It was an edgy thing to say in 2013, but it seems like a done deal now. Dentistry has become retailised, has it not? Consider that back then quite a few practices still didn’t have a website, and yet they did OK. In this article I’m going to articulate what retail dentistry really means by way of some well known and rather monumental cock ups in other industries. And then I’m going to say that once you taste success as a trader using retail principles, the game is far from over if you want to survive and thrive.
This may seem like an unnecessary point to make, given that many of you are experienced dental practice owners operating in what is by now a de facto retail space. There are, it’s true, many things about life as a dental practice owner in 2021 that would seem to show we have collectively made the transition to retail dentistry. Private dentistry is blossoming thanks to its agile response to Covid regulations. Revenues are up to well over pre-Covid levels in many of our client practices. So what is the problem?
It’s a mindset thing. When we get comfortable, we get lazy and we miss opportunities. Let me give some examples:
- In 2000 Blockbuster had serious highstreet presence (do you