Goodlife Pharmacy CEO Amaan Khalfan. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The confirmation of the first case of Covid-19 in Kenya on March 13 triggered major changes in the way people access healthcare services.
Business Daily spoke to Goodlife Pharmacy CEO Amaan Khalfan on the nature of disruption the business faced and how the firm retooled its operations to cope with the new normal.
COVID-19 HAS HAD UNPRECEDENTED DISRUPTION ON BUSINESSES. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE AT GOODLIFE?
Despite Covid-19 and all other economic uncertainties in the market, we have been able to have quite a descent growth. What we have realised in this pandemic is that consumers want both the authentic product and quality service.
We are going to continue with expansion. We are planning to wrap up the year with 70 stores from the current 67.
NOT SO MANY CEOS HAVE KIND WORDS FOR 2020 AS YOU DO. WHAT WAS THE SECRET?
We realised early enough that Covid-19 was causing a shift in the way customers wanted to be served and we therefore moved quickly to digitise our business.
Part of the digitisation was through making it easier for customers to order products, pay and have them delivered at home. A lot of our effort went into opening e-commerce venture. We added elements to our website to allow for online orders and payments and still get the same level of service we were giving physically. We also partnered with e-commerce firms.
MANY BUSINESSES SUFFERED STOCK-OUTS DUE TO SUPPLY DISRUPTIONS. HOW DID YOU BEAT THIS GIVEN MANY DRUGS ARE IMPORTED?
Early March we quickly reviewed our product range as we anticipated shortages. We opted to do bulk purchases. We also had discussions with our distributors and manufacturers and locked certain products. In some instances we increased the number of suppliers for the products that existing ones could not meet.
HOW DO PRESCRIPTIONS AND ONLINE DELIVERIES WORK WITHOUT PATIENTS VISITING THE STORES?
We don’t just dispense drugs online. We ask patients to send the prescription via platforms such as WhatsApp. We then make a phone call to them to verify then dispense once payment has been made.
We have also linked up with telemedicine providers as well so that one, seated at home, gets professional health advice from a medical practitioner, then laboratory diagnostics done and results comes to us so as to release the drugs.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE ON SALES COMING THROUGH ONLINE PLATFORMS IN CONTRAST TO THROUGH CUSTOMER WALK-INS TO THE STORES?
We have seen a reduction in the number of people coming to the stores. However, we have seen an increase in the number of people who are being served from home via e-commerce platforms. We saw a big spike in walk-ins in March as customers with chronic illness came in to buy in bulk for fear of lockdowns. The overall amount of sales per physical purchase has also gone up since customers want fewer trips in the Covid-19 environment.
HOW FLEXIBLE HAVE THE INSURANCE FIRMS BEEN ON E-PURCHASES GIVEN THEIR INCREASED SWITCH TO BIOMETRICS TO CUT FRAUD?
Biometrics have been excellent in helping us validate patient history and also helping insurance firms cut on fraud. With Covid-19 we had to resort to emails and telephone calls. The insurers have also strengthened their call centres to support us.
PHARMACIES TEND TO BE CLOSER TO PATIENTS THAN HOSPITALS. WITH HOSPITALS RECORDING DECLINES IN VISITS, HOW ARE YOU RISING TO THE OCCASION?
We have seen people coming to pharmacies and seeking medical advice. We are careful on what type of advice to give. We have put physicians on our platform so that the patient can call them from the store or from home to get diagnosis. We are working on increasing the number of physicians on our network as e-consultation gains traction.
GOODLIFE IS STILL KEEN ON EXPANSION. WHAT IS IN STORE FOR 2021?
We have come up with new ways of setting up stores. We are looking at stores that can easily be moved.
We linked up with a few construction companies to develop container-type locations which can be moved to different residential areas without significant costs. So we don’t necessarily have to invest in buildings or heavy furniture and fittings. We have piloted one in Embakasi, Nairobi.
HOW MANY MORE BRANCHES ARE WE SEEING IN 2021?
We have finished the year at 70 branches. Our long-term plan is to have 250 branches in Kenya and Uganda over the next five years.
Different counties have thirst for quality health services. We are looking at 15 new stores in the first quarter of next year. We have already identified potential areas and signed leases with most of the landlords. The new stores will help us deliver our products much easily as e-commerce grows.
palushula@ke.nationmedia.com
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