Long Châu Expands Rapidly, Adding 189 Stores in Just 6 Months
As of July 1st, Long Châu proudly announced reaching 1,789 pharmacies nationwide, increasing its presence in remote and rural areas. The newest addition to the Long Châu family is located in Bình Phước province and opened its doors on June 26th. In just six months, Long Châu has expanded aggressively, adding 189 stores across various provinces and cities.
Long Châu is considered FRT’s major “gamble,” and it has already achieved significant success. Starting from just four pharmacies purchased in 2017, Long Châu has now skyrocketed to 1,789 stores, leading the pharmaceutical retail chain market in terms of scale.
The success of Long Châu in expanding its reach to remote and rural areas is a testament to the significant contribution of the digital transformation process within this pharmacy chain.
Mr. Lê Hùng Cường, Deputy General Director of FPT Digital, commented on the rapid digital transformation at Long Châu, saying: “There were days when two to three new stores were opened across Vietnam overnight.”
With the technological backing of the FPT Corporation, Long Châu not only offers authentic medicines at reasonable prices but also aims to raise awareness among patients about the proper use of medications. While technology plays a crucial role, Long Châu does not aim to replace pharmacists but rather to free them from repetitive tasks.
The management of Long Châu has set an ambitious goal of reaching 1,900 stores by the end of 2024.
The Digital Journey of a Retail Pharmaceutical Giant
The digital transformation process ensures that Long Châu meticulously calculates the operations of its supply chain, management, and large-scale system management. According to Mr. Cường, digital transformation is the key to helping retail businesses succeed in business growth and increasing profit efficiency.
To keep up with the rapid expansion and handle a large volume of transactions, the FPT Long Châu pharmacy system has invested in two large warehouses in the North and South. The FPT Long Châu warehouse is considered the largest retail pharmaceutical warehouse in Vietnam in terms of area and scale.
In addition to technological investments, Long Châu provides pharmacists with access to training courses, certifications, e-learning systems, and virtual pharmacy resources to ensure they continuously update their knowledge and provide the best service to customers.
Long Châu’s perspective on the role of humans in the era of rapidly evolving technology is that “people are the catalysts that streamline the flow of each business activity.”
As such, Long Châu focuses on developing technology to save pharmacists’ time and streamline customer request handling processes, rather than replacing them with technology.
At FPT Long Châu, operations are managed in real-time and with mobile flexibility. Even sales and invoice issuance are conducted on smartphones, catering to the needs of both pharmacists and customers. Transaction processing time on the system is measured in seconds.
Long Châu: FPT Retail’s Mainstay
According to Ms. Nguyễn Đỗ Quyên, Executive Director of FPT Retail, 2023 and 2024 have been challenging years for the retail market, particularly with the price wars. Things changed when the FPT Retail executive board decided to shift their focus from FPT Shop to Long Châu.
FPT Retail’s performance in the first quarter of 2024 was primarily driven by revenue from the Long Châu pharmacy chain, contributing over 5,530 billion VND, accounting for 61% of the unit’s total revenue…
In the long term, FPT Retail aims to establish Long Châu as its main pillar, contributing to FPT’s growth for at least the next ten years.
The average revenue of Long Châu pharmacies is currently around 1.1 billion VND per month per store, which is five to eight times higher than that of private pharmacies. With this performance, if Long Châu expands to 3,000 stores, its revenue scale is estimated to capture more than half of the market (equivalent to the revenue of 15,000–20,000 private pharmacies).
When asked about concerns of being “copied,” Ms. Quyên assured that it wouldn’t be easy. Long Châu introduces new medications annually, and prescriptions are constantly changing. Ensuring sufficient medication supply requires daily information gathering, making it challenging for competitors to keep up consistently.
Additionally, managing thousands of stores involves handling a vast amount of information and inventory. Long Châu’s advantage lies in having the FPT Corporation as its parent company, allowing them to leverage AI, Big Data, and other technologies to efficiently manage and analyze customer demands. This enables Long Châu to offer a diverse range of medications without significantly increasing inventory levels.
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