PHARMA RETAIL INDUSTRY

RETAIL MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT

PHARMACY RETAIL- GLOBAL OVERVIEW

Pharmacy is one of those rarest businesses that touch almost all the human beings in their life.
With such an environment that makes us more vulnerable to diseases the importance of
pharma retail. Although the market is scattered all over the world but the biggest markets
subside in the developed countries like EU and US. Although the models differ in countries yet
they have some common features. In the US and Europe, pharmaceutical retail is significantly
consolidated with fewer pharmacies serving much larger markets. The top three pharmacies
account for 40 per cent of sales while per-pharmacy sale is higher by multiples than that of
pharmacies in India. Drug retailers leveraging scale enjoy higher earnings, invest in building
infrastructure and provide a suite of value-added services. Despite the inherent advantages of
consolidation, there also exists a mix of unorganized and organized players to provide the
necessary reach and convenience. Our study indicates that in the developed markets,
unorganized sector comprises almost 60 per cent of the stores in numbers.

The major international players in the retail pharmacy industry are

 CVS  Walgreen  Target

 Wal-Mart  Jewel Osco  Kmart/Sears
 Meijer  Rite Aid  Safeway
 Longs Drug  Costco  Albertsons

Global market– sustainable growth of 6%

 According to the data from IMS Health Retail Drug Monitor for January 2010, drug sales
through retail pharmacies in 13 key markets increased by 6% — from US$462.2bn for 12
months ending January 2009 to US$490.6bn for 12 months ending January 2010
(Rs20,850bn to Rs22,130bn).

 The growth rate, which was 5% in August’09, improved to 6% from November’09

onwards indicating the revival of the global pharma market from the recession, which
affected it severely in FY09.

 IMS forecasts a global pharma market growth of 4-6% in 2010 and predicts 4-7%
expansion through 2013. It expects stronger near-term growth in the US market, with
the passage of US Healthcare Bill.
MARKET SHARE OF KEY GLOBAL PHARMA RETAIL PLAYERS
PHARMA RETAIL-INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

INTRODUCTION

The Indian Pharma market is going through a lot of crest and troughs right now. The industry is
highly fragmented in terms of the distribution.

The Indian drug retail market grew by a 29.24 per cent in value terms in October 2009 over
the same period a year ago. This is more than double the average monthly revenue growth
rate of 13-14 per cent posted in the recent past, as per market research firm ORG IMS

 There are currently over 800,000 medical shops serving the market with over 60000
distributors.

 Trade associations and experts opine that nearly 97-99% is dominated by the
unorganized sector. This is high penetration, compared to other similar countries. China,
for instance, has 2 lakh shops serving a market estimated to be US$_5 billion.

 However, the distribution is skewed, with most of these stores set in a handful of states
in the country like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

 Distribution is highly tiered in this industry and it is not possible to directly procure from
the manufacturer yet. The middlemen tend to take their share of the margin (anything
between 27%- 34%).

 It has been a high margin industry (20% and more) that required little investment. The
business tends even today towards synthetic drugs and treatment of acute illnesses.
Hence, most traditional pharmacists entered the business with a trader mindset.
Developing and documenting customer feedback or educating the customer is simply
not part of their job profile, as they see it.
DOWNSIDE OF THE BUSINESS

However, the business and the landscape are changing. There are other serious regulatory and
supervisory hurdles to be crossed before the country can really leverage the benefits of the
high penetration of medical shops:

 Prevalence of spurious or counterfeit drugs is high, with estimates ranging from 20 –

30% of the market Stand-alone medical shops are able to avoid sales tax, this being a cash
business.
 Offering fake bills to regular customers is a tidy side business for most medical shops in
residential localities
 The drugs are stored in sub-optimal conditions in most places, making the efficacy of
the medicines questionable.
 In rural areas, where customers can really not tell, even expired drugs find their way to
the market. For that matter, customers seldom check for expiry especially for routine OTC
drugs, in most centers in India

Challenges

 The entry of large retail drug chains across the country has trigged concern and anxiety
among the drugstore owners in the cities and small towns. This could exert pressure on
small timers in the country.

 Also there is multiple-point octroi/entry tax collection. All these add to the cost and
complexity of distribution as these necessitate multiple warehouse and do not allow for
centralization of certain procurements, given the incidents of local levies.

