5 pharmacies begin to sell baby formula

A pregnant woman consults a pharmacy staff member on the use of self-service machines to buy baby formula in Beijing on Saturday. [Photo by Du Lianyi / China Daily]

Vending machines, discounts used to attract customers, but sales poor

Five pharmacies in Beijing started using vending machines equipped with tracking systems to sell baby formula on Saturday, but sales on the first day did not go as well as expected.

Zhang Dawei, who is in charge of business operations at Yong'antang, said the store sold just six cans of infant formula on Saturday.

"I hope we will have more kinds of infant formula so that everyone is able to get what they want in our pharmacy. If not, customers may not visit here again," said Song Yigang, an official with Jinxiang company who is in charge of branding and public relations.

Five pharmacies from four medicine chain retailers - Jinxiang, Yong'antang, Cachet and Quanxin - became the first in the country to participate in the baby formula trial system. The International Brand Management Center, an organization under the Ministry of Commerce, encouraged more pharmacies to sell milk powder.

With the exception of products for babies younger than 6 months, the infant formula sold at the five stores cost 10 percent less than the same items sold at supermarkets - a move to attract more consumers.

The products were all transported from dairy companies directly to the drugstores, and are kept in cabinets that can hold up to 30 cans each.

Using a vending machine near the cabinets, customers can lookup information on a product and pay for the item. Consumers must enter their cellphone number before paying for the item.

"With the cellphone number, we can inform the consumers directly if we find the product they purchased has quality problems instead of posting a recall announcement in newspapers or on TV," said Yang Ping, an employee at Yong'antang.