Mass market retailing, once the scene of an apparently ongoing string of meetings, conferences, exhibit shows and discussions, has morphed into an industry where such gatherings are disappointingly few and far between.
A New Prescription for Health Care Improvement” examines a previously murky aspect of the problem: newly prescribed drugs
exactly. Rather, the issue is that retailing, just prior to the Christmas selling season, has become dangerously internalized — and socialized. The talk these days is all about individual companies and the issues that surround them. Perhaps more ominous, much of the discussion revolves around social
Gilead Sciences and its breakthrough work in developing treatments for hepatitis C, the frequently devastating liver disease, have in recent months become the focal point of the debate about the cost and benefits of pharmaceutical products.
The Wild West never lacked for traveling salesmen pushing the newest elixir or snake oil to solve all your medical maladies.
In a multipart series throughout 2014, our team is examining key product attributes and marketing tactics from two different perspectives: the retail buyer and the consumer/shopper. This objective picture of the two viewpoints should contribute to a product’s success at retail.
Recently, Walmart announced it would open a dozen Walmart Care Clinics, primary care medical facilities, in stores in under-served communities.
The three most influential health care retailers in America are drug chains. They are, in no particular order, Walgreens, CVS Health and Rite Aid. In a sense, this is a surprise. Over the past several years, every major mass retailer in the U.S. has put an emphasis on health care.
The nation’s health care system is in upheaval, with, to borrow a phrase from William Wordsworth, “the meagre, stale, forbidding ways of custom” under siege.
In a year crammed with major news stories, cataclysmic personnel shifts and stunning new strategies and directions, the No. 1 retailing story of 2014 increasingly appears to be the CVS decision, announced early this year, to stop selling tobacco products in its 7,700 drug stores.
October 1 is the first anniversary of the debut of the federal and state health care exchanges that allow Americans to assess insurance options and purchase coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Since then 7.3 million people have signed up, and another 4.
When President Ronald Reagan signed the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act 30 years ago, few could imagine how the law would transform the health care landscape.
Are we seeing the first early “green shoots” of a new industry disruptor? Possibly. Big Pharma has started experimenting with direct-to-consumer models to fill prescriptions, effectively circumventing the retail pharmacy.
In the aftermath of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores-sponsored Total Store Expo exhibit show and business conference, held in Boston late last month, one long-held view was fortified by both the retailer and supplier communities: Business at retail is in the doldrums.
The change in name of CVS Caremark to CVS Health marks the culmination of a transition almost a quarter century in the making. Just 25 years ago CVS was one of several regional drug chains with a strong presence in a relatively limited geographic area.
It’s not that Mark Cosby, the departing president of the CVS drug chain, was not respected. After all, here was an executive with an extensive retailing background, most notably at Sears and Macy’s. The drawback was that Cosby was not a chain drug retailer.
