In this Issue

One OTC category expected to emerge in the coming year is hearing aids, which, when paired with in-store hearing aid service centers, will become a powerful solution set. Earlier this year, CVS Pharmacy opened seven hearing stores-within-stores in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area, with plans to expand significantly by year’s end.

YouTube beauty came on the scene and gave women a free-and-easy education for their beauty routines. But, with Instagramming and tutorials, it became too much for the average woman balancing a hectic schedule. According to Mintel’s new report, “2017: Back to Basics,” the industry is starting to see a backlash to heavy Instagram-style makeup. Sixty-nine percent of women spend 20 minutes or less on makeup each day, and consumers are looking for achievable beauty. Enter non-touring.

There’s been a shift in the way Western women approach makeup. They’ve come to understand that their makeup routine starts when they wash their face, and they want more from their cosmetic products than coverage and concealing.

Vaccinations represent an emerging category within retail pharmacy for one simple reason: The majority of Americans prefer visiting their local pharmacy to get their inoculations, as opposed to visiting the doctor’s office, according to the PrescribeWellness 2017 Vaccination and Preventive Care Survey.

Already, retail pharmacy is the No. 2 destination for adults in search of their annual flu shot, with 24.3% of adults asking their pharmacists for a flu shot, compared with 37.4% who still ask their doctors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Americans are spending more than $60 billion on beauty annually. To survive as a meaningful competitor in this evolving beauty arena, drug stores must start to burnish their image.

In the healthcare space, it’s a long-held tenet that female heads of household, aka moms, are the primary purchasers of the OTC remedies and balms that cure ailments. So, why not capture her loyalty from the beginning — or even before the beginning?

I never understood people who root against the hometown team. I once knew a New York Yankees fan that was pulling for the Boston Red Sox in the 1986 World Series. (Are you kidding me — the FLIPPING Red Sox?!) I bet him $50 just on principal; what kind of demented Yankees fan could ever root for the Red Sox to beat another New York team? Surely, this is the kind of sick lunatic that the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA and just about every federal and local law enforcement agency in the country should have on a watch list.

How does Lewis Drug thrive in a crowded and super-competitive marketplace? The company’s success formula is no big secret, said Bob Meyer, SVP of merchandise and marketing, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to replicate. “[We try] to find niches in the marketplace where we feel we can do better than our competition,” Meyer explained.