PHARMACISTS ARE KMART'S HOME HEALTH AMBASSADORS

Kmart Corp. is leveraging the expertise of its pharmacists to promote its expanding home health care offerings.

all Super Kmart Centers, describing about 300 home health care items.

The in-store catalog consists of laminated pages in a looseleaf binder on a stand. "We offer customers the convenience of ordering items and having them shipped to the pharmacy the next day," says Alice Wachol, divisional vice president of merchandising. Products are obtained through one distributor from multiple suppliers and manufacturers.

Kmart is now in the second phase of its home health care promotional effort. Displays of products are being set up next to the pharmacy at all Super Kmarts, and at 400 or so other Kmart stores with favorable demographics. The display ranges from 5 to 10 feet, and is typically on an adjacent back wall.

Putting the sections on a wall next to the pharmacy "was the logical place to put it," says Cathy Polley, Kmart's director of pharmacy, to make it easier for pharmacists to answer customers' questions. "I think it's real important" for pharmacists to be involved in home health care, she says.

"Our pharmacists are dealing with these patients day in and day out. So when someone comes in looking for a crutch and a cane or an aid for a parent, the pharmacist can help them determine exactly what they need," says Polley.

The home health care sections "have been very well received by both customers and pharmacists," says Polley. "Pharmacists love it. It's another service they can offer their customers."

Selling home health care products through the pharmacies offers advantages, says Sharon Brent, buyer of home health care products. "The pharmacists already counsel patients when they get their prescriptions. They know their patients -- whether someone is arthritic, for example. The pharmacist could recommend a product such as a eating utensil that has a thicker handle, or a reacher for someone who can't bring his or her arm up high enough."

Pharmacists helped select the products included in the catalog and for in-store display, says Brent. The catalog is also being expanded to include 550 to 600 stockkeeping units, she says.

Before Kmart launched its catalog, some pharmacists were already ordering items such as crutches and canes for their customers themselves, says Brent. "They are very excited to have a display of actual merchandise, and a central place that they can place orders." Pharmacists receive credit for home health care sales, she says.

Shopping at Kmart for home health care offers distinct advantages, says Brent, including the convenience of already shopping the store and a friendly environment. She adds that prices are competitive or lower than those charged by medical supply stores.

The catalog and displays sections are intended to appeal both to an aging population and also to care-givers. One benefit of having an in-store display, says Brent, is to encourage care-giver and gift-giving sales. In fact, this month, Kmart is promoting home health care products as "a gift of health."

"We offer some neat gift items that can help make someone's life easier," adds Wachol.

Wachol, Polley and Brent say further expansion of Kmart's home health care offerings is planned.

Pharmacists want to add more medical-type items, says Brent. Ostomy supplies are "a possibility," says Polley.

"We have people from other divisions coming to us and asking, 'Why don't you carry uniforms and wheelchair batteries?' " adds Wachol.