A conversation with Patti Hareid, Director of Community Relations & Marketing, Albert Lea Medical Center.

Give us an update on the ALMC store.

We hired a manager with retail experience the first of March who has refined our product lines, added a lot of new products and developed new promotions. Our cash-and-carry products are half of our sales now but not half of the revenue. We're pretty much selling twice as many products as we'd planned, but they’re not huge bottom line boosters. But we're going in the right direction.

What has been the greatest success in enhancing cash and arry in the ALMC store?

We have really increased our traffic in that store. Our patients/customers are planning ahead and coming in to get products (cash-and-carry and reimbursed product) before they have their surgery or before the baby comes. Just the general awareness among our staff, patients and visitors has greatly increased and some even ask us to stock certain products.

How does the staff reach out to the clinical team to share the healthcare products? Share with us some RetailCare steps you have taken.

Our manager is working on building that. Integrating retail into our practice is a big learning curve for our clinical staff. But our manager is now attending clinic floor huddles occasionally to talk about product features and he's working on a checklist of comfort and convenience for patients in certain specialties. He works closely with our wound care podiatry departments. Podiatry used to sell a few things but they have since turned over some things to us to sell. We are improving our image a bit because our store manager understands customer service. He has also implemented more cross training among our store staff.

What products have been the best sellers? Most profitable?

Healthy kitchen/healthy cooking are good sellers. Games and puzzle games/memory stuff have been good. We thought we would see more with Mom and Baby, but that is picking up a bit. Rentals are going nuts- we have trouble keeping them in stock which is a big change for us.

What were your sales goals upon re-opening? What are your sales goals now? How are those goals being met?

Current sales are up about 10% to 15% from last year and we hope to see a 25% increase in cash-and-carry items by the end of the year. Since our manager didn't start until March of this year, we haven't set sales goals but will do that for 2011.

What have some comments been from the staff of ALMC? Do they use the Dr/Nurse products?

We have special Friday sales and we promote that internally so that helps and they can use their normal 10% discounts plus another 10% on Friday. So that helps. Other than that, we found out that our organization supplies stethoscopes, for instance, for our nurses so, even though we have fancy ones in our store, they’re not big sellers.

How has the enhancement of the ALMC store affected the senior leadership? What have their thoughts been? What was the motivating factor for the senior leadership to invest in retail?

They are happy with the numbers. They have seen we are doing what we said we were going to do. We aren’t there 100% yet but they are pleased with the progress. We are now looking at a retail strategy and branding for all retail here, including the Auxiliary-run gift shop, which builds on our store success.

How is retail seen in the community? How have you marketed to the community- outside the hospital?

We had a grand re-opening a few months ago. We will promote a product line from time to time but mostly do that internally. We didn't do a lot of marketing because we still need to work on the store a bit more. We have done newspaper- flyers around the medical center- the signage outside the store is a big traffic getter with "Specials" "Just Arrived".

What is the next step for retail within ALMC? Where is it going to grow/change?

We are looking into a retail plan, Shop 404, for that corridor (patient services). Our goals is not only to capture sales from people passing through our building, but to make our shops a destination.

RETAIL RESOURCES