Wendy future of retail top

Bring forward thinking — literally — to Rx

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Bob Kwait

Bob Kwait

As I look back on the past 61 years of my career, it is interesting to see how the changes have taken place. Part of the changes without question have been necessary, while other changes may have been experimental. Some of these trials, to a great degree, were done by creating test stores in various markets and trying formats before rolling out to the entire chain. All of this has changed, even prior to the pandemic. My kudos go out to all of the retailers in this country for being aggressive and forthright, knowing change is necessary and knowing that health care is more important now than ever before.

That being the case, I firmly believe that the pharmacy and drug store can play a critical role as the changes take place. Although a lot of changes have happened, the major ones have not been addressed. They really relate to pharmacy and the role that it will play in the future. When I developed a drug store format, it really took into account many services that, at that time, were not performed at a drug store. Such as drive-up pharmacy window and freestanding units. Keep in mind, in my day, you didn’t open up a freestanding store, you opened up in a shopping center to drive up the traffic in the store. Pharmacies were put in the back of the store as an image builder and didn’t have high volume. This gave the consumer a chance to walk through the store and impulse shop. Consumers now know what they want, they want it now, and they want it to be simple.

Planograms of the past were more generic than specific as they are now. They’re now driven by disease management issues such as sleep, back pain, etc. Even as it relates to the beauty area where wellness and health and beauty has come to be a new area of opportunity. That being said, I envision the drug store pharmacy of the future to move the pharmacy to the front of the store, not necessarily at the checkout, but at one side and create a whole health and wellness area for the consumer. Next to hearing aid opportunity and eye care opportunity along with other areas as they relate to clinic needs. It is an important step, necessary to show the consumer that we hear you and we’re here to help. I don’t mean this for 8,000 to 10,000 stores. These would be for select locations with critical needs particularly located in downtown or urban areas where they need to present themselves as health care providers at a higher level.

Speed of change on the part of the consumer’s needs have never appeared to be so impactful. Retailers need to access the new concept they are testing, then roll it out to select stores around the country. As I mentioned earlier, we created test stores that would give us a profile and then roll it out to all stores. It’s important to deal on a store-by-store basis. Again, I believe the top focus should be on moving the pharmacy to the front of the store in select areas and see how it plays out.

Bob Kwait is chairman of Kwait & Associates/Bob Kwait Consulting Group.


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