Health store chains plan spread

A host of new players are setting up health stores even as the existing companies expand their network.

The Rs 30,000 crore combined health and beauty retail market is witnessing an 18 per cent growth rate and market observers believe innovations would fuel its growth further. Of this, the retail pharmacy segment is worth Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion).

Apollo Pharmacy, a Apollo Hospital Group venture, has added 40 stores to its chain this year, taking the number to 225. Apollo has introduced value-added services such as insurance package, hospital booking facility and subsidised diabetes tests.

Though Apollo was the only player in the pharmacy superstores market till sometimes back, the newer kids on the block include CRS Health, opened by the Rs 150 crore Sak Group and 98.4 set up by Global Influence, a pharma exports company.

Among the existing retail chains hoping to enter new markets are Health n Glow, Mumbai-based The Medicine Shoppe and Dialforhelp run by Cadila Healthcare Ltd.

With already five outlets in Delhi, Apollo Pharmacy sees the city as a huge opportunity. It has seven stores in Mumbai and has made a debut in Kolkata this year.

And though it is eyeing the domestic market as the "hottest" in the years to come, it is also testing waters in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh through its upcoming hospitals there.

Regular customers can avail a new bouquet of services including insurance of Rs 20,000 against every Rs 6,000 worth of purchase. The amount gets added up in a royalty card. The stores have also introduced an easy-book facility for any of its hospital branches through its store network.

"But our biggest USP is that our stores are open round-the-clock," Apollo pharmacy director Shobana Kamineni said.

The SAK group, which opened its first pharma retail store CRS Health in June 2003, has notched up a tally of 9 stores - 8 in Delhi and one in Pune.

SAKS CRS managing director Rahul Chaddha said the group is looking at adding 16 more stores in the coming year, primarily in the north and west. The company intends to establish a strong pan-India network of stores in the next 5 years.

The firm offers wellbeing points on purchases from the store which can be redeemed for products, privileges and discounts on pathology tests.

SAKS CRS is expecting a sales turnover of Rs 7 crore this year.

Indeed, the USP (unique selling proposition) of these new-look, feel-good ambiance stores goes beyond selling genuine prescription medicines in a market where 30 per cent of the drugs are spurious. The idea is to sell the concept of total health "" from branded medicines, diagnostic kits, energy drinks to herbal foods and shampoos.