DR. BÄHLER DROPA AG - Website Relaunch

Commitment to Your Health

What began as a pharmacy in Steffisburg has grown over the past few decades into one of Switzerland’s leading healthcare providers. Today, Dr. Bähler Dropa AG ranks second in the Swiss pharmacy and drugstore market. The family business operates under the Achillea and DROPA brands. Its network of 120 stores employs approximately 1,500 staff.

Customers are no longer relying purely on the advice they receive in-store. Increasingly, they are going online to find information on beauty and health. This is why Dr. Bähler Dropa has decided to extend its wealth of experience to the digital world. Its new website enables easy access to service and health information and connects the physical stores to the digital world. During the relaunch, the entire customer loyalty program was digitalized as well.

Digitalisation Promotes Self-service

The new websites www.achillea.ch and www.dropa.ch are structured and designed to offer customers easy access to service and health information. Whether they want to check their points balance on their bonus card, find the nearest Achillea pharmacy or merely browse through articles in the guide, customers can obtain the information they’re looking for in just a few clicks. The online services also increase the number of customers visiting the branches and, in doing so, promote sales. The baehlerdropa.ch group website was updated at the same time and structured to meet the needs of target groups.

Informed Customers

By looking at the new websites, customers can find comprehensive information about the products and services offered by the pharmacies and drugstores. This enables them to learn about different treatment options from the comfort of their own homes before choosing the right products in-store with the help and advice of an employee.

Your Loyalty Card Always at Your Fingertips

The bonus card is the centrepiece of Dr. Bähler Dropa’s customer loyalty program. Customers collect points every time they go shopping and regularly benefit from special offers and surprises. During the relaunch, the entire process was digitalized for the customers, from applying for the card and managing the account to redeeming points. Remaining true to the idea of self-service, customers can log in to their online account to see their total number of points, activate loyalty vouchers and use them in-store, change their address or report a lost card. Thanks to the digital bonus card, customers can collect points, use them and benefit from promotions without actually having to have their loyalty card on them.

From Paper to the Digital World

The online customer account makes it easier for Dr. Bähler Dropa to manage its customer loyalty program. As customers can apply for bonus cards themselves, the application process no longer takes place in store and employees now have more time to spend on providing valuable advice. Many processes are no longer paper-based but completely digital and resource-efficient. The digital customer account seamlessly brings together the offline and online world and creates opportunities to offer customers more individualized solutions. The large-scale communications campaign during the go-live and the reference to the online account in the customer magazine, which goes out to 700,000 households, proved to be effective. One month later, approximately 1,800 existing loyalty cards had been digitalized and almost 800 people had applied for a bonus card online.

Just Around the Corner

Being close to its customers is an essential part of Dr. Bähler Dropa’s philosophy and a key reason for its success. Dr. Bähler Dropa brings its website and 120 stores together by offering customers the opportunity to search for their nearest store on a map online. Users can filter their search by services, infrastructure and distance (“Show my location”) to quickly find the right store for them. By clicking on a store’s quick view, users can find all the information they require and do not need to read a more detailed page. Once a store has been selected, the site is personalized. Relevant content such as a store’s promotions and opening times are displayed. A comprehensive, dedicated page lists the offers and services available in the store, contact details, individual images and any job vacancies.

Comprehensive Online Guide

Dr. Bähler Dropa is using its new websites to provide expert advice online. The comprehensive guide offers tips and tricks on beauty, health, children and family, and naturopathy. The articles are written by experts in their field and carefully edited. Wherever possible, direct reference is made to the services and offers in-store.

Intuitive Editor Experience

Thanks to the multisite setup, editors can manage information in one place and can easily publish it on all three or only on selected websites. In addition, the shared backend allows editors to optimally link existing content on the websites and manage the user journey across the platforms.

Editors are supported in content management through intuitive site-building via Drupal Layout Builder. They can easily use “drag and drop” and frontend editing to collect and publish content. The flexible paragraph approach for landing pages, for example, and pre-defined templates provide a positive editing experience.

People at the Center

A great deal of conceptual development and passion for detail went into the design and user journeys. To develop an ideal informational architecture for typical users and gain a holistic impression of their needs, ideas and behavior, six personas and their ideal user journeys were identified during the design phase. Throughout this phase, functionalities were scrutinized critically and prioritized based on user needs.

Agile Design

The challenge during the design process was to create a design system that works well for all three brands as well as keeping implementation work to a minimum. This is why we went for a modular system that highlights each brand in its brand colors and with its accent colors. Technically, the entire thing was implemented with CSS3 variables so that only 1 theme had to be maintained from the frontend perspective and the solution can be expanded on and worked with flexibly in the future. The consistent use of icons for services and stylistic graphics were intended to create a user experience that sets Bähler Dropa aside from its competitors. Selected design elements from the new print magazine were re-interpreted for the digital world. The look and feel of the integrated Google Maps are generated dynamically using brand colors.

A considerable part of the design was developed with agile methods and directly in the browser. To meet the go-live date that had previously been postponed, many elements were directly designed and iterated in the browser. These were then fed back into the design system at a later date.

Dr. Bähler Dropa & Unic

We worked with Unic to identify the relevant user journeys and consider what added value we can create for our customers in the processes. Digitalization encourages self-service and creates a space for us to provide expert advice. Franklin Schatzmann Head of the Board, Dr. Bähler Dropa

Unic is responsible for the concept, UX design, implementation, SEO, digital analytics, and the support of the websites.

For more information, please visit https://www.unic.com/en/projects/baehler-dropa