 Implementation of Value Added Tax will streamline the complexities in the tax structure
and narrow the cost disadvantage between organized and unorganized retailers.

 Non-availability of trained manpower, especially at management level, poses a key risk

for the pharma retail sector.

 Supply chain management (SCM) efficiencies are essential to retailers to maintain and
improve profit margins. SCM includes vendor and logistic management, which is still
underdeveloped in India
CURRENT SCENARIO – INDUSTRY SIZE AND POTENTIAL

 The pharma market is growing at 27% annually. Reports peg the market at Rs 45,000
crore (US$ 5.5 bn). Revenue from pharmacies is expected to touch Rs 65,000 crore by
2011.

 Experts of Ernst & Young say that the sector is growing at 15% and will double its size in
the next 5 years.

 According to IBEF, India’s pharma market is 13th largest in terms of value and the 4th
largest in terms of volume in the world. This includes all pharma products, beauty and
wellness products and other FMCG products sold through chemists.

 Number of local pharmacies in India is more than that of US, Europe and China put
together for a pharmaceutical market size which is less than a percentage of their
combined market

 Despite these numbers, the reach of the network is limited to urban and semi-urban
areas, with the rural market accounting for only 10 per cent of sales. The Pareto
principle is at work and a few large pharmacies control a significant part of the market.

%age Split of Sales

Urban 90%

Rural 10%

 Based on the no. of stores, the urban has high no. of stores of about two third the no. of
stores than in rural which has just one third.

%age (No. of stores)

Urban 68%

Rural 32%
 Currently, only 1% - 3% of the pharma retail market is in the organized sector.
PHARMACY CHAIN FORMATS IN INDIA

 Hospital Pharmacies - They catered mainly to the requirements of patients admitted in

the hospital. They were housed in the hospital building and dispense a limited number
of medicines. The average size of such stores is 150-200 sq. ft

 Retail Stores/Standalone stores - The second category of stores, near the residential
areas, provide the benefits of proximity to consumers. Some of these stores offered
home delivery. The target customers of the store were the educated middle and upper
class households

 Malls/Shop-in-shops - The biggest advantage, most retailers say, of having in-store

outlets at supermarkets or departmental stores is the fact that popularity of either
brand rubs off on the other. Guardian pharmacy recently signed an agreement to open
outlets at Spencer's stores in east India and is negotiating rights for northern India too.
Spencer’s has tie-up with LifeKen Medicines for store-in-stores at its Daily stores in the
South. New-u, retail outlet of H&B Stores Ltd. are located in Malls.

 Townships - Many pharmacy chains are planning to set up their pharmacy chain in
townships. Apollo is planning to set up Medicity near Pune. Apollo has signed an
agreement with Hindustan Construction Co (HCC) to set up the medicity inside the
upcoming project named Lavasa near Pune.
TRADITIONAL PHARMA RETAIL INDUSTRY

Less than one percent of the pharma retail industry is now occupied by organized retailers.
Most drug retailers, known as 'medical shops', are stand-alone neighborhood stores. The
pharma market has nearly 8,00,000 retailers competing for customers. But the AIOCD, which
represents 5,15,000 pharma retailers across the country, acknowledges the potential for
consolidation in pharma retail.

 There are around 60,000 distributors servicing 8,00,000 pharmacies across the country.

 Currently, two-thirds of all the stores in India are in the urban sector. Only a third are in
rural areas.

 Over 70 percent of pharmacy outlets are in five states, which comprise only about 30
percent of India's population. They are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal,
Karnataka and Punjab.

 Like FMCG retailers, pharma retailers are also unorganized. However, since they are
unionised, they are able to dictate the agenda and get lucrative margins, unlike FMCG
retailers. Due to this, while organized retail has grown in FMCG domain and have a
decent share of the market, in pharma organized retail hasn’t really grown with that
aggression. Consequently, pharma companies do not invest in chemist upgradation
while FMCG companies engage with them fairly regularly

ALL INDIA ORGANIZATION OF CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS (AIOCD) IS A 550000-ODD

MEMBER ASSOCIATION WITH VARIOUS STATE ARMS OF PHARMACIES OPERATING ALL
OVER INDIA. GIVEN THE SIZE OF THE ASSOCIATION, IT HAS CONSIDERABLE CLOUT IN THE
BUSINESS OF PHARMA RETAILING IN INDIA.
OVERVIEW OF TRADITIONAL PHARMA RETAIL

The traditional pharma retail is based on the simple trend of retail i.e.

