Content about Category Reviews

Aiming to improve the shopping experience through unique merchandising presentations, Rite Aid has unveiled its next generation Wellness store in Lemoyne, Pa., which features a greater focus on men's grooming.

The store features an expanded men's grooming area complete with a new Axe display where shoppers can use an iPad to sample new looks.

Beauty retailer Sephora launched in September the new Sephora Skincare iQ, which has been dubbed as the "most comprehensive in-store technology" to make addressing skin care concerns easier than ever before.

By using the touch-screen technology that is available at select Sephora locations, consumers can — in 60 seconds or less — address a range of skin concerns through a series of deductive questions. It simplifies the product selection process by cross-referencing Sephora's full skin care assortment across more than 1,200 SKUs and 60 brands.

There's a lot to like about the As Seen On TV category. It has a sell-through rate between 10% and 20%. Margins also are in the double-digits. Best of all, the products that make it to retail shelves are proven winners.

"Our market model is very sound," said AJ Khubani, CEO of TeleBrands. "As a group of companies, we test market hundreds of products on television, then bring the top 10 to retail. Drug chains are only getting the products that are most successful. They are consumer-tested with a known demand and significant advertising support."

Nestled in Washington, D.C.'s, Chinatown is the recently opened Walgreens flagship store. The store, which marks the retailer's seventh Walgreens flagship location, features a "Walgreens" sign with Mandarin and Chinese characters that translate as "pharmacy," and its interior beauty department — better known as a Look Boutique — is among the most impressive yet.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The landmark launch of Orasure Technologies' OraQuick In-Home HIV test last year was a key driver behind the 5.4% growth in the home-test kit category for the 12 weeks ended Dec. 30 across U.S. multi-outlets, according to SymphonyIRI Group data. The HIV test contributed $1 million in purely incremental sales to the total $15.5 million in category sales.

With private label across analgesics up an estimated 11.3% to $1.7 billion, retailers are going to need to make some tough decisions as two internal analgesic powerhouses — McNeil's Tylenol and Novartis' Excedrin — make their way back onto market after respective recalls. Within internal analgesic tablets, sales of store brand equivalents were up 15% off of a 2011 base of around $1.2 billion. The branded competition also were benefactors — both Pfizer's Advil and Bayer's Aleve generated more than $50 million in incremental sales on top of 2011 sales.

Brewers finally have something to celebrate. After three years of flat performance, the category is up 5.3% due to a flurry of new introductions. In an attempt to keep the momentum going, Anheuser-Busch InBev introduced several new products just in time for the Super Bowl.

The newest launch is Budweiser Black Crown, a beer the brewer claims has more body, color and hop character than the flagship lager, as well as a slightly higher alcohol content, at 6% alcohol by volume.

An even skin tone, flawless complexion and radiant glow — every girl wants it, and manufacturers continue to heed the call by bringing to market new facial products that promise to offer the latest in innovation, as well as better coverage and greater results.

One example is Revlon, which is building upon its SmartShade franchise with the new SmartShade Mousse Makeup, which promises to instantly adjust skin tone. There's also the new SmartShade Power Blush, the first powder blush for the franchise.

An oft-cited 1998 report, recently repeated again by the surgeon general in the January/ February 2012 "Public Health Report," estimated that 125,000 U.S. citizens die each year due to complications related to adherence. Also worrisome is the statistic that one-third to one-half of all patients don't take medication as prescribed, and according to a 2011 study by Harvard, Brigham and Women's Hospital and CVS, up to one-quarter of these never fill prescriptions at all.

Canadian generic drug makers expressed dismay over a new plan to reduce reimbursements for a half-dozen generic medications in most of the country's provinces. According to published reports, a group of premiers had reached a coordinated deal to reduce the prices their governments paid for six generic drugs, hoping to save the provinces nearly $100 million.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has set user fee rates for generic drug companies, the agency said Jan. 27.

The FDA announced that it had published a notice in the Federal Register for companies that make finished dosage forms, meaning drugs in their final form, and active pharmaceutical ingredients, meaning the main ingredients of the drugs.

Has the explosion in generic utilization curbed pioneer-drug research and development? That's one concern floated by some pharmaceutical industry watchers, who claim that the stunning market share gains made by generic drug makers could reduce incentives for branded drug companies to spend to develop new molecular entities, conduct lengthy clinical trials, gain FDA approval and bring those new drugs to market.