Will the pharmacy business experience declining profits over the next few years, and if this happens will the local community pharmacy be able to stay in business?Does it seem that business profits for pharmacy owners are being attacked from every angle? Have you read the articles detailing these points:• Reimbursements for diabetic testing supplies are being reduced.• For patients who have recurring monthly prescriptions the government is nudging the public to purchase by mail-order instead of visiting their local pharmacy.• The multipliers used to calculate reimbursements for Medicaid are expected to be lower than the pharmacy owner’s actual costs.• Dispensing fees regulated by many state agencies are being reduced.• The average wholesale price (AWP) paid to drug stores is being trimmed.The federal government’s Health and Human Services (HHS) negotiates pharmacy reimbursement rates for prescription drugs plans. Many states may take longer to provide the reimbursements. Other federal and state legislation may affect both the profits and the viability of staying in business. There are also issues regarding higher personal taxes and higher capital gain taxes that need to be considered.Over a number of years many independent drug stores have already been sold. These owners are gone and they are not looking to buyout their local competition. There are fewer young people willing to take the chance of business ownership. Some pharmacies have been closed due to the fact there was not a qualified buyer in the area. National and regional drug store chains have been sold during the past few years. The consolidation of pharmacy industry is seen as an advantage for the buyer, but for the local community pharmacy owner the consolidation provides added uncertainty to their business.It is expected that in the coming years, if circumstances don’t change, that current pharmacy owners will receive considerably lower purchase prices than their associates did 10 years ago. With the average pharmacy owner closer to the age of 60 than 40, many of the current pharmacy owners will need to take a hard look at their retirement expectations.When ready for an exit strategy, what does a pharmacy owner do when there are fewer willing buyers? Who will pay them an adequate amount for a business they have spent a life time building?Pharmacy owners, who do not plan on exiting the pharmacy industry until a few more years, will waiting a year or two really put the most amount of money in the bank for the pharmacy owner’s retirement account? If the business is sold now, can the proceeds be injected into other investments that would offer a higher return? The pharmacy owner should have their accountant calculate some projections, and the pharmacy owner will need to personally keep a diligent eye on any new regulatory proposals. By not being on top of what is affecting the industry, a pharmacy business owner could see a serious impact to the person’s retirement plans.Pharmacy owners are small business people. Financially they have done well during their career, but most would not categorize themselves as wealthy. The pharmacy is probably the largest asset they will ever own so any consideration of selling the business at the right time should come with a great deal thought.In a normal flow of transferring a drug store to a new owner, the process typically takes about nine months. This is important for a business owner to understand. To deposit the largest sum of money into the bank for retirement the decision to sell the business cannot be a quick decision, nor should the business be put on auction block for a quick sale. When it is time to consider retirement the appropriate planning needs to take place.
E-Commerce Web Design: Design A Store That Will Sell Well
When it comes to designing an e-commerce website, creativity is good – but usability is better! Flash animations can needlessly slow down the shopper when he is heading to the checkout; attractive, innovative design elements may prove to be too puzzling for the average user, and too creative color schemes can send the customers the wrong brand signal. A confused visitor is the one that will hit the back button to look elsewhere! An online storefront needs to be designed in order to convert that browser into a buyer!An e-commerce website that not only looks good, but also converts well, is the ultimate goal of any e-commerce web design. Creating a positive user experience on your e-commerce websites directly translates into improved conversion rates. Improved conversion rate equals extra revenue added to your bottom line. An average e-commerce website has a conversion rate from one to five percent, a percentage that could stand to be improved.A profitable e-commerce website is the one that knows its target audience well. When designing an e-commerce website, ask yourself: who are the people who will buy that product from that website? What makes them tick? Do they need a lot of details to make a buying decision, or they just want to make it as quickly as possible? Give them exactly what they are looking for, in a way that they like to be given, and then make it easy for them to buy it from you.Design everything from a buyer’s point of view! Keep things simple and straightforward: the navigation should be smooth and simple to understand, and the customer should never feel “lost” on your website. Make sure that the basic tools like the shopping cart, website’s help and FAQ, or shipping information, are available from every page of the site.Make it easy for them to see the catalog of products; showcase all products properly, using high-quality photos. It is a good idea to use neutral backgrounds when displaying the pictures of the product – preferably detailed pictures, and more than just one. In product descriptions, it is better to use descriptive, rather than technical, terms.Failing to provide a good user experience will result in high shopping cart abandonment rates. Don’t make your visitors frustrated with any aspect of the buying process, or they will never become the paying customers. There are many e-commerce websites on the internet, so why would they buy from yours?
