“There are 203 Help Net pharmacies open in Romania at the moment, and we have 2.6 million customers. The sales of the Help Net pharmacies outside Bucharest at 13% lower on average than in the capital city,” Loredana Buhas, marketing manager with Help Net, told ZF.
Help Net has 1,500 employees at the moment and its strategy is to expand the chain and improve access to drugs. It bought 19 Centrofarm pharmacies in 2015, which enabled it to have a more aggressive presence in shopping centers.
“We are aiming for EUR123 million revenue in 2017. This year’s Help Net plan includes continuation of the consolidation strategy on the retail market through more than EUR10.6 million investments to be used to develop the pharmacy network and for business projects that support Help Net’s position and brand.”
One of Help Net’s goals for this year is to increase the number of pharmacies catering to low income customers under the Help Net Convenabil brand it introduced in 2014. There are 25 such pharmacies in operation now, with five more to be added this year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)