Opinion

Dear Editor,

Upon reading your June 7 cover story, “7 Deadly Sins of SKU Rationalization,” we at The Swanson Group/Mack Elevation Forum have identified 10 ways that a small- or mid-sized vendor can avoid being SKU-rationalized. Respectfully, we have offered them for fellow Drug Store News readers.

“I have read dribs and drabs of this in different publications over the last couple of years, but this (“7 Deadly Sins of SKU Rationalization,” Drug Store News, June 7, 2010) really pulled it all together.… Hopefully some of the retailers will wake up and read this and understand what they’re doing in terms of customer loyalty, traffic, profitability and so on.”

And there is a good reason for it.

You probably have already noticed, this issue is jammed with great stuff, from our special report, 7 Deadly Sins of SKU Rationalization, to the exclusive Retail Store of the Year section, highlighting winners from Drug Store News’ sister publication Chain Store Age’s annual store design competition. There just isn’t a lot of room for me and my opinion in this issue.

Mom + Baby has been a very successful equation for drug retailers in the past. After all, babies need lots of “stuff,” and moms historically have been responsible for buying the stuff babies need. The success of the Mom + Baby equation, however, is weakening because it fails to include an increasingly important but often ignored element: Dad. Here’s my forecast for the future: Those retailers who fail to add Dad to the traditional Mom + Baby equation will see their market share decline.

Last issue I wrote about the 9-in.-by-12-in. box on my desk, in which I keep my own personal copy of Congress’ Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Lately, I have been pondering something heavier than that 25-lb. box of paper. What would health reform look like if I could light it on fire and start all over again?

I think I would take a page from what works about specialty pharmacy. I was reminded of this as I read the findings from two recent surveys that CVS Caremark released in April, about a week apart from each other, around the topic of adherence.

Want to weigh in on healthcare reform? What do you think it weighs, anyway—Congress’ Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? Drug Store News printed out the 2,400-plus page document, and with no binder clips big enough nor a stapler aggressive enough to contain it, we have kept it in a 9 in.-by-12 in. box that is roughly 10 in. deep—the pages overflow by about an inch.

I spot it at about 25 lbs. or so.

It’s not like I’m not one of those conspiracy theorists. But I’m also not stupid enough to think that Lee Harvey Oswald was a good enough shot to have acted alone, either.

That’s kind of the way I have felt these past few weeks since the American Academy of Family Physicians suddenly reversed its official policy on retail clinics. The AAFP no longer will enter into agreements like the ones it previously held with Minute Clinic, Rediclinic, The Little Clinic and BellinHealth Fast Care, the group announced Feb. 24.

Most organizations have blind spots hindering their growth and their alignment with their top retail partners. So what is the root of this reoccurring leadership trap? In many cases, executives are fearful of true self assessment uncovering cracks in their own armor, while others just don’t place a high enough value on strategic reflection and a thoughtful design of an integrated national sales strategy. How often do most organizations honestly look into the mirror while practicing personal reflection?