In this episode of Pharmacy View, Scott talks with Andrew Romeo from Aerion Technologies. Andrew and his business partner Anthony Sapountzis started Aerion Technologies about twelve years ago right after they finished university. In these early days they were introduced into Pharmacy through a Brand marketing group and the work that came from this connection is what grew into today’s digital marketing Shopfront Solution, a full web-based platform and an improvement of digital business supporting over 1,500 Australian pharmacies.
The technology and web-based platform Shopfront Solutions allows pharmacies to print the tickets they specifically need in order to highlight sale items or run local promotions. This affords more flexibility than the general bundled marketing materials that are often sent out by the Head Office support teams. This platform also allows the Pharmacy to add its individual logo and personalize it to the specific Pharmacy. Andrew shares that because of technology’s evolving nature, they have had to tweak the platform several times since it’s development, until they finally arrived at the web-based platform it is now.
Each of the developments in the product have come from work done with Pharmacies and group head office teams. When working with Chempro, Andrew and Anthony helped develop the integration databases and the app. The customization of marketing materials is a result of working with Pharmacy Alliance. One of the important things Andrew points out is the value of being on a shared data base, as this allows different stores within a company to communicate much more effectively.
In regard to customizable marketing materials, this has incredible value for pharmacies. In regard to appearance, the customization allows pharmacies to include their Pharmacy specific logo and branding, as well as print as many or as few tickets as they need. It also ensures a Pharmacy’s success in onboarding new items and bringing attention to certain items. One drawback to all of the printing materials, is the massive use of paper and to offset this, Shopfront Solutions contributes towards planting of new trees. In regard to using less paper and increasing the customization of marketing, one thing in the near future for pharmacies is electronic shelf labels. These will allow pharmacies to display the price without using paper labels, as well as to instantly change the prices of certain items electronically. Overall, Andrew and Shopfront Solutions team are striving to evolve with technology, and their customers, in order to better their product, and therefore, the marketing and business aspect of each client Pharmacy.
Topics Covered:
- Printing Pharmacy specific marketing materials
- Improving the Shopfront Solutions Platform
- The evolution of Shopfront Solutions
- The benefits of a shared database
- Offsetting the amount of paper used
- Electronic Shelf Labels
Key Quotes:
- “The platform gives you that ability to go on, print some tickets that you might need, if you want to put something on sale yourself, and bring attention to that product. So, it is effectively actioned at the Pharmacy level.” (4:02)
- “If you’re not ticketing correctly, you’re missing customer buying opportunities.” (6:10)
- “As you build technology, it’s always evolving and changing.” (9:30)
- “Consumers expect things quickly these days.” (18:32)
- “You’ll have the ability to manage the content that gets distributed to your Facebook and Instagram, and tweak that.” (24:04)
Social Media Clips:
- (3:45-6:20) Printing Pharmacy specific marketing materials
- (6:41-9:45) Challenges with the platform
- (10:03-11:10) The starting point and evolution of Shopfront Solutions
- (14:55-19:05) The expansion of customizable tickets and other materials
- (19:23-20:18) The offsetting of printing material use
- (24:57-28:43) Electronic shelf labels and their marketing ability
Connect with Andrew:
