"It's the consumer, stupid." That's how consultant Wendy Liebmann half-jokingly responded when I asked her to sum up the new study from the General Merchandise Distributors Council Educational Foundation, New York. ("The Heart of Retail," SN, Sept. 6, 2004.) On the surface, "Leveraging the Synergy of Pharmacy in the Whole Store" seems to be mainly about creating promotions that link related products to prescription purchases, something akin to the Holy Grail of in-store pharmacy strategies.
While the study produced sales results described as a "wow," Liebmann, founder and president of WSL Strategic Retail, New York, pointed out that its significance is much deeper. (Liebmann conducted the study for GMDC.) The sales results came not just because of a successful juxtaposition of pharmacy, products and signs, but from heeding what consumers say they want from their stores.
This was determined from data from Information Resources Inc., Chicago, and from interviews with customers. "What you see here again and again is, if you really listen to your customers, they'll lead you to the right place," she said.
Part of the study's findings show consumers don't see supermarkets and their products the way retailers and their suppliers do. While industry insiders view products from their own isolated "silos," shoppers see a store filled with products that address their health concerns.
Central to that concept for many customers is the pharmacy. With an aging population, such health services will become more important in the not-too-distant future.
"We found that when you talk to prescription customers about the way they manage health conditions, they have a much, much broader view -- a whole-store view of the process," Liebmann said.
Other trends indicate that supermarkets -- in addition to other large, mass-market stores -- are becoming consumers' first choice for health care products, services and information.
For example, flu season is coming and chains are gearing up their flu shot programs. With the difficulty of gaining access to doctors and other medical facilities -- not to mention health insurance concerns -- consumers gravitate to supermarkets for their flu shots. Their increasing confidence in the supermarket pharmacist helps reinforce this choice. An appropriate, consumer-centric, cross-marketing program, as detailed by the GMDC study, will help build business in other categories.
MinuteClinic, Minneapolis, a walk-in medical clinic staffed by nurse practitioners who treat common ailments, is opening eight locations in Baltimore-area stores of Target, also based in Minneapolis (Page 37). Originally known as QuickMedx, the company opened its first clinic in a Cub Foods store in May 2000.
Other retailers, including Stop & Shop, Giant Food and Hy-Vee, have experimented with HealthSmart Rx, Chicago. HealthSmart Rx provides an area next to pharmacies that has an informational kiosk, hosts health screenings, and features books, magazines, videos and related products. The sections were developed by the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy.
This move to health-related products and services is all about the consumer. Yet it has the happy side effect of generating extra business and good will -- a "halo effect," as the GMDC study described it. Supermarkets would be well-advised to try this particular halo on for size.
