Content about Special Reports

When Walgreens and Express Scripts finally came to terms and agreed to again do business with each other in mid-2012, it marked the formal end of one of the costliest disputes in the history of pharmacy retailing and managed care. 


Walgreens and ESI announced July 19 that they had “reached a multiyear pharmacy network agreement that includes rates and terms” that both sides could live with, although those terms were not disclosed. 


Increased attention was given to Walmart’s multichannel efforts in this year’s supplier survey — and for good reason. Amazon.com is now in a virtual dead heat with the dollar store channel in terms of the retailer/channel that suppliers view as the most significant competitive threat.


At some point in their lives, most people learn the old lesson about things that look too good to be true, sometimes by hearing it from others, and other times from 
bad experiences.


Change was in the air again this year at Sam’s Club as the warehouse club division welcomed yet another CEO and head merchant combination. In early 2012, Rosalind Brewer became president and CEO, and Charles Redfield was named EVP merchandising. The change could have had suppliers saying, “here we go again,” due to Sam’s history of senior leadership turnover. Instead, the transition was apparently painless for the 67% of survey respondents who sell products to Sam’s.

Walmart’s pharmacy footprint is poised for its most meaningful expansion in decades, thanks to shifting capital expenditure priorities that have begun to favor more aggressive expansion of smaller stores.


With healthcare reform on track to bring 32 million more Americans into the healthcare system in 2014, and with payers and patients looking for solutions to curb costs as the nation battles a shortage of primary care physicians and access to quality care, CVS Caremark’s role in reinventing pharmacy through its distinctive business model couldn’t be more imperative than it is today.


A carrot, a stick and a face-to-face encounter. Those are the tools that will chisel away at healthcare costs, noted Wade Miquelon, Walgreens EVP and CFO. And Walgreens is uniquely positioned to help realize those savings. 


To lower costs, you could raise co-pays or premiums to discourage unhealthy behaviors like smoking, poor diet or lack of exercise. That’s the stick. On the other hand, you could waive co-pays or a reduce premiums to help encourage healthy behaviors like regular checkups or disease-state management programs. That’s the carrot. 


You could say that many of the front-of-store experiences that Walgreens is helping to transform today — photo and memorabilia, beauty, fresh, OTC, even pharmacy — all evolved from Walgreens Customer Centric Retailing project, which began back in 2009. “There were several benefits that we gained from CCR that helped fuel this transformation,” noted Rachel Bishop, Walgreens VP daily living strategy and business development.


When National Association of Chain Drug Stores president and CEO Steve Anderson earlier this year at NACDS Annual urged pharmacy leaders to be “disruptive innovators,” and new NACDS chairman and Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson called on the industry to embrace a holistic view of the total store in improving patient lives, they easily could have submitted Walgreens and its Take Care Health Systems subsidiary as an ideal case study.


Employee engagement and customer experience. These are not just buzzwords or empty promises for Walgreens. 


For the human resources team within Walgreens, this means attracting, training and retaining the right talent, who not only will be actively engaged but who, in turn, will enhance the customer experience in stores, whether it be in pharmacy, beauty, fresh food or any other aspect of the business.


When Walgreens snapped up Manhattan-based retailer Duane Reade back in 2010, it was a significant move for the Deerfield, Ill.-based pharmacy giant as it gave Walgreens — essentially overnight — a leading presence in New York City.


Under Walgreens’ organic growth model, it would have taken many years to achieve that type of footprint in New York City. But this was a new Walgreens. A transformative Walgreens.