Chemist Warehouse marketing day

It was a privilege attending the annual Chemist Warehouse marketing day in Melbourne last week. They really know how to put on a show with great speakers, inspirational stories, jokes, birthday cakes, confetti ... the works. 

 Mark Grocott & Emma Farry, the directors of Pharmacy Webmart (left) with Nicolle Di Sano and Amanda Fox from Bio Island (JBX) 

CWH currently have two stores in NZ and are about to open a bunch more, and have big hopes and dreams in our market. Their assertive NZ plans really came through in the session, we’re the first non-Australian market for them to push in to and business is going well, the St Lukes store is already one of their networks top performers.

The other major factors that stood out was the power of their marketing machine, they’re in every medium imaginable, balancing traditional media (print/TV) with a strong presence online. Their website, www.chemistwarehouse.co.nz will launch in NZ in 2019 -- and their outsized power in terms of getting great Aussie/NZ product into the transformational (and highly dynamic) China marketplace.

The Australian ‘retailer of the century’ is a fearsome competitor, with almost 500 stores, AUD$5B+ in revenue, and still growing fast. Their next challenge is to compete with the really big boys, Walmart, Amazon, the big Aussie supermarkets etc. They’ve identified that you never reach the end of the journey, you just keep fighting, keep moving, and decide which mountain to climb next.

 

- Mark Grocott, Director of Pharmacy Webmart