ManufacturerStockistWholesalerRetailer

CURRENT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN INDIA

The sector is highly lucrative because of its margin. The latest study demonstrates the margin
charged as per the channel.

Current State Margins

CFA 1.25-1.5% +expenses
8% (Scheduled Drugs)
Stockist 10% (Non-Scheduled Drugs)
16% (Scheduled Drugs)
Pharmacist 20% (Non-Scheduled Drugs)

Source : Ernst &Young

THREATS TO SMALL RETAILERS

 No economies of scale to small medical stores: These small stores buy in small
quantities from drug distributors with higher prices with no schemes thereby it reduces
profit margins

 Small geographic area: These small retail medical shops operate from small lanes and
by-lanes where it could cater to limited range of patients who belong to that
surroundings only. This results in lower turnover of sales resulting in lower profits.

 No home delivery services: These small medical shops generally run on low man power
or some times run as a family business and therefore cannot effort to hire persons for
home delivery of medicines.

 Winding up of medical shops: Notwithstanding the business threats from large pharma
chain stores most of these stores close their stores by sustaining huge loses.

 Losses from expiry of medicines: New formulas are frequently launched into the market
and doctors always want to try new formulas on patients thereby sales of old formulas
are slowed down which causes huge quantity of expires of medicines which in turn
result in heavy losses.

 Discounts cannot be offered: Small medical shops buy in smaller quantities and cannot
avail the advantage of various schemes on quantity purchases, there by their unit
purchase prices are higher and cannot offer discount to patients/ customers.
 ORGANIZED PHARMA RETAIL INDUSTRY

 The concept of organized pharma retail started to make its presence felt in India only during
the last few years. The organized pharma retail industry saw a boom from 2006 when many
players tried to enter in this field after MNCs divested their money.

 Organized pharma contributes just Rs 400-600 crore which is roughly 1.5 to two percent of
the total market size with players such as Apollo Healthcare, Medicine Shoppe, Med Plus,
Guardian Pharmacy and Subhiksha.
 This is expected to grow to about 10 per cent within the next two years as the organized
players expand fast. According to rough estimates, organized pharmacy is expected to grow at
the rate of at least seven stores a month.
 The retail pharmacy market will be growing at 15 per cent, while organized retail pharmacy
will be seeing a growth of between 35 and 40 per cent.
 Pharmacy retail is growing at the rate of 20-25 per cent annually. The organized pharmacy
retail chain is dominated by 12-15 big players. There are more than 3500 organized retail
pharmacy outlets in India and it is expected to grow to 10,000 by the end of 2012.
 There are approximately 25 organized retail chains in India, and still increasing, contributing
to three percent of the market. However, this number is expected to increase due to the
growing awareness about health and wellness which has increased the average consumer
spend on health from eight percent to 20 percent in just two decades.

MAJOR PLAYERS OF ORGANIZED RETAIL MARKET

As previously mentioned there are about 25 big players in the market which operate a
pharmacy chain. Out of these the following need special mention as these are from some big
corporate houses and thus can sustain themselves for long.
 Corporate House Retail Company No. of stores
Ranbaxy Fortis Healthworld 300+
Reliance(ADAG) Reliance Health Venture 120+
Future Group Tulsi 35
Cardinal Health Inc. Medicine Shoppe 600+
Apollo Hospitals Group Apollo Pharmacy 740+(17 states)
Zydus Cadilla Dial For health 92+
Sagar Drugs &Pharmaceuticals Planet Health 120
Morepan Life Spring
Global Healthline 98.4 110
Guardian Pharmacy GLC (Guardian Life Care) 190
Lifetime Healthcare Pvt Ltd. LifeKen 110

 Based on their size of no. of stores Apollo pharma chains are the biggest and are one of
the most profitable chains. The organized pharmacy distribution is generally owned by
big corporate houses or the drug manufacturing compnies and ecen hospital groups as
they have some sort of speciality in such type of dealing.
ADVANTAGES TO ORGANIZED PHARMA SECTORS/ PHARMA CHAINS

 Economies of scale : The large players in pharma retail sector buy Raw material in bulk
quantity, process in bulk quantity, package in big lots, use high technology in processing,
packaging and transporting, so they get the finished drugs at the lowest possible prices.

