When low prices, high volumes and fast delivery become the business model, what happens to the professional value of pharmacy?
Pharmacy or Warehouse? A Question We Can No Longer Ignore
During a recent trip to Arab Health in Dubai, Fiona Sartoretto Verna encountered something that raised a fundamental question about the future of pharmacy.
A pharmacy outlet operated by the Life chain, designed around a business model very different from the community pharmacies we traditionally know.
Rather than emphasizing professional consultation, personalized attention or healthcare services, the environment appeared to prioritize high-volume sales, aggressive pricing and fast product distribution.
Located along a busy road, the outlet promoted convenience and accessibility through extended opening hours and rapid delivery.
In her original LinkedIn article, Fiona also reported that some of the discounted products were approaching their expiration dates.
The experience prompted an uncomfortable question:
Are we witnessing the transformation of pharmacies into warehouses where medicines are treated like ordinary consumer products?
Discounts and convenience are not inherently negative. Affordable medicines and efficient distribution are important for patients.
But when low prices become the main competitive advantage, pharmacies risk losing something far more valuable: their professional identity.
And that is a risk the entire industry should be discussing.
The Price War: Can Pharmacies Really Compete on Discounts Alone?
The pharmaceutical retail market is changing rapidly.
Large pharmacy chains, online platforms and increasingly sophisticated delivery services are transforming customer expectations.
Convenience matters. Prices matter. Accessibility matters.
But for independent pharmacies, competing exclusively on these factors can become a dangerous strategy.
A large chain may benefit from purchasing power, distribution networks and economies of scale that smaller businesses cannot easily replicate.
Online retailers can offer extensive product selections without maintaining the same type of physical environment as a neighborhood pharmacy.
And customers can compare prices within seconds.
If every pharmacy begins competing on the same criteria, differentiation becomes increasingly difficult.
The question is not whether discounts should exist.
The real question is:
What makes a patient choose your pharmacy when another business can offer the same product at a lower price?
If the answer is only convenience or cost, the pharmacy risks becoming interchangeable with countless other retailers.
However, a pharmacy has something that ordinary retail outlets cannot simply reproduce through a discount campaign.
It has professional knowledge, direct patient relationships and an essential role within the healthcare system.
These strengths deserve to be developed rather than overlooked.
A Pharmacy Is Not Just a Place That Sells Medicines
A pharmacy is fundamentally different from a conventional retail store.
People enter pharmacies not only to purchase products, but also to seek reassurance, understand treatments and receive professional guidance.
They may have questions about their medication, chronic conditions, prevention or everyday health concerns.
The pharmacist’s role extends beyond completing a transaction.
As the World Health Organization explains, pharmacists in many countries are increasingly involved in pharmaceutical care, chronic disease management and additional healthcare services.
This evolution represents an opportunity for the profession.
Yet it requires a business environment capable of supporting those responsibilities.
A pharmacy organized exclusively around product turnover may struggle to communicate its broader healthcare value.
When the entire experience revolves around shelves, promotions and checkout counters, professional expertise can become almost invisible.
And when expertise becomes invisible, customers may begin to evaluate the pharmacy primarily through price.
The future of pharmacy cannot depend solely on selling more products. It must also depend on making professional value recognizable.
The Professional Pharmacy: An Alternative to the Outlet Model
The opposite of a discount-driven pharmacy is not necessarily an expensive or luxurious pharmacy.
It is a pharmacy with a clear professional identity.
A pharmacy where services are accessible, consultations are encouraged and patients understand the value of the expertise available to them.
This model may include preventive healthcare activities, appropriate diagnostic and screening services, medication counseling, patient education and collaboration with other healthcare professionals, depending on local regulations.
The goal is not simply to introduce more services.
It is to create a coherent healthcare experience.
The World Health Organization’s approach to primary healthcare highlights the importance of integrated services, disease prevention and bringing healthcare closer to communities.
Community pharmacies can play a valuable role in this development.
But the professional pharmacy model requires deliberate choices.
Which services are most relevant to the local population?
How should consultation areas be organized?
What can be done to improve privacy and accessibility?
How can the pharmacy communicate its expertise without neglecting the commercial activities that support its operation?
These are strategic questions that cannot be answered simply by purchasing new furniture or adding another product category.
They require a clear understanding of the pharmacy’s positioning, business objectives and relationship with its community.
Pharmacy Design Can Reinforce Professional Identity
Architecture cannot replace pharmaceutical expertise.
But it can help make that expertise visible and accessible.
Think about the difference between two pharmacy environments.
In the first, almost every square meter is dedicated to product displays, promotional messages and transactional activities.
In the second, products remain organized and accessible, but customers can also recognize professional consultation areas, understand the available healthcare services and navigate the space intuitively.
The second environment communicates a broader role for the pharmacy.
