On this episode of the Pharmacy View podcast, Scott and his cohost Anthony Sapountzis from Aerion Technologies talk with Shane Bartle, CEO of Storbie, a software firm specializing in the community pharmacy industry that helps create and manage omnichannel websites for its clients.
Scott and Shane first discuss Storbie’s move to specialization in community pharmacy and how the firm can provide value to pharmacies by helping them to cost-effectively create a quality web presence. Shane explains how the healthcare industry overall, and especially the community pharmacy sector, is especially challenged when it comes to finding omnichannel solutions for their web needs, as their low resources combined with complex supply chains make this process difficult. He then explains how Storbie aims to solve this conflict by creating the integration needed for these pharmacies to move to the web and provide the same value and support to their web services as their physical presence.
Scott and Shane discuss the issues that pharmacies face when deciding whether or not to put effort into an online presence, with one of the hindrances to the process being the costs and time input required. Shane shares his philosophy of “one to many,” saying that community pharmacy is a hugely complex industry with few resources and there isn’t enough time for each pharmacy to be going one by one through their suppliers to find everything they need individually, Storbie works to create platforms that allow a member of the supply chain to be able to do something once, for the benefit of all the pharmacies.
Scott and Shane briefly touch on Points of Sale systems and what they can do to help pharmacies save time and energy. They wrap up the conversation by getting some key tips from Shane about things that a pharmacy should consider before setting up their e-commerce store, including thinking of a website as an extension of a physical store rather than a separate entity, focusing on integration, and giving attention to online interactions just as fast as in-store ones.
Topics Covered:
- Why community pharmacy is an industry that struggles with moving to web-based service platforms
- What Storbie is all about, and how they work to offer cost-effective ways for pharmacies to create a web presence
- The “one to many” philosophy and how it is beneficial if organizations along the supply chain are able to do something once that then reaches, and benefits, many pharmacies
- The benefits of Point of Sale systems and how they can help save pharmacies time and energy
- Key tips for pharmacies to consider before setting up their e-commerce store
Key Quotes:
- “What we’ve identified is that there is this type of business which is particularly challenged, and almost forgotten, when it comes to creating omnichannel solutions. And this is these organizations that don’t have a lot of resources, they’re smaller, often owner-operator, but they have a very complex supply chain. And they tend to be in these established industries.” (9:30)
- “What we’re about is working with the industry….helping them to think about how to extend their offering to the web, to omnichannel. Then we’re about creating that integration that enables all that to happen so they can provide the same value and support to those community pharmacies that they have already been providing for their physical presence, but extend that to the web.” (11:19)
- “I think that one of the things that’s driving those thoughts (around whether or not a pharmacy needs an online presence) is around value, and part of value is, how challenging is this going to be for me?” (12:48)
- “That is what we are focused on – how can we provide a platform where one of the players in the supply chain can do something once, for the benefit of all?” (15:23)
- “One of the things for (pharmacies) to think about is…not to think about their website as being a separate thing from their physical store…We know that the pharmacies that get that…get the most out of what we do.” (19:25)
- “A customer walks into a bricks and mortar pharmacy, and they’ll get pretty fast and quick attention or at least recognition, and if anything, in an online presence these days, that attention to online interaction….almost needs to be faster, if not as fast as if you were walking into the bricks and mortar pharmacy because if you don’t, you run the risk of alienating that customer just as easily as if you didn’t pay them attention in the pharmacy.” (21:06)
- “It’s as much about saving them (pharmacies) time which means that they have more time to be doing what they do best, which is working one on one as people with the people in their community.” (23:26)
Social Media Clips:
- Why the community pharmacy industry has struggled with creating omnichannel web solutions (9:30-10:02)
- What Storbie is all about (11:19-11:53)
- Showing pharmacies that developing a strong web presence is possible (13:30-14:13)
- The “one to many” philosophy (14:29-15:37)
- Storbie as “the glue” that holds the components of the web presence together (17:57-18:34)
- Integrating the website with the physical commerce space (19:25-21:00)
- Responding to online customer interactions quickly (21:06-21:47)
Connect with the Storbie team
CEO Storbie Shane Bartle | LinkedIn
Country Manager Storbie Australia – Andy Benham | LinkedIn
General Enquiry hello@storbie.com
Connect with Scott
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottcarpenter-evbc
www.aeriontechnologies.com