 Technology driven : These large players use modern ,latest and automated machinery in
manufacturing Drugs, in Inventory management, supply chain management, use of
latest display tools, free samples to Doctors and hospitals etc.

 Retailing their own pharma brands/generic brands along with competitors brands : It
helps in promoting their own brands/generic brands which can fetch more profits using
push strategy through doctors and hospitals by providing free samples, sponsoring free
treatment to patients.

 Passing advantages to patients and consumers : With the optimum use of available
resources and technology, some price. Advantages can be passed over to patients

 Discount parameter : According to the latest self-study we have found that up to 10%
discount is offered by retail pharmacy chains like Apollo, Hetero and Med Plus.

EXPANDING AREAS OF FUNCTION OF PHARMA CHAINS

 Retail pharma stores offer several products under one roof right from medicines to
cosmetics , targeting various needs of the customers. They distinguish themselves from
chemist in the unorganized sector so as to attract customers.

 They retail high-quality branded medicines at a profitable discount. They also carry a
range of everyday health and hygiene items in baby care, female hygiene, and skin
cleansing.

 Additionally, many of the outlets also serve as diagnostic labs (path labs) by providing
sample collection services. For example : besides pharmacy and lab services, Med Plus
have a number of Med Plus Clinics which provide doctor consultation services at a low
cost.
BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF MAJOR PHARMA RETAIL CHAINS

Apollo Pharmacy: A division of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd., is India's first and largest
branded pharmacy network, with over 720 outlets in 17 states. Apollo pharmacy is accredited
with - International Quality Certification and is open for 24 hours. Apollo will have 1000
pharmacies by the end of financial year 2010. It is giving free health insurance on purchase of
Rs 6000 as a value added service.

Fortis Healthworld: Pharmacy chain promoted by the Singh family of Ranbaxy. It operates
under two models - Company owned and operated stores and Franchisee owned stores.
Currently Fortis has around 40 stores and planning to expand its presence to over 100 cities.

MedPlus Health Services: Hyderabad based pharmacy chain, MedPlus was launched in 2006
currently operates more than 500 stores in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan and plans to increase it to 1000 by March 2009. Mauritius based
iLabs Management LLC has invested $5.2 mn in MedPlus

Tulsi: Tulsi is a pharmacy retail chain of Future Group. Most of the Tulsi outlets are located in
Big Bazar. Future Group currently has over 35 Tulsi outlets across the country.

LifeKen: promoted by Lifetime Healthcare Pvt Ltd is a leading Pharmacy Retail chain in
Bangalore and Chennai. LifeKen operates in total 82 Stores in Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai.
The list comprises 37 LifeKen Stores, 11 Pill and Powder Stores and 7 stores in Spencer's Stores
in Bangalore. LifeKen is planning to open new retail pharmaceutical chain in the cities of
Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kochi and is also set to expand to other cities in the South and
West and then to North and East

Guardian Lifecare Pvt. Ltd is North India's largest retail chain of Pharmacy, Wellness, Health
and Beauty Retail outlets. The company has 149 outlets in 16 cities. Guardian Lifecare plans to
open another 150 new stores across India by March 2009 and Guardian chain will grow to 400
stores by March 2010 and will be investing Rs.100 crore to fund our expansion.

98.4: a pharmacy chain operating in Delhi and NCR is a brand of Global Healthline. Parent
company has presence in Europe and the Middle East. 98.4 has 27 stores in India and is
expected to ramp up the count to 300 by 2011.

SAK CRS: SAK Consumer Retail Services Ltd is a subsidiary of Delhi based business group, SAK
Industries. Its store brand, CRS Health- The Wellbeing Place, is one of India’s premier Retail
Pharmacy brands.
Foreign Player

Medicine Shoppe, the Indian arm of global chain Medicine Shoppe International started its
operations in India in February 1999. Medicine Shoppe follows the model of franchisee stores in
India.

COMPARISON BETWEEN ORGANISED AND UNORGANISED RETAIL

Attribute Unorganized store Organized Retail Chain Store

Average Size of Store 180 sq. ft 250 sq. ft

Average SKUs 10000-12000 15000

Number Around 835000 stores Around 5000

Average Annual Turnover ` 400,000 `500,000 +

HOW ORGANISED STORES ARE BETTER

 Provision of Value added services like Apollo gives free health insurance on purchase of
Rs. 6000 medicines in a year as complimentary offer.

