October 2, 2023 by Liz Cummings and Ed Rowland
Analytics show divergence from ‘pre-COVID normal’
October 2, 2023, Opinion
The erstwhile baseball all-star and philosopher Yogi Berra, renowned for malapropisms called “Yogisms,” had two famous quotes that could apply to the 2023 consumer health care world as it emerges from COVID: “The future ain’t what it used to be” and “You can observe a lot by just watching it.” The post-COVID future for consumer
April 24, 2023 by Ed Rowland
Sci-fi thrillers in the 1950s first introduced the phrase “Take me to your leader.” If extraterrestrials were to land in today’s U.S. drug chain universe, they would meet two leaders who only recently arrived on the scene and move fast. It might be hard to find them., Vision of leaders at CVS, WBA goes beyond the store
April 24, 2023, Opinion
Sci-fi thrillers in the 1950s first introduced the phrase “Take me to your leader.” If extraterrestrials were to land in today’s U.S. drug chain universe, they would meet two leaders who only recently arrived on the scene and move fast. It might be hard to find them. Perhaps unimaginable a decade ago, the two major
August 22, 2022 by Ed Rowland, Alice Wang and Alf Luo
Ed Rowland is the principal of Rowland Global LLC
August 22, 2022, Opinion
The pandemic years have changed the U.S. consumer health care products and services world. Evolution and revolution on a global scale confront U.S. chain drug stores and independent pharmacies alike. The rapper Tupac Shakur once said, “You either ride with us or collide with us.” Both are happening. The consumer health care world is riding
August 23, 2021 by Ed Rowland
Ed Rowland principal of Rowland Global LLC
August 23, 2021, Opinion
Natural channel wellness and drug chain consumer health care have long been on a converging road. Dr. Seuss once famously said, “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” There are no better examples of the natural channel blur than wholesale giant UNFI’s stand-alone Consumer Healthcare division topping $1 billion in
July 27, 2020 by Ed Rowland
Canadian pharmacy, COVID-19, Ed Rowland
July 27, 2020, Opinion
Francisco de Quevedo, a cynical sharp wit of 16th century Spanish literature’s golden era once commented that “not only are things not what they seem, they are not even what they are called.” The same could be said of the present U.S. situation with imported online prescription medicines. To many, this is called the “Canadian
August 13, 2019 by Dave Wendland, Ed Rowland, Trevor Gore and David Skinner
OTC medicines
August 12, 2019, Opinion
In Dr. Seuss’ (Theodor Geisel’s) last major book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, he put forth advice for recent graduates from almost any school: You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself. Any direction you choose. And you’re on your own. And you know what you know.
December 14, 2016 by Ed Rowland and Chain Drug Review
Boots, Ed Rowland, Farmacias Ahumada, Farmacias Benavides, Jaime Cases, Rowland Global LLC, Sinax S.A. de C.V., Walgreens Boots Alliance
Issue 12-12-2016, Opinion
To quote one of Cortes’ officers when the Spanish first arrived in Mexico, they came “to serve God and His Majesty and also to get riches.” While the Boots/Walgreens story was playing out in the U.S., ultimately ending in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Boots was also busy south of the border acquiring Farmacias Ahumada in Chile