Chemist Warehouse: Comprehensive Business Report and Recommendations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Chemist Warehouse, an Australian online pharmacy with over 8,000 employees and numerous physical stores. The report identifies key issues such as absenteeism, unprofessionalism, and the challenges of operating a large number of pharmacies. It highlights the company's strengths, including its competitive pricing and effective marketing strategies. The report also examines the company's new product development (NPD) process, emphasizing the importance of understanding market demands. Recommendations are provided, including integrating information and communication technology to improve operational efficiency and track performance across all branches. The report concludes with a discussion on the NPD theory and its application within Chemist Warehouse.

CHEMIST WAREHOUSE: AN INNOVATION

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
Chemist Warehouse is an online pharmacy located in
Melbourne, Australia. The total number of the employees
working under this roof accounts to 8,000 and the
headquarter is located in Melbourne, Australia
(Chemistwarehouse.com.au 2018). It runs online portal
along with regional centres in all over Australia.

CONTD.
The products which the company
sells on its online portal as well as in
its physical store include fragrances,
medicines for sexual health, hair
care solutions, weight loss and scar
treatment, hair removal treatments
and baby care also. The company
accepts online payment through
renowned medium and replaces
products in case of any dispute.

KEY ISSUES
• Absenteeism and Unprofessionalism
Absenteeism is one of the issue that the company is now
facing. The employees of the company do not perform their
duties properly and try to take leaves in the basis of sickness.
Moreover, the behaviour of the sales representatives in the
physical stores are not also good to attract new customers to
new product.

CONTD.
• Single company running 350 pharmacies
• It is the single company which has as many branches in one
region hence some issues have raised. has been criticised for
being responsible for offending some healthcare standards in
the country and is eliminating the jobs of many designations
(Nauyalis 2018). It is also responsible to exploit the employee
by not paying their wages.

CONTD.
• Top management support for product
• The company gets ample support from the
authorities which indicates that the product is made
aiming that it will provide a great competitive edge
(Queensland government 2018). This has improved
each other’s capabilities, efficiencies or accuracies.

CONTD.
• Relative price:
• The cost of the product of Chemist Warehouse is low but
the quality is high. This process has given a huge
leverage to the company. Chemist Warehouse is sells
their pharmaceutical products at less rates in the
comparison to other pharmacies which is helping the
company to hike every year.

CONTD.
• Competitive pressure:
• The company has strategized to sell its products so
effectively that it has earned huge support and
loyalty from its customers. It has laid a high quality
marketing strategies which has given a profitability
in maintaining its position in the market.

CONTD.
• Marketing:
• The marketing strategy that Chemist Warehouse follows
to sell their products and to meet the demand of their
customers with a high rate of discount, on each of their
product as well as the healthcare supplements, makes
their customers to visit their stores only rather than
other pharmacies.

RECOMMENDATIONS
• The company can build up a system through
merging Information and Communication Technology
through which all of the pharmacies under the same
brand of this company can be integrated so that the
performers of each unit of the franchisee can be
tracked.

CONTD.
• The company has a complex structure of the
franchisee. In solving such issues, the company can
use one information system that will be able to keep
the track of stock which is available at each of the sites
of the company across the country. This will help the
higher authorities to get information about the area of
improvement.

PERSONAL COMMENTS
• The process of new product development by
Chemist Warehouse, I feel there are many other
factors in the business which are supportive of
product development. The company must not only
focus on the application of new products but should
strengthen the other activities relating the process
development so that the company can attract the
customers and reach exactly how they expect.

UNDERSTANDING OF NPD THEORY
•New product development theory refers to the
complete process which the companies use to
launch a new product in the market (Olabode
Samuel Adeola 2018). The core process of this
type of development is to design new
products which is analysed with other
business consideration.

CONTD.
•The team discussion about new product
development by the company has revealed
that NPD enquires the proper understating
the market otherwise the companies can
never capture what the market demands
and the customers need from the
organisations.

REFERENCES
• Nauyalis, C. (2018). The Innovation Management Maturity Model: How Do You Stack Up? |
Innovation Management. Innovation Management. Retrieved 1 April 2018, from
http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/10/28/the-innovation-management-maturity-
model-how-do-you-stack-up/
• Olabode Samuel Adeola. (2018). The importance of Strategy & Innovations to an
Organization’s Success | Scholar Practitioner Journals. Scholarpractitionerjournals.com.
Retrieved 1 April 2018, from http://www.scholarpractitionerjournals.com/article/importance-
strategy-innovations-organization%E2%80%99s-success
• Chemistwarehouse.com.au (2018). Chemist Warehouse: Australia's Cheapest Online
Pharmacy. [online] Chemistwarehouse.com.au. Available at:
https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/ [Accessed 15 May 2018].
• Queensland government. (2018). Types of innovation strategies | Business Queensland.
Business.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 1 April 2018, from https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-
business/growing-business/becoming-innovative/strategy/types