AAH Pharmaceuticals’ carve-out from McKesson in late 2021 involved careful planning – not just for the independence, but for keeping customers at the heart of all they do. Today, AAH has completed a key step of its transformation journey and become the largest independent pharmaceutical wholesaler in the UK.
“AURELIUS´ experience in carve-outs and the subsequent holistic transformation has been tremendously valuable on our road to independence. Their advice and expertise in really developing the business operationally and care around the cultural element of carve-outs is equally valuable,” David Bound, CEO at AAH, says enthusiastically.
AAH is the largest independent pure-play pharmaceutical wholesaler in the UK, delivering to over 15k locations covering every medicine dispensing point in the UK.
The impact of a holistic transformation
The company was transformed via an end-to-end approach, which resulted in a significantly improved customer experience as well as more efficient core processes. AURELIUS coins the transformation journey ICE: Independence, Customer-centricity, and Efficiency. The full process usually takes around three years to succeed.
“Our goal was to ensure that by the end of fiscal year 2024, AAH would be a standalone customer-centric organisation with a modern and agile corporate culture, continuously striving to improve the customer experience”, enthuses Brian Chambers, CCO at AAH.
But the hard work continued. For example, the sale of LloydsPharmacies to hundreds of independent owners then meant AAH management had to foster fresh business relationships with hundreds of entrepreneurial pharmacists. Management’s swift action and laser-sharp focus on personalised relationships effectively saw the firm diversify a formerly concentrated revenue base.
A holistic approach to transformation has been key to AAH’s goal of developing the leading digital B2B platform with a best-in-class end-to-end customer experience and digital order interfaces. The company is engaging with AI to improve its CRM and dynamically segment customers in order to optimise pricing. It has pivoted resources to create a more effective field-based sales team, supported by centralised data, analytics, and pricing. Substantial investment into AI is supporting demand-driven pricing strategies, with personalised pricing to optimise margins and growth.
Customer culture at heart
Customer centricity is paramount at AAH and a big part of the corporate culture. This means the core customer experience continues to improve, including the assortment mix availability, enhanced digital tools to support self-selection, and more reliable delivery supported by a £30m investment for 950 new temperature-controlled vans.
“Our absolute focus is on the customer. We’ve recognised that by simplifying a lot, we can concentrate on our customers. Prices are super important in this marketplace, whether that is full-line or short-line and the benefits we gain by being a market leader we share with our customers. Those who have been with us for a fair number of years will know this, regardless of who owns the company,” Brian Chambers says.
The customer-centricity is multi-faceted, with the initial year focusing on the core of the customer experience, and the second year concerned with segmenting core customer groups to pivot service from a standardised approach to an individualised one. AAH’s new cross-functional, agile and data-driven way of working is paying off.
“The team is entrusted and empowered to get things done and now has the platform to deliver,” Brian continues.