Why Sponsorship Can be a Smart Move in the Australian Pharmacy Channel
Geoff Lovell
Bec (Hons) LLb (Syd)
Managing Director Pharmabroker Sales
Dec 2025
Reciprocity
One reason is these events are important to your retail partners. This is a key event in their calendar (particularly important when all their members are franchisees) and beyond being a success, they want it to be a highlight of their year. It is common for retail groups to invite prospective pharmacies to their conferences to experience the value their franchise offers it’s members. The groups need sponsorship to put the event on; they can’t charge their members the full price of participation. In choosing not to participate you are sending a non-verbal message that despite the importance to your trading partner, this is not important to you. So don’t be surprised when you ask for something that’s important for you, e.g. NPD, and your trading partner doesn’t express the same level of interest. Reciprocity goes back before they discovered fire, it’s important in any relationship including the one you have with your trading partners.
Increasing Product Distribution
Another reason to participate is it helps you connect with smaller or remotely located retail stores that don’t see a sales representative. It is well established that EDM’s and other direct marketing methods don’t grow distribution. Direct marketing works well on well known brands at a value price. When you introduce lines that the retailer knows nothing about, your chances of engagement fall through the floor. You are asking the retailer to do too much research on their own in a time poor world. Think it through…what is this product, do I have similar products already in range, will it sell, who else is ranging it, is the recommended price competitive, what margin will I make, how many times a year will I sell the product, what if it doesn’t sell, etc. When you interact with customers at a trade show, you can answer these questions in person. This drives distribution.
Sampling for Recommendation
A further reason is to sample your products directly to the people that you are hoping will recommend them to consumers. If you believe in your brand, personal experience with the brand has to be at the top of the list. You want them bathing in it, brushing with it, using it on their ailment, wearing it, whatever the product is, when the consumer asks, what would you use or take for my situation, you want the next words to come out of their mouth to be “well I use….” There will of course be some exceptions, treatments for STI’s jumps to mind, but they are the rare exception.
Sampling also extends the life of the conference. Long after the conference is over, you want your product in the retailer’s home, with them seeing it and using it every day. The extension on this is how many people will see it in that person’s home if only family members. How many will ask what it is? You want the retailer talking about this “great new product they just brought back from a recent trade show.”
Relationships
Then there is the social aspect. You can classify this as networking, but the value is far more. Rarely do you get a chance to interact with your trading partners on a social level. The more levels you connect with your trading partner on, the better. A couple of thoughts to consider”: If there was an opportunity, would you be the first person on their mind to reach out to? If you needed a meeting tomorrow and their diary was booked, would they make space for you? If deletion of your range was marginal compared to another brand, would you be comfortable if the other supplier had a better relationship with them than you. People buy from people. The more levels you connect on, including socially, the stronger your relationship will be.
Trade Intelligence
In addition to spending time with your trade partner, you will also have the opportunity to interact with other suppliers. While certainly not advocating anti-competitive behaviours, the general industry information gathered as well as snippets that other suppliers are going through can give you some industry information that will either make your life a fraction easier or at least give you more content to share at the next meeting when someone throws to you and says “so what’s happening out there?”
Customer Interaction
Occasionally trade show sponsorship will provide an opportunity for speaking to the entire network. The value of this doesn’t need to be explained. However, even when you don’t get a speaking spot, the opportunity to speak to each member as part of the trade show is invaluable. You have the opportunity to share your brand’s relevance for them one on one. When you consider the number of advertising messages people receive every day (I’m led to believe it’s now over 10,000 advertising messages a day, which I think is over the top at one every 8 seconds) the opportunity to engage one on one at an authentic level gives you cut through.
On a final note, most trade shows are interstate and overseas so attendance helps you accrue airline travel miles.
Summary
In summary, sponsoring trade shows is much more than a marketing checkbox. It’s a sales driver in the short, mid and long term. Are they expensive to attend? In the author’s opinion, it’s more expensive not to attend.
