Retail shrinkage is a challenging topic for me to write about, not just because anytime I see or hear the word shrinkage, I can’t help but think about the Seinfeld episode focused on poor George, a cold swimming pool and an ill-timed “exposure” to a fellow house guest. It’s difficult because, among the multiple contributors
Is a regulatory reckoning just around the corner for vitamins, minerals, herbals and supplements? The more my partners and I at the New England Consulting group look at some of NIH’s (National Institutes of Health’s) recent programming and FTC’s (Federal Trade Commission’s) enforcement actions since the beginning of COVID and their recent publication, “FTC (2023)
If, like me, you think that the quote from Heraclitus, “The only thing constant is change,” would be a gross understatement to describe the next few years for chain drug, read on. If, on the other hand, you are neither fascinated nor concerned with the external uncertainties of the country right now and the strategies
While we don’t celebrate it, there is no question that the drug channel front of store has benefitted mightily from the pandemic. Increased traffic, new shoppers, pantry loading, digital downloads and ultimately millions of vaccinations have driven revenue and placed this channel squarely in the spotlight. The pandemic bent the trend curve, increasing store traffic
One of the most positive stories to come out of the pandemic is the pivotal role that retail pharmacies played in the vaccination effort and how it helped the country gain control over the spread of COVID 19. While chain drug had already contributed to the response effort before the vaccinations with COVID-19 testing, drug
As nutritional products continue to post impressive growth, chain drug stores must decide how to best differentiate their stores and e-commerce platforms from pure e-commerce players. To me, establishing chain drug as the most trusted and reliable channel to shop this $20 billion category should be priority No. 1. Success will rely on promoting high-quality,
I usually don’t mince words, but it is getting more and more challenging to write these opinion pieces with confidence. The difficulty is the two-month lead time between when I hand in my opinion and when you, gentle readers, absorb what I have to say. Now, amid our nation’s reopening, we are experiencing COVID surges
In the large conference room at our headquarters in Westport, Conn., there is an erasable whiteboard that gets an awful lot of use capturing ideas for companies across a spectrum of industries. While those ideas get written, used and erased frequently, there is always a quote at the top of the board that tends to
Now is the time for Food and Drug Administration reforms designed to dramatically increase the number of prescription-to-O-T-C switches in the U.S. At a time when both political parties are pushing for transparency and pricing reform, the opportunity to align multiple agendas that benefit consumers, retail pharmacies and the health care system overall is too
NEW YORK — I grew up in a very small town, Yardley, Pa., in the 1970s. Main Street, “downtown,” had only one pizza place (Vince’s), one convenience store (WaWa) and no movie theater. We did, however, have two drug stores less than 150 yards from each other. In the 20 years that I lived in
