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BELLEVUE, Wash. — Online retailer drugstore.com is exiting the pharmacy business.
Earlier this month the company agreed to sell its pharmacy operation to BioScrip Inc.’s BioScrip Pharmacy Services subsidiary for nearly $11 million and establish a strategic partnership in which BioScrip will fill online prescriptions ordered through drugstore.com for the next five years.
Online pharmacy customers also will have access to some pharmacy services that were previously unavailable through drugstore.com. The transaction is slated to be completed by midyear.
“We strongly believe we should offer our customers the convenience of a pharmacy, and in BioScrip we believe that we’ve found the right company to provide, as well as expand, services to our customers,” says Dawn Lepore, drugstore.com chairman and chief executive officer.
“While drugstore.com started more than a decade ago as an online pharmacy," Lepore explains, "over the past few years the company has evolved and experienced accelerated growth in health, beauty and vision products. We now believe that we’re at a point where we need to focus on our strategic growth markets.”
To that end, drugstore.com continues to expand its roster of microsites, adding several new ones over the past month. In mid-April the company launched AllergySuperstore.com, offering customers solutions for all types of allergies.
“Our goal is to help our customers literally breathe easier by offering products in one easy-to-shop online store with the convenience of home delivery,” says Julie Johnston, vice president of merchandising at drugstore.com.
And earlier this month, drugstore.com’s de-luxe Distributors Inc. subsidiary launched DeluxeSalonSupply.com, a business-to-business online store aimed at giving beauty professionals a faster, more efficient way to order supplies. The online store features such products as nail, skin, hair and massage essentials; office and salon furniture; apparel; linens; and cleaning supplies.
