The “Achères Central Pharmacie” (in the Paris region in France) entrusts the management of its digital transition to NIOPHARMA and AURES TECHNOLOGIES.
The “Pharmacie Centrale d’Achères” (78), which has been managed for several years by Mr. Lionel ROLLOT and his teams, has decided to go on the offensive in terms of digitalising its customer experience, in particular by deploying self-service interactive kiosks* designed and developed by AURES.
Operational thanks to the specialised PHARMALAND software platform, the installation, configuration and management of these new KIOSK technologies were entrusted to NIOPHARMA, a company specialising in the digitalisation of pharmacies. NIOPHARMA was chosen by AURES Technologies as a partner to market its KIOSK solutions in the pharmaceutical sector.
*These AURES KOSMOS solutions are deployed in pharmacies by NIOPHARMA under the trade name “NIOEXPRESS“.
Stéphane BERTHE, Managing Director of NIOPHARMA and Lionel ROLLOT, Head of the pharmacy of the same name, comment on the reasons for their recommendations, their choices and this new “new technology” oriented strategy.
- Self-service kiosks reduce queues and make the customer experience more fluid
“Located in the centre of Achères (Yvelines) our pharmacy is representative and of considerable size. We receive hundreds of customers a day and the flow of visitors is constant and non-stop,” explains Lionel ROLLOT.
“Although we have four reception and checkout areas, our queues had become too long; we were too often faced with saturation of our sales area and sometimes with a certain amount of dissatisfaction on the part of customers, whom we were no longer able to advise properly, as the pressure of the queues was so great and time-consuming; we thus decided to think about implementing self-service KIOSK solutions for the parapharmacy part of our business, in order to reduce the waiting time at the checkout, speed up and streamline our customer journey and thus optimise it.
“The KOSMOS SCO (self-check-out) KIOSK solutions developed by AURES, which we market under the name NIOEXPRESS, are very well suited to the needs of pharmacies,” says Stéphane BERTHE.
“From the moment a customer arrives with a prescription, his or her needs and purchases will be processed and managed by the staff and pharmacists available at the checkout; but as soon as parapharmacy products are involved (a large proportion of pharmacy sales), the AURES kiosks are accessible to customers who wish to do so; they no longer have to queue at traditional checkouts. They are directed to the kiosks and can manage their purchases very quickly and independently. Many people now spontaneously choose the kiosks!
- “Made in France” KIOSK Hardware & “customisable” design
These kiosks were developed and manufactured in France by AURES; they were also customised to meet our needs – which is a plus – with the inlaying of our NIOPHARMA logo on the front panel; the same goes for the development and manufacture of customised, magnetic and removable side shelves, allowing consumers to place their shopping baskets and purchases on the side of the kiosk, as the items are scanned and recorded.
- A reliable and efficient specialised software platform
AURES KIOSK solutions are based on the PHARMALAND software platform, a comprehensive vertical package designed exclusively for pharmacy management; a completely open IT solution, it centralises all pharmacy data (synchronisation of all POS and till transactions with those of the kiosks, invoicing, management of orders, stocks and inventories, unpaid bills, monitoring of the cash book, etc.).
Thanks to the kiosks installed, customers scan the barcodes of the selected items in one click, from the integrated scanner module – and pay almost instantly with their credit card; transactions are then much faster, reducing queues and considerably speeding up the circulation and flow of customers in the sales and advice area.
- Support for Customer Loyalty programmes
“Our loyalty programmes and associated cards are also managed via the interactive kiosks”, adds Lionel ROLLOT; “this also reduces the workload of the staff while simplifying the process for the consumer”.
- “Advice points” kiosks that make the customer experience more fluid by reducing queues
“Another advantage of these kiosks”, explains Stéphane BERTHE ” is that they are increasingly used as ‘Advice Points’ within the pharmacy; instead of blocking the checkout queues when a consumer needs advice, he or she is accompanied near the kiosks for as long as it takes to provide the information requested; he or she can then pay for the purchases made on his or her own, in complete autonomy, which reduces the saturation of the traditional checkout areas.
- Interactive kiosks improve working conditions and comfort for pharmacy staff
By considerably freeing staff and pharmacists from the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of cashing out parapharmacy products, the kiosks significantly improve their working conditions and environment; they also allow them to spend more time on value-added activities such as providing tailored and individualised advice to customers.
- “The future of pharmacies lies in new digital technologies and kiosks“, conclude Lionel ROLLOT and Stéphane BERTHE; “the ideal”, adds Stéphane BERTHE, “is to think about the installation of kiosks beforehand, when the premises are being fitted out or refurbished, because location is often a key factor in creating more traffic while making the customer’s journey through the pharmacy more fluid”.
In addition to the installation, configuration and complete management of the kiosks in service together with the associated PHARMALAND software, NIOPHARMA provides complete, tailor-made training for pharmacy staff. The Company is also specialised in the deployment of secure cash management solutions (NIOCASH), as it is the case in the Achères central pharmacy.
Moreover, NIOPHARMA and AURES are working on a project to deploy new POS management systems, in order to replace the solutions that are currently in use, in the longer term.
Other options are also being examined, such as the installation of touch screens with ticket distribution for queue management and for dynamic display in pharmacies, of kiosks with an anti-theft scale option, etc.
In addition to the Achères central pharmacy, NIOPHARMA has equipped many other pharmaceutical establishments in France with AURES KIOSK solutions; other large-scale projects and partnerships are under study and in progress.
For further information on NIOPHARMA and its offers: contact@niopharma.fr