 They offer a pleasant ambience at our stores, a wide range of medicines, and reliably
trained pharmacist to dispense the medicines.

 They offer a wide range of beauty and healthcare products-nutritional supplements,

self-diagnostic kits, beauty care products, toiletries, female hygiene products, baby care
products and accessories.

 Provide credibility of sourcing only genuine medicines and superb service quality.

 Computerized billing and thus better control over supply chain, reduce bottom line and
thus increases profit.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING PHARMA RETAIL- DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES

DRIVERS OF INCREASED INTEREST IN RETAIL CHAIN (OPPORTUNITIES)

Growth in pharmaceuticals sector

 The domestic pharma industry continues to grow at 11-12 percent, dwarfing the global
average of five-six percent.
 Improved traction in productivity trends has prevented margin pressures,
notwithstanding the intensifying competitive landscape domestically.
 The CRAMS (Contract Research and Manufacturing Services) segment continues to
enjoy the benefits of a low base effect.
 There will be a deluge of patent expiries in the next three-four years, having implications
for the generics.
  Indian pharma majors like Sun Pharma and DRL are likely to derive significant benefit
from some non-recurring Para-IV earnings.
 The government has recently announced the setting up of a venture fund that will
target the infusion of Rs 20 billion into the sector
 Rising purchasing power and increasing penetration of health insurance will support
strong growth of 12-14 percent in the domestic formulations business over the next five
years.

Increase in health care spending

 25 percent of all healthcare expenditure in India is contributed by the government

 75 percent is private expenditure, of which 92 percent is out-of-pocket expenses
 The health insurance market is growing at an exceptional rate and it is the fastest
growing segment in the non-life insurance industry in India thus increasing the spending
power of people on health care.
 Factors like increasing population, growing awareness and higher disposable income
has also contributed to increased health care spending.
 Due to various public and private initiatives, the accessibility of healthcare has increased
considerably in the rural areas which has also contributed in increased health care
spending.
 The growing affluence of the 300 million strong middle income consumers is creating
greater demand for healthcare as rising purchasing power is causing a shift in needs
from basic needs to healthcare.

Changing disease profile

 The age structure of the Indian population has been changing favorably for the growth
of the pharma industry.
 In 2001, the share of the population between the age group of 15-64 years was
approximately 62 percent.
 This figure is likely to be approximately 66 percent in 2010.
 The share of the 'over 65 years' population or the geriatric population is also likely to
increase from 4.7 percent in 2001, to 5.3 percent in 2010.
 Disease profile of the market is changing from acute illnesses to chronic ailments.
  Rising income levels and changing lifestyle patterns are causing a shift from infectious
diseases to lifestyle related diseases and the prevalence of lifestyle diseases is rapidly
increasing.

Growth in OTC segment

 Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines that may be sold without a prescription eg:
Crocin, Disprin, D Cold, Benadryl, etc.
 People are getting more inclined towards Over-The-Counter (OTC) purchase of health
supplements.
 The segment is growing at the rate of 15%, which is twice the rate of growth for the
entire pharmaceutical sector.
 Herein lays the greatest benefit for companies, since OTC promotion allows for free
play in marketing and brand building, as in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)
sector, with three times more consumer reach.

Attractive Margins
 Margin benefits should accrue to Indian pharma companies which are undergoing a
transition from active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) to high margin generic
formulations, and from unregulated to regulated markets, as well as a move towards
high end therapeutic segments/delivery systems.
 sharpened focus of Global Pharma on the generics market will also lead to greater
outsourced manufacturing volumes in order to control costs, India is well-placed to
benefit from this shift, with the country's strong manufacturing base - both in
formulations, as well as in key inputs (bulk drugs and APIs)

CHALLENGES/HINDRANCES

Fragmented Industry
 Very fragmented industry with the top 300 (of 24,000 manufacturing units) players
accounting for 85% of sales value
 The small and medium enterprise (SMEs) face problem of lack of expertise, training and
finance for technological up-gradation and adoption of good manufacturing practices
(GMP) to meet global quality standards
 SMEs have limited exposure and expertise on IPR issues
 SMEs have limited adoption of information technology (IT) techniques in production and
processes.
  They have low or negligible R&D expenditure which affects the ability of SMEs to offer
innovative solutions
 Inability of SMEs to access finance on easy terms for import of capital goods and
undertaking advertising and marketing activities.

