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
Despite all of the talk of big data and predictive analytics, and the maturity of customer loyalty programs, many food, drug and mass retailers continue to rely primarily on category managers to make critical merchandising decisions. Part of the difficulty may be the age-old challenge of an abundance of data but a dearth of insight.
As prescription drug revenue and profitability are threatened by the expanding share of generics and continued reimbursement pressures, many chain drug retailers are counting on improved front-of-store sales and profitability to counterbalance the declines. That goal faces several challenges. Increases in mail-order prescriptions and 90-day refills reduce prescription-driven door turns. The aggressive growth of small-format
