A perfect storm is brewing for drug retailers’ supply chain managers, third-party logistics suppliers (3PLs) and the carriers they work with. After U.S. logistics costs declined 1.5% in 2016, the first half of 2017 was flat due to lingering overcapacity and rate pressures that had shippers asking for — and still getting — rate reductions.
Millennials have been a hot topic of conversation for more than a decade. It’s the one generational group that continues to confound both employers and retailers: How do we attract them, engage them and retain them? Yet a majority of employees and shoppers are them. Identified as those born between 1981 and 1997, Millennials became
The impact of a healthy population and vibrant workforce on the ability of the economy to sustain growth should not be underestimated. While Congress has been mired in a political debate around the near-term costs and burden of the Affordable Care Act, lost from this deeply partisan discussion is a tangible, forward-thinking consideration of the
The American economist Edgar Fiedler appropriately warned that “he who lives by the crystal ball soon learns to eat ground glass.” Fiedler aside, chain drug retailers may want to consider a series of future commercial opportunities emerging from what — at least at times — might appear to be the disruptive chaos of today’s market.
On July 4, 2026, when America marks its 250th birthday, will the nation be stable and prosperous? That is the core question behind America@250 — a multiyear initiative launched by A.T. Kearney, in partnership with The Wall Street Journal. Muhtar Kent of Coca-Cola Co., Chip Bergh of Levi Strauss, Rhonda Vetere of Estée Lauder Cos.,
In recent years, the specialty pharmacy industry has been defined by rapid growth with considerable entry from new participants. Factors driving growth include an increase of therapies introduced into the pharmacy benefit class rather than through the medical benefit, a growing number of patients receiving treatment for a wider range of conditions, price inflation caused
Online sales of beauty and personal care products are on the rise, and further penetration is expected. Yet one tough question is keeping online sellers awake at night: Will online’s convenient delivery, wider product selection, competitive pricing and access to information complement the in-store experience, or will it instead cripple traditional retailers’ sales and margins?
NEW YORK — Amazon is consumers’ retailer of choice when shopping for beauty products online, followed by specialty chains Sephora and Ulta, and discount store giant Walmart, according to A.T. Kearney’s latest beauty and personal care e-commerce study. Of 800 U.S. online beauty shoppers surveyed by A.T. Kearney, 69% said Amazon is where they search
Staying competitive in the fast-moving chain drug store world is hard enough in the best of times. But things may be about to get even tougher. Chain drug operators with significant imports, and the corresponding consumer packaged goods partners, now face potentially significant challenges to their profitability in the form of the uncertainty and mixed-signals
The U.S. beauty and personal care market has been barely inching upward, with only 3% growth over the past five years. As the next five years don’t hold out great hope of any faster gains, industry leaders have been seeking bigger returns through inorganic growth — which has often meant acquiring both smaller, more innovative
The explosion of data, analytics, and insights is shifting the ways that health care companies can create value. In a roundtable I recently facilitated on this subject at an industry summit, three themes emerged. First, companies across the entire health care value chain need scale to make the appropriate investments. Second, they need to focus
The digital data universe is growing dramatically — doubling every two years by some estimates. But when it comes to the implications for health care, pragmatic questions remain: What are the possibilities of new applications that capitalize on digitized data? Why isn’t change happening faster? And what barriers are preventing adoption? I recently had the
CHICAGO — Retail pharmacy is no stranger to technology. For many years pharmacy operators and their supply chain partners have relied on computer-driven systems to ensure efficient distribution of products, assist pharmacists in dispensing and adjudicate insurance claims. The digital revolution is now bringing about an exponential change in technology’s impact not only on pharmacy,
With massive change in the retail pharmacy industry — including mergers and acquisitions, downward pressure on reimbursement rates, consolidation of payers, and a nascent movement to transform pharmacists into providers — now is a good time to take a step back and look at the big picture. What forces will transform the industry, and which
