general merchandise | hbc • pharmacy
Wellness Concerns Can Drive Store Sales
leysville, Pa. “That’s the
particular category where
we are seeing high double-
digit growth,” she said.
out of 10 people to pick some- tunity, Kuehnle said. “We pharmacies and would be Numbers presented by
By DAN ALAIMO
thing up in your store before want to continue to find fine with mail-order pre- Molyneaux showed natu-
PA L M DE SE RT, C a l i f. they leave?” he asked. ways to put the right infor- scriptions. ral/organic personal care
— Supermarkets can real- “Inevitably, if they are mation into the hands of “The grocery industry, growing 25% in 2007, 20%
ize strong sales potential by buying a prescription prod- the consumer at the right with stores within a mile of in 2008, 20% in 2009, 17.5%
responding to the growing uct, they need other side-ef- time. Conditions and re- just about every customer’s in 2010 and 17.5% in 2011.
demand for wellness prod- fect products to go with it, lated prescription medica- home, could become the While it is now “a niche op-
ucts and services, according and they need adjunctive tions is the starting point.” nutritional center, the edu- portunity,” it will become
to speakers at a “Wellness therapy products, ranging There is also the need for cational center, the destina- a mainstream category by
Awareness” forum here this from food and beverage to information on nutrients, tion for finding pharma- 2015, she said.
month. OTCs,” Kuehnle said. related therapies, monitor- cists and dietitians,” he said. Supermarket chains like
There are 40,000 stockkeep- Kroger Co., Cincinnati; Pub-
ing units in a supermarket, lix Super Markets, Lake-
“You’ve got to break the beeline. most with a relationship to
a particular medical condi-
land, Fla.; and Hannaford
Bros., Scarborough, Maine,
How do you get five out of 10 tion, he noted.
“When we look back in
“are doing phenomenal
jobs” in the area of health,
people to pick something up in your 10 years, that’s the oppor-
tunity that is going to be
wellness and nutrition, said
Todd Hale, senior vice pres-
store before they leave?” either solidified or squan-
dered,” Kuehnle said.
ident, consumer and shop-
per insights, the Nielsen
Ed Kuehnle Co., Schaumburg, Ill.
BIg PICtUre “We see tremendous
president, Catalina Marketing Services Total sales last year for the opportunities for manu-
North America U.S. health and wellness facturers and retailers to
industry were close to $90 make health and wellness
billion, with 6.8%, or $6.1 a key part of their messag-
In addition to consumer He proposed three ways ing devices and self-treat- billion, from natural and ing. You’ve got to be able to
and trade panels, the after- to make this happen. “Make able side effects, he said. organic personal care prod- react to dieting, eating and
noon educational session sure that the pharmacist is However, he warned, ucts, said Maryellen Moly- wellness trends much faster
included three research- engaged with that patient many consumers do not neaux, president, Natural than you have historically,”
oriented presentations. It making recommendations,” feel committed to retail Marketing Institute, Har- he said.
was held during the Health he said. “Second, the store
Beauty Wellness Marketing format needs to be easy to
In the Money
Conference of the Global shop with products near the and calling cards, as well as
Market Development Cen- pharmacy that are associat- in-store bank branches in
ter, Colorado Springs, bet- ed with the top conditions” some locations.
ter known as GMDC. — diabetes, for example. Publix extended its long-
A starting point for many A third approach is a Continued From Page 27 are spending their ‘found time partnership with West-
stores should be the pharma- new proprietary Catalina prepaid debit MasterCard. money’ in the store.” ern Union for another five
cy, said Ed Kuehnle, presi- offering called RxConx “We offer forms of pay- Retailers with this and years last November.
dent, Catalina Marketing that uses Catalina technol- ment that have lower trans- other money-related offerings For the future, some of
Services North America, ogy to provide information action fees and pass along maintain that making the the more significant offer-
St. Petersburg, Fla. Accord- and product coupons re- the savings to our custom- customer happy means piling ings, like home loans, will
ing to Catalina’s research, lated to the patient’s condi- ers, such as our current 5 on the services. For example, likely remain the province of
55% of consumers did not tion based on the National cents off a gallon of gas Bloom, a Food Lion banner, the largest retailers, like Wal-
buy anything other than a Drug Code (NDC) of the with use of a Meijer card,” is another Coinstar partner Mart and Kroger, Skrovan
prescription on their last medication. This has been Behler said. and also offers prepaid Visa said. “I would imagine that
trip to a pharmacy. This well received by consumers The retailer also offers cards, bill payments, West- economies of scale and effi-
is higher than a similar — 80% surveyed said they a commercial credit card ern Union money transfers ciencies are critical in part-
number presented earlier were interested in such a for businesses and has a and money orders, all in its nerships like this. Wal-Mart
in the year by Information service, Kuehnle said — partnership with Coinstar, guest-services area. “We feel probably has one of the big-
Resources Inc., Chicago, and by retailers and whole- Bellevue, Wash., providing that our guest-services area gest opportunities in terms
which reported that 40% of salers at the conference. coin-counting kiosks in all provides these convenienc- of reaching and serving the
pharmacy customers leave locations. For the retailer, es in order to enhance our unbanked population, many
stores with nothing but ‘hUge UPSIde’ it boils down to differentia- customers’ shopping experi- of whom are Wal-Mart’s
their medication. “I think that has a huge tion: “More reasons to shop ence,” spokeswoman Karen core customers. If shoppers
This translates to 19 mil- upside for many of our Meijer,” Behler said. Peterson told SN. are receptive to this kind of
lion store trips per year with pharmacy retail partners,” According to data from At Publix Super Markets, offer, then I anticipate we’ll
no additional purchase, and Jay Goble, vice president, Coinstar, about 46% of cus- Lakeland, Fla., “We realize see more exploration and ex-
a $4.8 billion annual sales merchandising, Valu Mer- tomers who receive cash that most of our customers periments of other services
opportunity, Kuehnle said. chandisers Co., Kansas City, from the Coinstar Center are pressed for time. Conve- in the future.”
He characterized these sin- Mo., told SN. “I’ve personally spend all or part of that nience is a top priority for Although Peterson of
gled-minded trips as a “bee- been looking for that type of money in the store, spokes- shoppers when planning Bloom told SN it does not
line” between the door and program; it has a chance to woman Marci Maule told their activities,” said spokes- have any new financial ser-
the pharmacy. really improve wellness.” SN. “Obviously, this is a ben- woman Maria Brous. The re- vices in the pipeline, it’s like-
“You’ve got to break the This kind of triggering efit to the retailer as nearly tailer offers Western Union, ly to keep an eye out for new
beeline. How do you get five is an industrywide oppor- half of the Coinstar users coin counting, money orders opportunities.
28 SN September 24, 2007 www.supermarketnews.com