Page 28 - HME Business, April 2019

Distributors aren’t free — they typically have ship-
ping charges — but retailers can get huge savings
from not having to pay for warehouse or storage
space, stockpiled supplies, delivery vehicles and
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“We are a smaller company getting off the
ground. It is very cost-effective because we don’t
have to have a warehouse, a staff, or an inventory
management program on the computer. There’s
staff to manage and deliver a large inventory.
a lot of cost savings to it. It’s very easy to place
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an order and it drop-ships right to the patient,” says Trish Mattimoe, president of Innovative Wound Care. “It just really simplifies and allows you to focus. Especially in the DME world with accreditation and all the bureaucracy that comes along with it ... It frees you up to make sure you are on top of everything you need to be.”
Distributors typically have multiple warehouses around the country, so the retailer doesn’t have to worry about stocking, storing and managing so many items on site. A distributor handles
tens of thousands of SKUs, giving the retailer Amazon-style selection without tying up space or capital. That frees up store floorspace for patient consultations, products that need a higher touch and non-insured accessories and conveniences that sell at retail. The provider can be more selective about which items to keep
on hand and still be assured the patients are getting what they need via patient home direct (PHD) — yes, drop-shipping.
There’s no denying that drop-shipping still plays a major role for distributors, but many have gone well beyond simple shipping services to offer easy-touch ordering, tracking and private label paperwork that carries your logo and provider information. Distributors let providers centralize patient orders so that multiple prod- ucts from different manufacturers can ship to the patient’s home in the same box. They offer discreet packaging for personal items.
Distributors can offer custom paperwork with your store’s logo and information, so the patient never even knows the distributor is involved. McKesson’s connected system lets the distributor do the same thing via email, keeping the patient as well as the DME apprised of shipment status.
“Something we have initiated is to send emails directly to the patient on behalf of the provider. It’s not going to say McKesson on it. It has the provider’s name. It’s like the experience when you order from an online retailer,” Bowman
says. “It’s just a little bit of extra touch to the customer. We saw a 40 percent reduction in
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HMEBusiness | April 2019 | hme-business.com
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“Sourcing from
distributors
allows DME
providers to get
their needed
products at
competitive costs, but also gives them a partner in their local market.”
— Patrick Griffin, Medline