City Pharmacy targets younger market

CITY Pharmacy Limited had aligned its expansion in recent years to cater for the growing middle-income earners who are becoming the core of the retail market.
CPL Group chairman Mahesh Patel said the strategy was evident in the type of products offered and the new ventures introduced in recent years which targeted this mainly younger market.
“I think we need to be touch with the consumers,” he said.
“We need to ensure that we do not live in the past. When we bought these businesses, people were saying: This is PNG and we do not need anything fancy. And my thinking was we need the best things. So that’s my strategy and vision for the company. While I am chairman, I want to look forward and not backwards.
“But statistics will show you that more than 50 per cent of the population is under 20 years old and this is the future.
“We should not look at it as a cost but as an investment.
“We have got to understand the market and PNG. We have got the advantage.
“Why can’t we not have things that other developed countries have? Our job is to innovate. But then we need to make sure we go slowly because when we get bigger and bigger, the risks become bigger and bigger as well.”