Long distribution and supply chain

 Logistics is regarded as a crucial part of the pharmaceutical industry since the activities
are highly time sensitive.
 Pharma products need temperature-controlled storage and distribution.
 Most important supply chain factors in pharmaceutical industry are inventory reduction
and reduction of order cycle time because, operational performance could be directly
linked to logistics costs, while inventory reduction and the demand to decrease order
cycle time are related to just-in-time deliveries and supply chain speed.
 From the cost composition point of view, the major logistics costs in the pharmaceutical
industry include packaging, distribution hence, logistics comprises 45-55 percent of the
costs in the pharmaceutical value chain.
 Indian pharmaceutical industry is lacking in world-class best practices of supply chain
management
 The pharma industry with critical speed-to-market relies on the traditional method of
supply chain – clearing & forwarding (C&F) agents.
 The absence of LSPs or 3PL players throws up infrastructure challenges for the
companies. Land and air connections to interior locations are usually poor and could
delay delivery of life-saving drugs within a stipulated time frame.
 C&F agents are not equipped with proper storage infrastructure and the right vehicles
to support transportation. This could mean poor hygiene and exposure to outside
elements.
 Moreover, C&F agents are not equipped with IT infrastructure to support visibility of
products in the supply chain in case of inventory management, recalls, destruction,

Counterfeit drugs
 Prevents the foreign pharma firms to enter into India, on the fear that their products
would be duplicated, putting their goodwill at stake.
 Counterfeit drugs not only cause threat to the health of people but also inevitably
hamper the goodwill of the company.
  Such drugs reduce consumers belief on medicine and thus making him shift to alternate
medication
 Companies invest large amount of money in R & D and getting patents but counterfeit
drugs eat away their profits thus hindering further such investments.

FDI Regulations
 Pharmacy chains are highly regulated and there is restriction on FDI investment in the
retail sector. However, if government removes the restriction, there exists huge
potential to grow.
 The absence of FDI has also resulted in organized retail operations of large local
business houses to expand, and MNCs are finding backdoor entries to the country by
forming alliances with local business houses
FUTURE SCENARIO- POTENTIAL AND NEW TRENDS

Riding high on branded generic wave, the Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to hit the
$20-billion mark by 2015 and likely to feature among the world’s top10 pharma markets from
its current position of 14th. The domestic pharma market may register a growth of 13% (from
around $7 billion in 2008 to $20 billion in 2015 ) as compared to 4% growth of the global
pharma market ($650 billion in 2007 to $844 billion in 2015). In terms of absolute growth, India
will be next to the growth potential of the US, China and Japan.
Source: IMS World Review,Analyst,Projections,McKinsey India Pharma Demand Model
NEW TRENDS SEEN IN PHARMA RETAIL

Organized Retail Chain Franchisee mode expansion

1. Setting up of new Business models in Indian Pharma Retail Segment

By rapid expansion in organized retail we can presume that the present business model may
be toppled up by a new one. In this set up, business models that will be operational are—
 company owned and franchisee model. However, expansion through company owned
model will have its own limitation of investments, and then, the challenge of biting away
into the existing market share. On the other hand, the franchisee model will enable stand-
alone chemist shops to be absorbed by organized retailers, triggering a consolidation wave

2.Penetration into Rural Areas

Companies entering the retail pharma segment have begun to focus on rural areas or non-
metros in a big way because the rural market still remains unexplored to a large extent and
there exists a tremendous scope of tapping the potential of these areas.
Guardian Lifecare runs its retail chain under the name of Aushadhi for rural and semi urban
India. The value proposition of Aushadhi is same as Guardian-providing reliable medicines in
a pleasant ambience. Aushadhi also plans to provide micro credit to the people launching
their upstart business or planning to expand their activities.

3.Professionalism In Pharma retail

This refers to the system of giving hospitality to customer which was not earlier practiced in
India by pharmacists/medical shops.the new systems that would be explored would be to
provide:
 Loyalty Schemes
 Value Added Services etc.