Tomorrow's healthcare retailing game gets new name
WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — The name of the game for tomorrow’s successful healthcare retailer is ubiquity — because it’s no longer good enough to have the better corner location or the splashiest of websites; tomorrow’s healthcare retailer will need to be able to interact with its patient whenever, however and wherever that patient happens to be at the time.
(THE NEWS: Max-Wellness, Humana partner on new in-home healthcare solutions service. For the full story, click here)
And with each of these new venues, Max-Wellness establishes a new portal of contact with its patients. In many of these venues, Max-Wellness also will generate disproportionate share of mind, because it will be the only retail health player in town. Humana Homecare Solutions brings the Max-Wellness brand to some 123,000 Humana members and with an offering that’s only going to become relevant as baby boomer’s age.
“Close to 40% of the Medicare population needs some help in order to stay at home,” stated Sandy Markwood, CEO of National Association of the Area Agencies on Aging, in response to the Humana/Max-Wellness announcement. “And as 77 million baby boomers reach retirement age over the next 20 years, the need and demand for quality support programs like Humana HomeCare Solutions will continue to rise as well.”
Mini-Max will expand that Max-Wellness brand into the hospital setting where the nearest competitor of any kind is the branded “hospital gift shop.” Where Humana reaches a large constituent of consumers in short order, Mini-Max is more of a longer play. That venue helps establish Max-Wellness both as a go-to for recovery/rehab products and a healthcare depository of information where discharged patients can learn about how not to make a return trip to that hospital.
Wellness-in-a-Box helps further expand that Max-Wellness brand with the establishment of a storefront in nontraditional settings. Rather than just afford a brief Max-Wellness experience through that vending-machine window, however, the Wellness-in-a-Box concept serves as an entry point to access all of the company’s product selections with a new and robust e-commerce engine.
“We are not only retailers, we also are building a national brand to better serve a broader audience of customers, enabling them to shop where, when and how they choose for products and services to enhance their lives, help them prevent illness and treat health issues,” noted Max-Wellness founder Michael Feuer.
Where, when and how. Ubiquity. That’s the future of healthcare retailing.