1. When was BinSina Pharmacy launched and how many branches operate here in the UAE?
The first BinSina Pharmacy launched in 1965 in Naser Square in Dubai. The brand has charted an amazing growth story since and currently has around 90 pharmacies operating here in the UAE.
2. How has BinSina Pharmacy used its customer-centric approach to revolutionise business in the pharmacy sector?
The main criteria that we judge our business by is customer satisfaction. People come to us when they are ill, to treat an ailment, so what we are pushing for is building trust and goodwill because we believe this is key when it comes to matters of health. When people are scared and worried, they need to feel that whoever they are speaking to is trustworthy. So essentially, our pharmacists are a key factor to our success.
3. What are the values added that BinSina Pharmacy provides its customers?
Firstly, its expertise. Our pharmacists are experts in medication and medicine. Again, it’s about the prevention of sickness. Second, our product range. We retail a lot of brands both medicine and non-medicine related, covering medium and high range products here at BinSina. Last and most important would be customer service once again. Our customers will continue to remain our main focus. We also try to be as conveniently located as possible and try to position ourselves in points that are customer centric, in supermarkets such as Carrefour, for example.
4. Please share a generic overview on the pharmacy sector in the UAE. What are the trends?
A lot of pharmacies are now opening here in the UAE, the sector has really picked up in the last few years, with roughly around 3,000 pharmacies in the market today.
It is attracting new players despite the fact that the business is generally tough to get into with the stringent regulations that bind the health sector in the UAE. Besides, the margins are regulated as well.
5. A lot of pharmacies initiated home delivery services for potential customers over the last few years. Please share some innovative concepts that BinSina Pharmacy pioneered in recent years.
It’s true that many pharmacy outlets are offering home delivery as an option. However, we refrain from that because we don’t wish to do a simple medicine delivery service, we wish to be available on hand for our customers at all times. So yes we will be launching a home delivery service in due course but it is going to be unique, very different. We are also looking at a mobile app model.
6. BinSina was among the first pharmacies to initiate CSR initiatives. When did this start, please share details about some recent initiatives.
BinSina Pharmacy drew itself a plan of action to expand on the idea of generosity as a key feature of Emirati society by supporting humanitarian initiatives in the country, stressing on the fact that humanitarianism is an indicator of the quality and advancement of a society. As such Binsina pharmacy gives back to society by adopting CSR initiatives such as blood donations, fund raisers, and supporting key health causes in the UAE such as autism, diabetes, breast cancer, among others.
7. The UAE government is pushing for medical tourism in a big way. What is BinSina Pharmacy doing to positively impact this field?
BinSina hopes to provide free health checkups for tourists visiting the UAE, something that is part of our growth strategy and for which we are in consultation with the government. Tourism, be it medical or otherwise is big here in the UAE and with some of our biggest pharmacy stores being already present in malls in the UAE, being able to provide a helping hand to tourists by being
their pharmacy of choice when it comes to health checkups is I feel a positive step.
8. How has the pharmacy sector changed or evolved in recent years, where do you see the brand in the next decade?
Retail as we know it is changing globally and specially in the UAE with ecommerce playing a major role. However, if this raises questions about whether online retail will take away the brick and mortar from pharmacy businesses, my answer would be no. Yes, ecommerce could possibly cannibalise a bit of the business but if regular stores are able to capitalise on their respective ecommerce windows, these would be treated as just another store.
Hence focusing on ecommerce and where your customer will be is critical. Besides, BinSina has aggressive expansion plans in the future and eventually beyond the UAE to the GCC to markets in Kuwait, Amman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
