Economic recession hit the small pharmacies

São Paulo-in pharmacies and drugstores, the major networks had high of 13.3% in the first quarter of this year, who seems to pay the account of the economic crisis are the small and medium-sized. With significant losses, the independent claim difficult to compete on prices to get credit, and taxes.
The gravity of the situation has reached the point where the owner of the pharmacy, Maxifarma Prasad Sandona, stating that: "When we were able to close the month at Blue is a glory. The company, located in Curitiba (PR), ended last year with a pullback of 15% in turnover, compared with 2014. For this year''s scenario should remain hazy. "We had results similar to those of 2015 in this first quarter. I don''t see any prospect of change, "he says.
Sandona is not the only one who complains about the financial health of the business. In fact, the scenario is repeated in other pharmacies heard by DCI. The Interdroga, located in São Paulo, had a 5 percent decline in sales volume in 2015; and Pirapora, in Jundiaí (SP), also claims to have had a fall of about 5%.
According to the businessmen, has heavy on results mainly the lack of scale, which damages in negotiating with suppliers. In General, the independent pharmacies are obliged to buy from distributors. That, in itself, already encareceria the price of the goods. Combined with the fact that these companies buy in much smaller quantities, the result is even worse.
"We feel a great difficulty to compete on prices. The major networks usually have their own distribution centers, which gives a very large differential, "says the owner of Pirapora, Julio Pedroni. The owner of the Interdroga, Marcos de Souza, agrees. "The greatest difficulty is the volume of purchases. To achieve a good negotiation is necessary to have a large volume and a constancy ", says the Manager.
Associations
In this scenario, the small drugstores have been mobilised and tried to find ways out of the situation. One of them is the so-called Union associative networks, model that has been gaining strength in recent years.
According to the Brazilian Federation of Associative and independent Networks of Pharmacies (Febrafar), there are currently thousands of networks in that way. Only associated with the entity are 49, spread across all regions of Brazil and comprising a total of 8.8 1000 independent pharmacies.
The networking is simple, and brings considerable advantages for members. The President of the entity, Wilson Galli, explains that there is a structure on headquarters of these associations that focus, in addition to purchasing power-made possible by the volume-broad support to members, ranging from training offered to the members to legal, accounting, tax and health. "Are the small pharmacy has a lot of trouble getting lonely," he says.
The drugstore Pirapora is part of one of those networks, along with 72 more stores in the region of Jundiai. Second Pedroni, each of the pharmacies has its own administration and the big advantage is the strongest bargaining with suppliers. "Our firm''s Association Covenants with the industries in the region, and, with that, we got better prices on some products," says the Manager.
The owner of Interdroga, Das, have not yet joined any of these networks, but says he does not rule out the possibility in the future, considering the advantages of the model.
Taxation
Besides the better negotiation with suppliers, the legal and tax advice is another very important aspect that feasibility by associative networks WINS, since the levying of taxes is a recurring complaint of the independent pharmacies.
The main complaint is related to implementation of tax substitution, such that anticipates the levying of tax On circulation of Goods and services (ICMS), which shall be collected direct from industry, and passed on to retail at the time of sale. According to the President of the Brazilian Association of Pharmaceutical Commerce (Abcfarma) and lawyer, Renato T, the system is very damaging to the small pharmacies, and practically negates the benefits of Simple Nacional (SN).
"Before it was more fair because taxation was on top of an actual value. Today is a legal fiction, "says T. "Taxation is based on a survey, taking an average profit margin of the companies in the sector," he adds. According to the lawyer, this causes small businesses have to pay a higher rate than that charged before the implementation of the system.
Another factor detrimental to the independent, with the tax substitution is that the GST of accrued or products that have not been sold ends up being charged the same way, since he is paid prior to sale to the final consumer. "Even being entitled to refund this tax, companies leave aside the difficulty of the process," says T. "Are small values, but that gathering for a period end up having a relevance", concludes the lawyer.
The difficulty in getting credit with the banks is another aspect that holds the growth of these companies, according to De Souza, Interdroga. "The independent pharmacies have a worse performance than large due to the high investment they make, through credit and fundraising. Small did not have this condition, "he says.
All these aspects, the great concern of the currently independent seems to be one: cut costs. "The way out is to cut costs, it''s the only way I can survive. Looking to buy at a lower price and make a better management of the company, "says Sandona.