The golden years: Drug stores can profit from Americans aging, staying at home
With more Americans reaching their golden years and the country’s healthcare system stressing home care as a way to drive down costs, products to meet these consumers’ conditions are gaining more attention and increasingly finding their way into drug stores’ mix.
(To view the full Home Health Care Report, click here.)
“People are living longer and desire to stay at home longer,” said David Svenson, director of home health care at Medina, Ohio-based Discount Drug Mart, which was one of the first community pharmacy chains to offer a wide range of home healthcare items in its stores. “From ramps to stair lifts to bath benches to walkers, home healthcare items can make living at home easier for the aging population.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living, by the middle of the century, people over the age of 65 years old are expected to account for more than 20% of the nation’s population, up from 13% as recently as 2010.
A wide-ranging category that includes everything from aids for daily living, such as bed rails, magnifiers and pill boxes to durable medical equipment like wheelchairs to canes, walkers and bathroom-safety devices, as well as everyday drug store fare like home diagnostic equipment, diabetes care and incontinence products, home health care is a natural fit for community pharmacies and helps drive home the channel’s ability to provide a comprehensive assortment of health-and-wellness items under one roof.
“Diabetic customers that are in a pharmacy receiving their diabetic-testing supplies may also need diabetic shoes,” Svenson noted. “A customer receiving blood pressure medicine may also need a blood pressure monitor. By offering home healthcare items in the store, a customer does not have to make multiple stops to obtain all their healthcare needs.”
Svenson and others warn that while home health care helps build a loyal customer base among older shoppers, it is not for everyone. Opting to enter this market, they said, requires a willingness to devote valuable shelf space to large and sometimes slow-turning products.
As a result, a growing number of retailers have opted to make home health care part of their e-commerce operation, complementing their in-store offering with a much wider assortment through an online store.
A strong online presence, those in the industry say, gives consumers and caregivers who cannot always visit a brick-and-mortar outlet an easy option for purchasing home-care items. At the same time, however, they note online shopping remains impersonal and deprives consumers of the face-to-face service they can get in a physical setting.
Peering into the future, researchers said the market for home care and the need for easy access to products to facilitate this care will surge. According to a report released late last year by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the number of Americans age 65 years old and older will surge from 48 million today to more than 79 million by 2027.
“Researchers have estimated that nearly 70% of older adults will need some form of long-term care in later life, the majority provided in the home,” the report said. “In the future, the focus of more intensive care may shift more toward the home.”