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NACDS chairman of the board Mark Panzer, senior vice president, pharmacy, health and wellness of Albertsons Cos., at the 2018 NACDS Annual Meeting.
ARLINGTON, Va. – During remarks at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Annual Meeting in April, the NACDS leadership emphasized the importance of retailer-supplier collaboration across diverse product categories, and positioned the NACDS Total Store Expo as a natural progression of retailer-supplier collaboration throughout the year.
With a theme of “Leading Health and Wellness,” the NACDS Total Store Expo will be held August 25-27, 2018, at the Colorado Convention Center.
“It’s vital to concentrate not just on our pharmacy business but to also build a healthy front-end business to remain a relevant and profitable business model.”
NACDS chairman of the board Mark Panzer, senior vice president, pharmacy, health and wellness of Albertsons Companies, said:
- “NACDS is doing a lot to bring retailers and suppliers together – to really tackle the issues of today and tomorrow. NACDS has fantastic senior-level engagement from drug, food and mass -national and regional players alike. Among our associate members, we have that same senior-level engagement, and tremendous diversity across all products and services.”
- “So, regarding a focus on the front-end of the store in our businesses and at NACDS, let me just state it very clearly: It’s vital to concentrate not just on our pharmacy business but to also build a healthy front-end business to remain a relevant and profitable business model. There are tremendous opportunities to be had by sharpening our focus on the health, wellness, and beauty areas within the store. There is so much opportunity for retailers and supplier partners to work together to drive profitable sales and successful partnerships.”
NACDS past chairman Alex Gourlay, co-chief operating officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance and president, Walgreen Co., said:
- “The NACDS Total Store Expo is really important because it’s such a great marketplace and is already almost 90 percent sold out. As we prepare for this year’s event in Denver, technology and digital will be a big part of what we do there because it’s so important that our teams understand what’s available and how their world is changing in America.”
- “The customer market’s changing, but that’s always been the case. And for 85 years, NACDS has created a way of working, a collaboration between pharmacy, manufacturers and retailers that’s really brought the very best to Americans across the USA in terms of health and wellness and convenience.”
NACDS president and chief executive officer Steven Anderson, added:
- “NACDS is about chains and suppliers collaborating, to benefit the consumer, the nation, and the business. That is the infinite goal of NACDS. And doing that through the years requires an intentional, determined, and spirited transformation.”
| - “We made the transformation by instinctively applying the principles that Daniel Burrus has since presented in his new book, The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change into Opportunity and Advantage. Daniel Burrus says that agility is not enough in times of rapid change. He says it is possible for organizations to anticipate the future, to develop strategy, to execute, and to win. This book is about identifying things that are nearly certain to happen – the ‘hard trends.’ Creating the NACDS Total Store Expo is an example. It was based on a ‘hard trend.’ The Board knew that change was needed to deliver value, and to connect dynamics across the entire store.”
