Cardinal Health, Square bring modern commerce solutions to independent pharmacies
Cardinal Health is launching modern payment solutions powered by Square to help independent pharmacies increase operational efficiency, stay current with customer payment preferences and access integrated software tools for their business.
The collaboration with Square allows Cardinal Health to offer its independent pharmacy customers access to innovative products that manage business operations, integrate flexible payment options for in-store, online and delivery purchases and reduce payment processing costs.
"Through our work with Square, we can offer our customers options to stay current with payment trends as well as business tools and insights to help them streamline their operational workflows for greater efficiency," said Brad Cochran, executive vice president of retail distribution at Cardinal Health and president of Medicine Shoppe International. "Modern payment solutions will enable community pharmacists to offer the personalized care their patients value, while providing greater flexibility for the pharmacy to meet their customers evolving preferences."
[Read more: Cardinal Health posts revenue growth in Q1]
Dashboards allow the pharmacy to track sales and payment transactions, whether customers are paying during home delivery, online, at the drive-thru or at the counter.
Independent pharmacies can meet their buyers wherever they are, with flexible payment options, including text-to-pay, Apply Pay and Google Pay, without ever missing a sale.
Solutions powered by Square include:
- An in-store payment solution, Modern Payments Processing, runs on Square Terminal hardware and enables pharmacies to offer patient payment flexibility in the store or in the field, privacy and compliance. Additional pharmacy management systems also can seamlessly integrate with Square's Terminal API to offer pharmacies an end-to-end payment solution.
- An e-commerce site, Pharmacy Marketing Advantage Commerce, leverages Square's Web Payments SDK to power online sales. It allows customers to submit orders through their local pharmacy from anywhere and select from their pharmacy's delivery or pick-up options.
- Across all solutions, Square and Cardinal Health provide independent pharmacies access to analytics, dashboards and Square's broader ecosystem of integrated tools and software, along with access to knowledgeable customer support teams.
[Read more: Cardinal Health launches Outcomes]
Gerry O'Hare, a Cardinal Health Retail Advisory Board member whose 45-year career in pharmacy has seen his business grow to nine locations, said, "As consumer preferences continue to evolve, modern payment solutions like those offered by Cardinal Health and Square can reduce administrative time and give pharmacists more time to focus on their customers. Square has significantly reduced our processing costs and given us the ability to complete a sale anywhere in the store, out in the field when making deliveries or even online – and a great backend system to show us what our business looks like."
Using Square's open platform, Cardinal Health offers payment and commerce solutions that integrate directly with third-party software, including pharmacy management systems, seamlessly connecting with Square's suite of hardware and software tools.
"Consumers today want the convenience of shopping in person or online with delivery or in-store pick up options, combined with the personalized attention independent pharmacies offer to their customers. Through our collaboration, Cardinal Health can provide a unified experience that enables pharmacies to meet these evolving customer preferences," said Vijay Vachani, general manager of Developers & Partners at Square.
Vachani added, "Our work with Cardinal Health showcases the power of Square's developer platform and its ability to make innovative commerce tools accessible to businesses of all types and sizes. What's more, this collaboration reinforces Square's and Cardinal Health's shared mission to empower local, independent businesses to thrive in their communities."