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All too soon, 2023 is winding down. In mass retailing terms, it’s been a largely uneventful year, uncharacterized by the usual machinations and scramblings, as drug chains and other mass retailers have worked to consolidate emerging positions or dig out of situations that have placed them in untenable positions.
Still, the year that ends in a little over two months has had several fascinating twists and turns, a few of an eye-popping nature. That said, here is one observer’s opinion of the five stories that will remain on the minds of retailers long after the year finishes.
• The departure of Walgreens’ chief executive. It is not often in mass retailing that a CEO suddenly leaves the scene. More startling still is the mystery behind the departure of Roz Brewer, an executive who many observers contend was performing acceptably as Walgreens’ CEO. Even now, speculation abounds as to whether she jumped or was shown the door, with current thinking favoring the latter scenario.
No matter. The question now revolves around who will succeed Brewer as head of one of America’s iconic mass retailers. More to the point is this question: What type of CEO is Walgreens looking for? Should the retailer revert to a retail-oriented leader? Or, given Walgreens’ shifting emphasis to a broader health care initiative, should the company look outside traditional retail circles and tap an executive with a broader resume? Time will tell.
• The machinations at CVS. Stories have swirled in recent weeks about disgruntled CVS pharmacists refusing to work amidst the retailer’s move to pare its employee ranks in an effort to refocus its sometimes changing objective of … what. Few outside the CVS organization know for certain just what is happening or when it will happen. For the present, one thing is clear: CVS’ internal performance of late is not what chain drug industry observers had come to expect from this laudable drug chain. Answers will be forthcoming — sooner rather than later.
• The emerging strength of America’s regional drug chains. The news here is that that emergence should not be a surprise. The most capable executives in chain drug retailing today are those senior managers running the nation’s local and regional chain drug retailers. They have even now taken the initiative from their larger competitors. The question: Which regionals will lead the charge to emerge as America’s new chain drug darlings. Stay tuned.
• The emergence of America’s grocery retailers as legitimate challengers to long-held chain drug supremacy. Here again, the question is not that that’s happened but what took the nation’s supermarket retailers so long. They have long boasted several advantages: talented top managers, strong shopper loyalty, frequency of customer visits, and so on. Now these grocery superstars, mostly regional in nature and footprint, have arrived. The question: How much farther will they go? The initial answer: Very far indeed.
• What’s ailing Target? The age-old battle between Target and arch rival Walmart is by now old news. The new news is that Walmart has clearly jumped into the lead. The more salient issue is that Target has inexplicably faltered. Criticism for the stumble abounds, running the gamut from shortcomings at the top to undue hesitation at the buying and merchandising levels. Whatever the fault, the situation is serious, threatening as it does the mass retail balance in America.
Predication: Target is too strong a retailer to allow this situation to exist much longer. Something must, and therefore will, be done — and done quickly.
