Guides for pharmacies.

How to read them, depending on your situation

A pharmacy never decides everything at once. There is usually one concrete worry that opens the door: parapharmacy prices that change every week, a customer asking why the shelf says one thing and the till another, or a laboratory offering to pay for space on the counter. Depending on yours, the starting point changes.

Suggested reading order

1. Electronic shelf labels in pharmacies. The foundation for everything else. It separates what you can move freely (parapharmacy, over-the-counter products) from what has a regulated price, and explains what to prepare before rolling out.
2. Integrations with your pharmacy software. Labels only save work if they read the price from the same place as the till. This page goes system by system through how the connection is made and which compatibilities are confirmed in writing.
3. Price and advertising rules. What differs between a reimbursed medicine, an over-the-counter product and a parapharmacy item, and which advertising rules to keep in mind before putting up a promotion.
4. What to show on the screens. With the rules clear, it is time to choose content: health advice, services, a campaign calendar, and how to tell whether what you show works.
5. Retail media in pharmacies. Last, because it depends most on the others: selling space to laboratories means being clear about what may be advertised and how far the pharmacy's independence stretches.

What each guide covers

Electronic shelf labels in pharmacies. How an e-paper label works, why parapharmacy is where the change is most noticeable, what happens with reimbursed medicines (whose retail price is not set by the pharmacy) and what a rollout looks like without interrupting dispensing. This is the informational guide; the commercial product page lives separately.

Integrations. A list by pharmacy management system showing what is confirmed and what is not. If yours is not listed as confirmed, the question to ask before signing is how the price gets out of it: a file, an API or a connector.

Regulation. An ordered summary of the official sources: the price of reimbursed medicines, free pricing for over-the-counter products, unit pricing and advertising rules. As an example, advertising of medicines for human use in Spain is governed by Royal Decree 1416/1994 (official text in Spanish), which limits what may be advertised to the public and bars public advertising of both prescription-only medicines and those covered by the Spanish National Health System's pharmaceutical benefit. Two blog articles go into detail: how to advertise a medicine without breaking the rules and the difference between EFP and PVP.

Screens. A content guide, not a hardware guide: what works in a waiting area or at the counter, what is ruled out by regulation, and how to plan the year.

Retail media. The models for selling space (flat fee, per impression, co-op with the laboratory), what a contract should say, and where the conflicts lie with the regulation and with your professional judgement.

And if you are looking for the cost

The guides avoid figures that depend on each pharmacy. To understand what drives the cost of a rollout (number of labels, sizes, antenna coverage, payment model), see the page on the price of electronic shelf labels for pharmacies.

A note on legal matters

These guides help organise your thinking; they do not replace your professional association or the health authority of your autonomous region, which may require more than national rules. Whenever a guide cites a provision, it will link to the official text so you can check it yourself.

• GuideElectronic shelf labels in the pharmacy: a guide to deciding wellHow electronic shelf labels work in a Spanish pharmacy, what changes between parapharmacy and reimbursed medicines, how they connect and what to decide.Read →
• GuidePharmacy pricing and advertising rules in SpainWhich price rules apply to each product in a Spanish pharmacy, how sale prices and unit prices work, and what may be advertised. Official sources.Read →
• GuideRetail media in the pharmacy: how to sell space to pharma brands without losing controlHow retail media works in a Spanish pharmacy: pricing models, contract terms, reporting, and the legal limits of selling screen space to pharma brands.Read →
• GuideWhat to show on your pharmacy's screensWhat to put on your pharmacy's screens in Spain: health tips, services, promotions; what the rules prohibit; a content calendar and how to measure it.Read →