0:00 / 0:00
Success Story
50% fewer errors, 20% more demand capture: How Nadro transformed its field sales operation
With 81 years of history, Nadro is one of Mexico's largest pharmaceutical distributors. Its mission is not simply to take an order; it is to know the customer, understand their business, and propose solutions that bring healthcare to all of Mexico.
Zebra Success Story: Nadro
Overview: Transportation and Logistics Challenge
Nadro equipped 1,500 sales representatives with a mobile solution that gives them real-time product information, pricing, and stock availability—enabling them to place orders with precision and efficiency on every customer visit.
Benefits / Outcomes
- 50% reduction in operational errors
- 20% growth in demand capture
- Return on investment achieved within the first six months of implementation
- Higher average order value
- 1,500 sales representatives equipped across the country
Customer
Nadro
Mexico
Industry
Transportation and Logistics
Solutions
About Nadro
In recent years, most industries have accelerated their shift toward digital channels. Pharmaceutical distribution is no exception: e-commerce is growing, and automated ordering is gaining ground. Yet some companies choose a different path—rather than replacing the personal connection with the customer, they strengthen it and turn that decision into a competitive advantage that digital channels cannot always replicate. Nadro is one of them.
With 81 years of history, Nadro is one of Mexico's largest pharmaceutical distributors. "We are not just a company that sells medication. We are a service company," explains Eduardo Rivera, Internal Platforms Manager. That distinction is not rhetorical: it defines the business model, the internal culture, and, above all, the role of the 1,500 sales representatives who travel the country every day to visit independent pharmacies, clinics, and large institutional chains. Their mission is not simply to take an order; it is to know the customer, understand their business, and propose solutions that bring healthcare to all of Mexico.
It was precisely that commitment to personalized service that led Nadro to rethink what technology its field team needed—and to find a collaborator with the right equipment and willing to understand the problem firsthand.
The Challenge
Delivering on the promise of service across a catalog of more than 14,000 SKUs was no simple task. Nadro serves very different segments—from small neighborhood pharmacies to large institutional chains—each with its own pricing, discounts, and commercial terms. In the previous setup, representatives had to manually calculate each product's final price on every visit, applying the appropriate discounts for each customer.
"If the rep told the customer 'it costs 10 pesos' and the invoice came in at 8, the customer would say: 'if you'd told me 8, I wouldn't buy two, I'd buy five,'" Rivera explains. A similar situation occurred with inventory availability: a file was loaded at the start of the day, and representatives went out to work without knowing whether the products they planned to offer were still in stock. Confirming availability meant calling the warehouse, waiting for someone to pick up, and hoping the product hadn't sold in the meantime. And if a customer asked for "the green ibuprofen," the rep had no visual support to distinguish between presentations.
What made us choose Zebra was the support and follow-through. The assurance that they wouldn't leave you on your own—that's what decided it for us.
The Solution
Before selecting a device, the Zebra team did something that would define the entire relationship: they went out and sold alongside Nadro. Over several days, Zebra representatives joined sales reps on their routes, visited pharmacies, and observed firsthand how each customer interaction unfolded. That hands-on experience was key to understanding which information was critical at the point of sale, where time could be recovered, and which friction points were affecting the customer experience. After spending several days riding along with sales reps, Zebra recommended TC2 Series Mobile Computers.
While Nadro conducted a rigorous evaluation across multiple vendors, Rivera recalls what tipped the scales: "We put all the devices in a comparison table, and what made us choose Zebra was the support and follow-through. The assurance that they wouldn't leave you on your own—that's what decided it for us."
The initial rollout of the new devices took place in the middle of the pandemic, conducted remotely in regional cohorts of 30 to 40 people at a time. What could have been a long and complex process turned out to be surprisingly smooth: each training session lasted just two hours, after which representatives went straight out to work. "The tool was so intuitive that we had no retraining sessions, no wave of support calls," Rivera says.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
The TC2 Series Mobile Computers raised the level of personalized service Nadro's sales representatives offered. Thanks to integration with Nadro's custom built internal system, reps now automatically access the net price, calculated according to each customer's commercial terms, along with real-time stock availability from their supplying distribution center.
Every SKU appears on screen with an image, eliminating confusion in a catalog where a single medication can come in dozens of variants. But the transformation wasn't limited to order capture: the devices were also enabled as phones, providing reps with access to their calendar and communications. Nadro's representatives now head into the field with a single tool that brings together everything they need—commercial information, customer management, and connectivity. No manual calculations, no calls to the warehouse, no product mix-ups.
The impact of the TC2 Series was immediate and measurable: Nadro registered a 50% reduction in operational errors and an equivalent reduction in average visit time. With more time available and no operational friction, representatives can focus on what matters most: the customer. "Instead of making calls or calculations, you improve the relationship with the customer. You make it more efficient, and, above all, you can sell more," Rivera says. That recovered time translated into more recommendations per visit, more products in each conversation, and a higher average order value—reflected in 20% growth in demand capture.
The ROI also came through quickly. "In the first six months, we could already see the return," Rivera notes. Representatives also embraced the change from the start: moving from a bulky device with a physical keyboard to one that fits in a pocket, lasts up to 12 hours on a single charge, and doubles as a phone was more than welcome.
The relationship between Nadro and Zebra extends well beyond the sales force. Across distribution centers, Zebra technology supports every stage of the operational flow: mobile computers for order picking, ring scanners to confirm that each item is correct, and thermal printers to label every shipment. Security personnel also use Zebra devices to log the entry and exit of assets. Zebra is present at every link in the chain—from the moment the rep places an order to the moment the product reaches the pharmacy.
What sustains that loyalty is not hardware performance alone. It is the model that Zebra keeps active long after the sale is closed. "Technical support and warranty are the minimum any vendor can offer. But having someone willing to go to the warehouse, out into the field, understand what you actually need—that is the differentiator. Because until you live it, you don't understand why it matters so much that the battery lasts 12 hours," Rivera says.
The roadmap Nadro and Zebra are building together targets other key areas of the operation. One of the most complex is reading the batch number and expiration date on medication—data the pharmaceutical industry requires on every invoice, but which conventional scanners cannot capture, requiring manual intervention.
The solution they are evaluating combines Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology with artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the reading directly within the workflow. In parallel, they are exploring the use of integrated RFID portals to control container entry and exit across the logistics chain.
For Rivera, all of this is part of something larger than operational efficiency. "We help someone feel better. It is truly meaningful work. Zebra has helped—and continues to help—bring healthcare to all of Mexico."
Featured Products and Solutions
