Samson Pharma

At the beginning of the 2000s, at least 100 drugs were sold in the pharmacy network that were not distributed anywhere else in Moscow: these are drugs for serious diseases, including oncological, endocrinological, gynecological, cardiological, ophthalmological, gastroenterological, etc. large sales volumes, they brought most of the company's revenue, which set small margins of 1-3% on them. However, from 2006-2007, other network competitors, as well as independent pharmacies that offer the same low prices for rare drugs, began to occupy this niche. Thus, the retailer has only two exclusive products. Competition forced the company to diversify its assortment and pricing policy ^[6] .

Initially, Samson-Pharma's stable market position was brought by discounter- type pharmacies, with which it provided a minimum level of retail margins ^{[7] [8]} . Pharmacies opened on the second line of houses hundreds of meters from the metro. Many experts note the company as an example of "almost the only example of a successful independent discounter network." In particular, according to the Executive Director of RAAS, Nelly Ignatieva, “the successful experience demonstrated by the Samson-Pharma pharmacy chain and implemented before the 2011 Crazy Discounter Epidemic” was unsuccessful for anyone to repeat. ” However, in 2010-2011, the “discounter” format ceased to be profitable, and the company changed its business model by opening several new luxury-level pharmacies in the center of Moscow ^{[8] [9] [10]} .

In 2006, Samson-Pharma was the first in Russia to install an automatic drug collection line from the German company Willach to deal with queues. According to the company, due to automation, the average customer service time was almost tripled ^[6] .

In 2009, Samson Sogoyan started diversifying his business by opening the Samson boarding house on the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov near Mariupol in the village of New Yalta ( Ukraine ), and in 2010 he founded the Samson Bouquet company to design bouquets, baskets and wedding floristic arrangements ^{[ 11] [12] [13] [6]} .

According to the company, its staff is 500 employees ^[2] . According to various experts, one of the main assets of Samson-Pharma is its founder Samson Sogoyan, who managed to achieve high turnover from each pharmacy point due to low prices ^[6] . According to the results of 2014, according to the rating of VADEMECUM magazine, Samson-Pharma takes the first place in Russia in terms of the largest average check (1,460 rubles) ^[14] , according to DSM Group - the 12th place in terms of sales (7.8 billion rubles) with a share in the commercial segment of the market of 0.9% (increase in turnover compared to 2013 by 32%) ^[1] .

According to the owner of the company, Samson Soghoyan, the company “initially positioned itself as a social pharmacy designed for all segments of the population” and offered medicines at “affordable, fair prices” ^[15] , based on the principles of its pharmacy network - social orientation ^[16] . According to the owner, 33.1% of the drug turnover in the pharmacy chain is made up of vital drugs (Vital and Essential Drugs) ^[15] . In 2013, the social policy of the network provided for discounts of up to 3.5% on a Muscovite social card , as well as bonuses of up to 6.5% on a pharmacy discount card. For medicines participating in the Superprice of the Month promotion (in reality, instead of superprice, on the contrary, a discount was implied), the discount reached 11% ^[17] . In addition, the company supports various charitable projects, and in 2010 its own charitable foundation Samson was created ^[18] .

The following industry awards and prizes are noted in various sources ^{[16] [19] [20]} :

• the nominee of the open competition for professionals in the pharmaceutical industry “ Platinum Oz ” in the nomination “Pharmacy Chain of the Year”, and pharmacy No. 1 of Samson-Pharma LLC became the winner in the nomination “Pharmacy of the Year” (based on 2005 results) ^[21] ;
• “Golden Diploma” of the Congress of Mothers of Russia (based on the results of 2005) ^[19] ;
• winner of the contest “Golden Networks of Russia-2007” in the nomination “The broadest assortment” ^{[22] [23] [24] [25]} ;
• pharmacy No. 8 on Nikolskaya (former pharmacy No. 1 of Aurora-2000 CJSC) became the winner of the Platinum Ounce contest in the nomination Pharmacy of the Year (2008) ^{[26] [19]} ;
• winner of the contest “Golden Networks of Russia” in the nominations “The broadest assortment”, “The best customer loyalty program” and “The best social project” (2010) ^{[25] [19]} ;
• Laureate of the 1st annual International Pharmacists Award “Golden Mortar” in the nominations “Head of the pharmacy (pharmacy network)”, “Head of the pharmacy”, “Clean business” and “Pharmacy of the year. National Recognition ”(2012) ^[27] ;
• Pharmacy No. 9 won the Best Pharmacies 2012 Prize of the Russian Association of Pharmacy Networks (RAAS) in the nomination “Client Sympathy Award” (2012) ^[28] ;
• winner of the Platinum Ounce contest in the Pharmacy of the Year nomination (sub-nomination Regional Pharmacy Chain, 2013) ^[29] .

• samson-pharma.ru - the official website of the Samson Pharma pharmacy chain
• Samson Pharma (Neopr.) . PharmacyChains.ru. Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
• Samson-Pharma LLC: reference (neopr.) . Pharmaceutical Bulletin . Date of appeal May 16, 2015.

Review and analytical materials

• Ekaterina Trofimova. Uncle Sam's Cabin (Neopr.) . Kommersant (10/15/2007). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
• The Samson-Pharma pharmacy chain plans to grow almost twice by 2015 (neopr.) . Russian pharmaceuticals (10/11/2013). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
• Pavel Gnilorybov. Samson-Pharma: claiming to be the best (neopr.) . Pharmaceutical Bulletin No. 10 (March 2013). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
• Snezhana Manakova. Samson Pharma: 438 meters of health // My favorite pharmacy. - M .: Alliance-Healthcare Russia, July 2011. - No. 07/79 . - S. 11 . Archived March 4, 2016.

Interview

• Lina Kalyanina. The fate of a person is decided in a pharmacy (neopr.) . Expert No. 50 (927) (December 8, 2014). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
• Samson Sogoyan: “The universal formula for success is faith in success” (neopr.) . Pharmaceutical Union (November 17, 2014). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
• Samson Sogoyan (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Magazine "Katren-Style". Date of treatment May 13, 2015. Archived May 18, 2015.
• Snezhana Manakova. Samson Sogoyan: “I can transform personal interests into business projects” // Alliance plus. - October-November 2013 .-- S. 20-24 . (inaccessible link)
• Alla Shishkova. Samson's World: Essays on the Golden Mortar International Pharmacists Prize Laureates (Neopr.) . Immigrant (February 4, 2013). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
• Natalia Smirnova. Pharmacy chains: defining a strategy for further development // Russian pharmacies. - 2010. - No. 12 . (inaccessible link)
• Samson-Pharma: 15 years in the service of health (neopr.) . Moscow truth (July 16, 2008). Date of appeal May 14, 2015.
• Elena Grigoryeva. A thirty-year affair with a pharmacy (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Pharmaceutical staff No. 24 (146) (December 16, 2008). Date of treatment May 16, 2015. Archived on June 7, 2015.