Ecommerce Web Hosting Services
Ecommerce is also known as electronic commerce, a term that is now synonymous with any business offering their products catalogs and cyber shops to the online world. These online companies are now conducting their online ecommerce business round-the-clock using the highly professional marketing tools and services provided by Ecommerce hosting solutions.As more shops are being created online every day, the need of the professional top level Ecommerce web hosting solutions is on the rise. With these Ecommerce hosting solutions, the responsibility of the Ecommerce hosting services also grows.A reputable and capable Ecommerce web hosting service ably protects these Ecommerce websites. It provides almost cent percent or even 100% uptime guarantee to give stable uptime Ecommerce hosting service to all the small and large companies hosted on its servers at all times.Ecommerce web hosting service plans offered by the quality hosting companies have made it possible for all the businesses all over the world to concentrate just on their online marketing. The Ecommerce hosting service takes care of the technical and security aspects of these Ecommerce website management.While shopping online, the major concern of the buyers and the merchants on the internet is the security of their credit card details. Ecommerce web hosting services enables secure sales transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year without stopping. Try that for your off-line sales efforts!The wonderful whole world market is now at your expert fingertips to do business without any stoppage. Reputable Ecommerce hosting services provides your business this worldwide reach and complete protection ably with their completely secure servers and top quality service.The greatest commercial and online marketplace websites like the Amazon and EBay are effectively using the secure E-commerce web hosting solutions for their successful day-to-day business management. This proves the success of the Ecommerce enabled websites in doing roaring online business round-the-clock.Ecommerce is a wonder of the modern web technology, and Ecommerce web hosting services are making it possible for all the merchants to trade their products on the vast internet successfully. Internet is a great marketplace and it presents enough opportunities for all small and large businesses to do their day-to-day business effectively.To help all these merchants interact with their visitors and buyers, the Ecommerce hosting services are providing them every tool that can help their business.Let’s now check the different services provided by these reputable Ecommerce hosting services:
24x7x365 service and support to all the merchants and even to all their customers
Live chat or e-mail service to resolve all issues, particularly in the early setup stages, and after that, at all times
Full automation with comprehensive web stats package – Offering you range of packages to select the best Ecommerce tools including latest detailed statistics at your fingertips that allows you to keep the flow of your business easily under your control
Shopping cart software that helps your customers to buy with ease
Regular database backups assuring you the restoration of the Ecommerce website if the need arises
Upgrading to the higher and better Ecommerce-related or web hosting package-related plans as the business grows
Security – Updated secure server, latest anti-virus, and overall website security to keep the hackers away from your personal identity and credit cards’ details.
Support for the various add-on scripts and server-side programming that you may need for your Ecommerce website
Instant I P address resolution and instant switchover to operational status with backup server during the master server failure or stoppage for website maintenance. This allows your Ecommerce website to seamlessly continue and be reachable by all your customers at all times
Help you securely integrate the best payment gateway programs and backed with complete security support.
You will still need more information ably supported with relevant graphics to understand the hosting plans, especially the Ecommerce web hosting plans for your Ecommerce website, and complete details about how these marketing tools work.With this knowledge applied to your growing business website, it will enable you to overcome your competition, reach greater financial success, become popular and reach wider horizons in the online business world. A professional and reputable Ecommerce web hosting service will easily help your customers and your online business to grow quickly on the internet.