Alitam Group launches as a leading UK and Ireland Consolidator, ambitiously but confidently positioning itself as the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’.
Born in only November 2019, the Alitam group is a hugely exciting planned consolidation of approximately 43 Pharmacy Groups across the UK and Ireland region. These groups would represent over 200+ pharmacy stores. It is planned that these pharmacists will come together as one united, leading pharmacy-based services provider, motivated by an unprecedented, visionary opportunity to work together as one stronger entity towards a common goal.
Positioning itself as the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’ the group aims to proactively tackle challenges facing the industry head on and turn those challenges into solid, marketable business opportunities. By placing technology and best practice at the heart of its customer offering the group’s acquired firms will ensure that they continue to deliver the very best service possible to their vast and extremely loyal client base. With technological change comes huge business opportunity for those willing to go the extra mile. The group plans to lead that endeavour.
Pharmacy companies within the group range from small, local outlets to larger, regional, multi-store groups with several Superintendents. Together Alitam will house many hard working pharmacists in our local communities.
Embedded as trusted advisers in their local communities and with recurring annual revenue streams, these pharmacies have proven themselves extremely resilient to past economic uncertainty and could be best placed to support customers through evolving technological, political and economic landscapes.
With so many disruptive, but exciting ‘fintech’ solutions emerging such as Hub & Spoke, only the most open minded and determined of pharmacies will succeed where others may fall. The opportunity to embrace and support further pharmacies wishing to enter the group will only serve to make the group stronger, increasing it’s market share and pooled expertise.
Many of the pharmacies were head-hunted into the group on the basis of their corporate success, brand, strong historic growth and future potential.
All are seasoned pharmacists highly motivated to make the group a resounding success.
Importantly the group’s aim is not to impose a centralised brand on its pharmacies or restrict working practices. At the core of the group’s philosophy is a recognition of the huge value inherent in the individual, regional brand identities of its pharmacies and the impressive work they have put in to create highly successful businesses, build the trust of their customers and to tailor their services to the needs of their local communities. All member firms will keep their original names and operate independently as they have done historically, but benefit greatly from the support of fellow pharmacies, pooled resources, cost efficiencies, economies of scale and a network of specialist service providers. In this way all acquired pharmacies can deliver ‘big group expertise’ and capability with the ‘care and attention of a small local business’.
With a focus on future growth and business continuity the group has developed it’s ‘NextGen’ initiative, aimed at developing the next generation of business partners. This initiative will seek to identify and develop the most talented pharmacists within the group to evolve to equity level whilst simultaneously recruiting some of the best external talent. In this way the group will address succession issues and allow existing pharmacists with a lifetime of service behind them to unlock some of the value of their businesses.
With planned group turnover of £250m+ by December 2020 the group will forge and develop substantial, cooperative relationships with key technology and AI software providers for more effective integration and management reporting systems. Such relationships and technological tools will allow participating pharmacies to provide new or enhanced services to existing customers. Greater specialisms such as ‘aesthetics’ available within the group will allow pharmacists to refer more work internally to generate immediate returns, with huge potential for future growth. Alitam pharmacies will offer more than the traditional pharmacy. Alitam plans to reinvent pharmacy as it begins a pathway to compete in an array of new areas. The group expects its pharmacies to increase transactional activity within its community as a key trusted advisor.
With a strong community theme, the group has a major focus on mutual cooperation and collaboration in order to best support the pharmacists and their customers. Senior level expertise will be strengthened through a mixture of internal networking initiatives, group learning exercises and training workshops focusing on dynamic teamwork and leadership skills. Group expertise will be pooled and shared.
The group has a put in place a strategy to execute a number of boards to ensure it can deliver its business objectives and financial plan. These will be announced in due course but personnel include MD’s headhunted from the largest independent pharmacy groups in both the UK and Ireland jurisdictions.
The group has identified and has commenced dialogues with over 43 UK & Ireland pharmacy groups (over 200+ locations/stores), to enter the Group in the very near future. The group’s ambition is to continue growing, by incorporating successful pharmacies who share the group’s vision and ideas and who are very excited and motivated by the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’ concept.
We’re all incredibly proud to see Kalpen Patel, one of our extraordinarily talented pharmacists based in North London, dominating the headlines as he administers Sir Keir Starmer’s booster jab.
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