This does not mean reducing retail efficiency or sacrificing commercial performance.
It means designing the space around a more complete business strategy.
At Sartoretto Verna, our approach to pharmacy design and architecture begins by examining how the pharmacy works, which customers it serves and what it wants to become.
The physical layout must support both patient experience and daily operations.
Dedicated service areas can increase privacy. Clear category organization can help customers find relevant products. Effective circulation can improve the interaction between staff and patients.
Materials, lighting, communication and brand identity can also contribute to a recognizable professional atmosphere.
But design decisions need to serve a specific purpose.
A pharmacy should not simply look different from its competitors. It should offer a meaningfully different experience.
Independent Pharmacies Need a Strategy, Not Another Price War
For independent pharmacy owners, the growing competition from chains and online retailers creates understandable pressure.
It may be tempting to respond with more discounts, additional promotions or an increasingly extensive product assortment.
Yet these actions do not necessarily resolve the underlying problem.
A pharmacy without a clearly defined positioning may continue competing on the same terms as businesses operating at a much larger scale.
An alternative begins with understanding the local market.
Who are the pharmacy’s customers?
What healthcare needs are insufficiently addressed?
Which services could strengthen the relationship between the pharmacy and its community?
Which product categories generate value, and which occupy space without contributing adequately to performance?
How do customers move through the premises, and where are opportunities being missed?
These questions form the foundation of the Sartoretto Verna Business Strategy approach.
We combine market analysis, customer journey evaluation, category management, communication and architectural planning to develop pharmacy environments around measurable business objectives.
The objective is not to make every pharmacy follow the same model.
Quite the opposite.
Every pharmacy has its own community, competitive environment, professional strengths and potential for growth.
A successful strategy must identify what makes that particular business valuable.
For some pharmacies, the opportunity may be to strengthen preventive services.
For others, it may be improving operational efficiency, repositioning key retail categories or building a stronger brand identity.
What matters is having a strategy that does not depend entirely on lowering prices.
Profitability and Patient Care Must Work Together
A professional pharmacy must also be a sustainable business.
Patient care and profitability should not be considered mutually exclusive.
A pharmacy needs financial resources to invest in staff, technologies, facilities, training and services.
At the same time, commercial activities should support the pharmacy’s professional mission rather than undermine it.
Achieving this balance requires business planning.
A new service must be evaluated according to actual demand, operational costs, professional responsibilities and available space.
A redesigned layout should support customer experience while also improving workflow and the effectiveness of commercial areas.
And investments should be assessed against realistic business objectives.
This is the philosophy behind Sartoretto Verna’s identity as Pharmacy Business Architects.
We do not begin by asking which furniture a pharmacy should purchase.
We begin by understanding what kind of business it needs to become.
Our Sartoretto Verna Method demonstrates how different pharmacies require different solutions, depending on their challenges, their markets and the people who use them.
Architecture is the outcome of that analysis, not the starting point.
What Kind of Pharmacy Do We Want for the Future?
The Dubai outlet observed by Fiona raises an important debate.
There is room in the market for different pharmacy business models, and affordability is an essential component of access to medicines.
But price cannot be the only measure of a pharmacy’s value.
If the entire industry begins treating medicines and healthcare products as ordinary commodities, what will distinguish pharmacists from other retailers?
What will happen to professional relationships?
And how will independent pharmacies justify the value of their presence within local communities?
The answers will depend on choices made by pharmacy owners, professional organizations, healthcare systems and the industry as a whole.
For Sartoretto Verna, one principle remains fundamental:
The pharmacy of the future must be recognized not only for what it sells, but for the professional value it delivers.
A pharmacy designed around people, expertise and sustainable business performance has an opportunity to create a relationship that goes beyond an individual transaction.
The real challenge is not to defeat every discount retailer or compete with every delivery platform.
It is to give customers compelling reasons to recognize and choose the value of a professional pharmacy.
Because the future of pharmacy should not be reduced to the cheapest product on the shelf.
It should be built around the people who walk through the door, the professionals who welcome them and the healthcare value that connects them.
Is Your Pharmacy Competing on Price or Creating Real Value?
If your pharmacy is facing stronger competition, shrinking margins or changing customer expectations, a new interior design alone may not be the answer.
The first step is understanding your business, your market and your opportunities for differentiation.
Sartoretto Verna combines pharmacy architecture, business analysis and retail strategy to help independent pharmacy owners develop more competitive, recognizable and functional healthcare environments.
Discover our Pharmacy Business Strategy and explore how a strategic approach can transform the future of your pharmacy.
Or visit the Sartoretto Verna showroom in Rome to explore your project with our team.
Based on the original article “Outlet Pharmacy: The Death of Real Pharmacy?” by Fiona Sartoretto Verna, published on LinkedIn on February 6, 2025.
