An Investigation into Inventory Management Practices in Retail Pharmacies in Mutare

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to investigate the current inventory management practices employed by retail pharmacies in Mutare. The study also sought to investigate the barriers that prohibit inventory management strategies from being successful in retail pharmacies in Mutare. The literature reviewed highlighted key theories including the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) Model, the Resource-Based View (RBV) Theory, and the Supply Chain Maturity Assessment Test. Using interviews, qualitative data was collected from 20 respondents drawn from 5 retail pharmacies in Mutare. The findings revealed that retail pharmacies in Mutare use three main types of inventory management systems; manual, hybrid and fully digital. The findings showed that supply chain effectiveness improved with the level of digitization, with fully digital systems supporting faster decision-making, better stock visibility and improved demand forecasting, while manual systems struggled with stockouts and inefficiencies. The study found that retail pharmacies in Mutare faced several barriers that hindered effective inventory management including limited technology adoption, financial constraints, inadequate staff training, poor supplier reliability, communication gaps and lack of real-time data visibility. The study concluded that full digital systems adopted by larger pharmacies offered high inventory management efficiency through real-time tracking and automation while hybrid or manual systems adopted by smaller pharmacies were prone to errors, delays, and limited responsiveness. The study also concluded that optimizing inventory management in Mutare’s retail pharmacies requires a multi-pronged strategy such as adopting digital inventory technologies, building stronger supplier relationships, investing in staff training, enhancing stock control practices such as regular audits and the consistent application of the First-Expiry-First-Out (FEFO) method to reduce wastage and improve operational efficiency. The study recommended that retail pharmacies should prioritize migrating from manual or hybrid systems to fully automated inventory management platforms. For small to medium pharmacies, the study suggested phased adoption or cost-sharing strategies such as cooperative investments or leasing models to overcome financial and infrastructure limitations. The study recommended that future research should consider expanding the sample size to include a broader range of pharmacies across different cities or provinces to capture more diverse experiences and practices. Additionally, future studies could explore the impact of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation and blockchain on inventory and supply chain optimization in the pharmaceutical sector.