Opinion

“How does that help me sell more cases, pallets and truckloads?” That’s a question I have been asked repeatedly, particularly as the world of retail pharmacy has evolved to play a larger role in health care. With that, the business that we cover in Drug Store News has become incredibly more complicated.


In its early days, social media meant "connecting with people." That’s still what it’s mostly about. But obviously, we’ve come a long way from those now prehistoric list-servs where we simply posted messages back-and-forth with people of similar interests and pursuits. It’s still about connecting. But now organizations use it for targeted marketing purposes, where once social media was considered the protected domain of the individual. Consumers seem to accept that it has become just another means by which brands are going to try to earn their loyalty.

“I have 20 years in the retail sector, and I know that not every pharmacist can be a specialist in a retail environment. So we give the pharmacists a higher level of confidence by using technology to target specific [national drug codes]. If a limited-
distribution product or a specialty script that they either don’t stock or they have never seen before comes across the counter, the computer directs them to Hy-Vee Pharmacy Solutions.

Regulators, healthcare providers and the public at large have taken note of the rise in prescription drug substance abuse. A recent article titled "Oxycodone Prescriptions Rose Sharply" in the New York Times (1/11/2012) describes trends of double-digit percentage increases in the dispensing of certain narcotic based painkillers.

Multibillion-dollar pharmacy benefit management companies are advertising aggressively to try to convince Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to approve a merger between Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions (“PCMA launches advertising campaign,” Drug Store News, Jan. 17).

A few years back, Harvard surgeon Atul Gawande authored a book called “The Checklist Manifesto.” The author's message is that the complexity of life has exceeded most individual's ability to manage it consistently without error despite advances in technology, training and specialization.

His solution is the utilization of a checklist or a blueprint to ensure and drive success.

An average consumer encounters the same or very similar product mix from retailer to retailer. Unintentionally, we have almost trained them not to expect anything special from their shopping experience. The retailer that does offer something beyond the ordinary shopping experience can score big points with shoppers. Do something unexpected to surprise and delight shoppers, and word will spread – probably quickly. So what is it that really makes consumers tick? I think it boils down to five main things.

Convenience