Lupin 2024

It’s time for NACDS to expand its vision

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NACDS Week, the New York City weeklong series of meetings and dinners that unofficially ushers in the Christmas holiday season, has just ended. As always, it was an appropriate occasion, representative of the season, at which old friendships were revived and new ones launched. It was, as these events inevitably are, a happy, rewarding time.

NACDS logoHowever, the larger questions must be asked: Was it productive? And, if so, how productive?

As background, it must be reiterated that the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, despite its misnomer (its retail membership is far more encompassing than chain drug stores and has been for some considerable time) is the premier — and far and away the most influential — retail trade association in America. Its events are more productive, its ability to bring buyers and sellers together unequaled, its influence (when it chooses to exert an influence) unsurpassed.

In short, throughout the year NACDS is the place to be — especially if you’re serious about mass retailing in America. Along the same continuum, this association has no stronger supporters than the leadership and staff at Chain Drug Review.

To return for a moment to the events that encompassed NACDS Week, they were well worth the effort that was necessary for active and rewarding participation. Industry leaders from both sides of the desk showed up, willing, indeed eager, to share stories, ideas, information and predictions. No subject was out of bounds or off limits. Speculation abounded about events already arrived and those soon (or not so soon) to come. The mood was upbeat, especially so considering the current state of uncertainty as the holiday selling season quickly approaches.

Surrounding this interaction, NACDS offered an informational program that supplemented but didn’t detract from the more intimate one-on-one sessions between retailers and suppliers. As such, the weeklong event blended business and social activities, each adding to the mix but not overwhelming it.

Having lavished all this praise on the National Association of Chain Drug Store’s weeklong program, however, this caveat must be added: How much more can NACDS do and be in the uncertain mass retailing community of the early years of the 21st century? The answer: Much more.

If the association is to continue to represent the mass retailing community as effectively going forward as it has in the past, it must expand its vision, it objectives, its very reason for being. Ideas for doing so abound.

For example, the NACDS Annual Meeting, held in April every year, is the single most significant event on the mass retailing calendar. But it has not changed significantly enough over the years. Perhaps it should be offered twice annually. Or thrice.

Similarly, the singularly important Total Store Expo, held each year as summer fades, is the key merchandising event of the retail year. But merchandising has changed over the years — and NACDS has not. Or at the least, not quickly or importantly enough. Perhaps more frequent but smaller merchandising sessions are in order.

Finally (or not): NACDS frequently goes dark during the year. Later summer and early autumn are prime examples. Put another way, at times throughout the year when the industry looks to the association for guidance and reassurance, NACDS is sometimes nowhere to be found.

To summarize, NACDS is an outstanding institution, and sometimes a great institution. But nothing is perfect. Good can always be better. NACDS is no exception.

Still … it was a great week. And NACDS deserves much credit for bringing it back each autumn — and, yet again, making it work.


ECRM_06-01-22


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