Today's prescription is a dose of nature and fresh air
The renovation of Ympyrätalo pharmacy in Helsinki followed a scripted guideline, which was based on the re-designed value proposition. The new value proposition of the pharmacy, is to offer a holistic and customized service to all its customers.
Finnish service design agency Hellon helped bringing the values to a concrete action. The new concept, enables the staff to help its customers throughout their whole visit at the pharmacy.
Customers can now either, in an easy way, access products or together with an pharmacist collected the desired items. The self care products are now located next to the service point so the pharmacists now have a better chance to help customers finding the right medicine.
“The prescription and self care section are now combined in our pharmacy to support each other”, says pharmacist Tiina Vaitomaa.
“I had some personal desires I wanted to try in my new pharmacy, for example to activate the customers’ waiting time and offer a variety of well being products in an environment that hopefully inspires our customers to be more conscious about their health. Our aim is to support medical health care with optional health care”, tells Vaitomaa. As a result, the new pharmacy is something out of the ordinary.
“We succeeded in creating an interesting and inspirational environment, in which our staff now have a full capability to utilize their multi-professional knowledge”, tells Vaitomaa.
Healthy air is a part of the service experience
Vaitomaa had experienced Naava and its benefits already before the pharmacy got its natural and fresh air. Vaitomaa also has a Naava in her home. She was impressed with the effect Naava provided. The fresh indoor air was also an important experience Vaitomaa wanted to offer the customers of the pharmacy.
“I wanted the pharmacy to be a place where health lives. Naava and its benefits fit this goal perfectly”
“We wanted the pharmacy environment to support customers’ actions in taking care of their health. Finland is often ranked as one of the countries with the healthiest outdoor air, so we are often mislead to think that the air doesn’t harm our health. We still have a lot to learn when it comes to air and its impact on our health. Even if we rank high, we still have a lot to do when it comes to the air quality. And indoor air is completely its own world. Naava is an excellent way to turn the attention to the indoor air”, says Vaitomaa.
The redesigned pharmacy
In addition to medical care there are also other ways to take of your health and Ympyrätalo pharmacy offers a wide range of other types of health services.
“We carefully considered which services to offer our customers and there are strong arguments for every service we have”, tells Vaitomaa.
A unique service is also the wellbeing corner, which is located in the middle of the pharmacy. The customers can have a refreshing break there or wait for their turn while reading health related books and enjoy a delicious smoothie. One part of this refreshing oasis is also Naava.
“Thanks to Naava the air in our wellbeing corner is also refreshing! Naava also brings a piece of nature inside, which is a welcomed addition to the purified, fresh air it provides”, thinks Vaitomaa.
An experimental environment inspires
The changing business environment is also something the pharmacies have to react to. Ympyrätalo pharmacy will soon open its own webstore, which is open 24/7. Vaitomaa believes the traditional pharmacies are however, still needed.
“Nowadays pharmacies can also help customers to take care of their health in broader way. We can encourage our customers to support the medication safely with self care products or treatments, so that they can find a solution that fits their own needs and requests in the best way”, tells Vaitomaa.
“For a customer it needs to be easy and comfortable to visit the pharmacy. The visit also has to provide value for the customer. Personal service by professionals and an experimental retail space are reasons for the customers to prefer the traditional stores over webstores.”
The best reward for a pharmacist is to see a customer getting inspired to take better care of their health.
“Pharmacies can help a lot, when it comes to health care and supporting the wellbeing on a societal level. The pharmacies’ guidance can save up to million euros a year in national health care costs in Finland. Encouraging people to take care of their health is meaningful to me. It is always a good thing to do”, says Vaitomaa.