance risk.

Lesson 3 • Promotional Pricing Mechanics

Covers temporary price reductions, multi-buy offers, and loyalty pricing structures. Links promotional pricing to the promotional planning chapter that follows.

Lesson 1 • Promotion Type Selection

Covers price promotions, gift-with-purchase, sampling, and loyalty reward mechanics. Matches promotion type to category objectives and customer behavior patterns.

Lesson 2 • In-Store Promotional Execution

Covers display setup, signage placement, and staff briefing for promotional periods. Ensures promotional plans are executed accurately and on schedule in-store.

Lesson 3 • Promotional Calendar Development

Teaches how to map health awareness events, seasonal peaks, and supplier deals into an annual plan. Creates a structured promotional calendar that aligns all store activities.

Lesson 4 • Supplier-Funded Promotions

Explains co-op funding, promotional allowances, and performance-based supplier deals. Enables students to negotiate and manage supplier-funded promotional activity.

Lesson 1 • Expiry and Waste Management

Covers expiry monitoring, near-date clearance strategies, and disposal of expired health products. Addresses regulatory requirements for disposing of expired medications and supplements.

Lesson 2 • Stock Rotation and FIFO Principles

Teaches first-in, first-out rotation to minimize expiry waste and ensure product freshness. Applies FIFO specifically to health products with short or variable shelf lives.

Lesson 3 • Shrinkage and Loss Prevention

Identifies causes of shrinkage including theft, damage, and administrative error in pharmacy retail. Introduces merchandising-level controls that reduce stock loss without impeding service.

Lesson 4 • Inventory Fundamentals for Pharmacy

Covers stock-keeping units, on-hand counts, and the relationship between inventory and shelf fill. Establishes the inventory vocabulary used throughout this chapter.

Lesson 1 • The Category Management Process

Introduces the eight-step category management framework adapted for pharmacy retail. Provides the overarching process that organizes all category decisions and reviews.

Lesson 2 • Competitive Benchmarking

Teaches how to assess competitor assortment, pricing, and display strategies in pharmacy. Translates competitive intelligence into actionable category improvement tactics.

Lesson 3 • Category Strategy Development

Guides creation of a category strategy covering assortment, space, pricing, and promotion tactics. Aligns category strategy to overall store commercial objectives.

Lesson 4 • Category Performance Analysis

Covers sales, margin, basket penetration, and market share metrics for category evaluation. Students interpret category data to identify growth opportunities and underperformance.