In the pharmacy, as elsewhere, organization is essential to optimize one's storage space, to reduce the time spent taking inventory and to reduce losses.

Quite often, a poorly arranged storage space means that certain products are forgotten and will never be sold, and are therefore discarded because they are out of date before they are sold. This is a considerable waste both in terms of turnover and the environment.

So to be better organized, it is better to make sure that your storage space is organized first.

TriMed's gives you 6 main advices to do it efficiently:


1- Organize your medications by zone

It's easier to find your way around if you classify your space by zone and store your medications in those zones. The choice of the type of classification is yours. You will choose the way you find your way around best, but we can already suggest some ideas: such as classification by typology, active ingredient, brand or category. Differentiate between sales space and storage space.

It is also important to differentiate between the refrigerated area, which is essential for certain types of products (such as vaccines), the areas where medicines must be protected from light and the classic storage areas.

2- Control the rotation of your products

It is a question of controlling the products that have a fast rotation and those that, on the contrary, have a slow or even too slow rotation. It is necessary to define the demand for each product in order to anticipate the orders. This will avoid overstocking or out-of-stock situations.

Using the ABC method in logistics can be useful. The principle consists in storing the drugs that have a fast turnover in Zone A (a zone that will be more easily accessible for the pharmacist), the drugs that are less in demand in Zone B (a zone that is less accessible than Zone A but that is still more or less quickly accessible when needed) and the drugs that are very rarely requested in Zone C (the one that is the least accessible in the storage space in order to free up space for the most important ones) This also allows you to have a global vision of your zones. Seeing Zone A almost empty, for example, should raise the alarm about the need to order products.

3- Take inventory of your stock regularly

You should not wait until every year to take inventory of your products, especially since health products often have an expiration date. Define a date per month to make an inventory of your products. This will allow you to anticipate the orders but also to manage your unsold products and to put the products closest to the expiration date forward in order to sell them in priority.

4- Always assign the same person to manage the stock

It is better to always leave this task to the same person who will also manage the orders with the suppliers and who will enter the data relative to the products in your computer management system. This is the person who will be able to understand the needs in terms of storage management and who will be able to supervise this as soon as the orders are received.

Moreover, if the same person is always assigned to the same task, they will not forget it and rely on someone else to do it for them . Needless to say, get the right person! The organized and responsible employee.

5- Adopt adequate storage devices

Instead of stacking boxes, why not use deep drawer cabinets? It helps to store more with boxes that are visible because they are stored side by side rather than stacked. If the drawers can be equipped with transparent sides, that's even better! It would help to see even if they are high.

Drawer cabinets are just one idea. You certainly have a multitude of choices. It's up to you to see what works for you and most importantly, what works for your storage space.

6- Boost sales of unsold products

It is preferable to boost the sale of your unsold products, especially if they are close to their expiration date.

Put in place promotions or an apparent dedicated corner in your dispensary.
TriMed's offers a much better solution. Put your unsold products on our online marketplace! You will give more visibility and a second chance to your products and you will gain turnover instead of losing money.