Todd Huseby, partner and leader of the consumer health care sector at Kearney, examines the implications of some key recent developments for pharmacy retailers. COVID-19’s effect on shoppers, Amazon’s move into the prescription drug business, the emergence of other e-commerce challengers, and changes at CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance are among the subjects
Editor’s note: This is Part I of an article that ran in the 1/21/19 issue of CDR. As legal cannabis-based products continue to find their way to market, promising to redefine entire categories from health, beauty and wellness to food and beverage in their wake, most chain drug retailers are scrambling to calculate the impact
The high value of pharmaceutical shipments has traditionally meant that all parties in the chain drug industry were primarily concerned with quality. They needed a reliable, transparent solution. Given that shipping represented a tiny percentage of drug costs, price was a lesser concern. But recently shipping rates have increased sharply. Is there anything the industry
On July 4, 2026, when America marks its 250th birthday, will the nation be stable and prosperous? That is the core question behind America@250 — a multiyear initiative launched by A.T. Kearney, in partnership with The Wall Street Journal. Muhtar Kent of Coca-Cola Co., Chip Bergh of Levi Strauss, Rhonda Vetere of Estée Lauder Cos.,
Staying competitive in the fast-moving chain drug store world is hard enough in the best of times. But things may be about to get even tougher. Chain drug operators with significant imports, and the corresponding consumer packaged goods partners, now face potentially significant challenges to their profitability in the form of the uncertainty and mixed-signals
With massive change in the retail pharmacy industry — including mergers and acquisitions, downward pressure on reimbursement rates, consolidation of payers, and a nascent movement to transform pharmacists into providers — now is a good time to take a step back and look at the big picture. What forces will transform the industry, and which
Recent studies point to digital as the primary force driving the business and societal changes that are affecting company operations across industries. Because retail and health care are facing the most disruption, North American pharmacies can no longer afford to watch from the sidelines. While leading players are making fundamental changes to their entire organizations
Marketing is among those operations undergoing a fundamental change in the digital world. Today’s consumer has materially different expectations about how she wants to buy products and services and about how she expects companies to market them to her. In such a dynamic environment, chain drug store executives need to make digital marketing a priority.
One of the most dramatic changes in global business over the past few decades is the growth of organized retail in developing markets and the expansion of global retailers in general. Since Walmart opened its first store outside the United States in 1991, retailers in many sectors have discovered new markets around the world, and
It’s Monday morning and you wake up with a throbbing headache, stuffy and dizzy, recognizing that the next thing you absolutely positively need to hear is, “The doctor will see you now.” You roll over in bed, pick up your tablet, open your accountable care organization’s (ACO’s) telemedicine app, and in a few minutes you
