Posted on Feb 23, 2019 2021 at 13:00
The group of pharmacists chose Dijon (Côte-d’Or) to set up its fourth logistics warehouse in France.
An investment of 12 million euros for commissioning at the start of 2023. This cooperative, born in 1968 and now bringing together 1,350 pharmacies (2.2 billion euros in turnover), had embarked on the business of dispatcher in the 1990s and had designed its own model “Optimized”, assures Philippe Becht, Chairman of the Management Board. “When our colleagues need 30 to 40 platforms, we will only need 5”. In 2020, some 142 million boxes were prepared in the three existing platforms.
The first warehouse had been built in Grandvilliers (Oise), the second in Castelnau-le-Lez (Hérault), the third in Angers (Maine-et-Loire). That of Dijon, which should employ 70 people at the start – and create 30 indirect jobs for deliveries – is intended to better serve the 300 member pharmacies of the north-eastern quarter, of which 80% to 85% will be delivered in “premium”, for orders placed until 8 p.m. and delivered overnight.
Mixed activity
And to complete its network, Giphar is already planning a fifth platform, in Aquitaine, a project that could be launched three years after that of Dijon. “The price of the drug has been falling for eleven years and we are forced to be more and more effective”, explains Philippe Becht to justify this bet “Offensive” in the midst of a health crisis. Optimizing costs, according to him, goes through both its proprietary model – all pharmacists are shareholders of the cooperative – and the diversity of its activity.
Because like the first three platforms, that of Dijon will be both a wholesale distributor and a central purchasing agency for drugs. Giphar had targeted several sites in an area going from Lyon to Nancy, and had finally chosen the Beauregard business area, in Longvic, in the Dijon metropolis. It will have an area of 10,000 square meters at first “With the possibility of doubling the surface”, indicates Laurent Cuiry, general manager of operations. Completed in four months, the project will benefit from an aid of 800,000 euros from the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
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