Grace Pharmacy in Kumasi had a problem every independent pharmacist in West Africa knows too well — expired medicines eating into already thin margins. After 14 months on PharmaPOS, owner Akua Mensah-Bonsu turned her biggest loss into her greatest operational strength.
Pharmacy Profile
- Name: Grace Pharmacy
- Location: Adum, Kumasi, Ghana
- Type: Single-location independent pharmacy
- Staff: 6 (owner-pharmacist, 2 pharmacy technicians, 3 counter staff)
- Monthly transactions: ~2,800
- Specialization: General retail pharmacy with focus on chronic disease medications
The Challenge
Grace Pharmacy's problems were typical of independent pharmacies operating on manual systems:
- Expired medicine losses: GH₵4,200 ($340) per month in expired stock written off
- No expiry visibility: Staff discovered expired products only during quarterly manual audits
- Overstocking slow movers: Without sales data, reordering was based on instinct
- Checkout bottleneck: Single point of sale with manual price lookups
- Credit tracking: GH₵12,000 ($970) in outstanding credit with no systematic follow-up
- MTN Mobile Money: Tracked in a separate exercise book, reconciled weekly (with frequent errors)
Akua estimated she was losing 15-18% of potential profit to these inefficiencies annually.
Why She Chose PharmaPOS
As a single-location owner-operator, Akua needed a system that was:
- Affordable — One-time license, no monthly fees draining cash flow
- Simple — Staff with limited tech experience needed to learn quickly
- Offline-ready — Kumasi experiences frequent power and internet disruptions
- Mobile money integrated — MTN MoMo is used by 60% of her customers
- Expiry management built-in — The primary pain point driving the switch
Implementation
The entire setup was completed in 2 days:
- Day 1: Software installation, inventory entry (assisted by PharmaPOS support), barcode label printing
- Day 2: Staff training (3 hours), test transactions, go-live
Akua kept her old paper system running in parallel for one week before fully switching over.
Results After 14 Months
Expired Medicine Management
| Metric | Before | After | Change | |--------|--------|-------|--------| | Monthly expired losses | GH₵4,200 | GH₵250 | -94% | | Expiry alerts | None | 90/60/30 day warnings | Automated | | Near-expiry clearance sales | Never | Monthly | New revenue stream | | Annual expired write-offs | GH₵50,400 | GH₵3,000 | -94% |
The expiry tracking system sends automatic alerts at 90, 60, and 30 days before expiration. Akua now runs monthly clearance promotions for near-expiry items at a 20% discount — recovering revenue that was previously a total loss.
Revenue and Operations
| Metric | Before | After | Change | |--------|--------|-------|--------| | Monthly revenue | GH₵38,000 | GH₵48,600 | +28% | | Average checkout time | 3.8 min | 1.2 min | -68% | | Daily transactions | ~93 | ~128 | +38% | | Mobile money share | 22% | 47% | +114% |
Credit Management
| Metric | Before | After | Change | |--------|--------|-------|--------| | Outstanding credit | GH₵12,000 | GH₵3,200 | -73% | | Collection rate | 41% | 88% | +115% | | Bad debt write-offs (annual) | GH₵8,400 | GH₵1,100 | -87% |
Inventory Intelligence
- Top sellers report revealed that 40% of revenue came from just 23 products — Akua now ensures these are never out of stock
- Dead stock identification helped her return GH₵6,800 in slow-moving items to distributors
- Seasonal patterns became visible, allowing proactive stocking for malaria season and harmattan-related ailments
Owner Testimonial
"I used to dread the quarterly stock audit. We would always find expired medicines hidden behind other stock on the shelves. Now PharmaPOS tells me exactly what's expiring and when. Last quarter, our total expired loss was GH₵250 — less than what we used to lose in a single week. That saving alone covers the entire cost of the software many times over."
Staff Perspective
"The MTN MoMo integration is what I appreciate most. Before, I had to write every mobile money transaction in a separate book and reconcile at the end of the day. Now it's automatic — the system records the payment and prints the receipt. No more reconciliation headaches."
Key Takeaways
- Expiry tracking pays for itself immediately — GH₵47,400 in annual savings from a system that cost a fraction of that
- Small pharmacies benefit the most from automation — With thin margins, every efficiency gain directly impacts the owner's livelihood
- Mobile money integration is essential in Ghana — Nearly half of all transactions are now digital
- Data-driven decisions replace gut instinct — Sales reports revealed patterns invisible to manual observation
Recommendation
Akua has since recommended PharmaPOS to three other independent pharmacists in the Kumasi area. Two have already adopted the system.
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