CHICAGO, April 11, 2007 – Based on a new IRI trade survey, 87 percent of retail pharmacy executives report that their pharmacy business is growing faster—in many cases twice as fast—as the total store. Further, more than two-thirds still believe that they are not effectively converting the growing pharmacy shopper traffic into increased sales in other areas of the store, including food and beverages. According to a new IRI study, "The IRI Healthcare Report: Leveraging Healthcare as a New Platform for Total Store Growth," best-in-class retailers and manufacturers have major opportunities to collaborate in developing ailment-specific health and wellness initiatives that leverage rapid pharmacy growth and convert pharmacy shoppers into total store shoppers. The study is the first in a phase of solutions that IRI will be releasing on health and wellness opportunities.
"Our research in this area found that four out of 10 shoppers are filling their prescriptions and then leaving the store," explains IRI President of Retail Solutions North American and Strategic Consulting Thom Blischok. “Retailers and manufacturers have a tremendous sales opportunity if they can turn even a small percentage of these pharmacy shoppers into total store shoppers. The IRI Healthcare Report goes to the core of this opportunity and offers thought-provoking analysis that retailers and manufacturers can leverage to gain a new perspective on healthcare marketing and discover actionable insights from pharmacy executives and more than 700 consumers.”
As healthcare becomes a more pressing driver of consumer purchasing and shopping behavior, a strong healthcare marketing platform, based on addressing key health ailments, has the power to grow sales, share and customer loyalty. "The IRI Healthcare Report” leverages insights from the RxPulse™ Patient Panel to identify which specific health ailments will be driving the pharmacy business and how retailers can map these ailments to their own healthcare platform by identifying the better-for-you product attributes that link the ailment to relevant “sweet spot" opportunities across the store.
"Major drug retailers are using RxPulse to determine the impact of healthcare initiatives in their stores," says Senior Vice President of IRI Healthcare Solutions Group Bob Doyle. "We brought the power of this resource to the study to quantify the impact of major healthcare initiatives in place today, including Medicare Part D outreach and discounted generic drugs. We also use RxPulse to focus attention on a tremendous opportunity to develop new ailment-specific programs through retailer-manufacturer collaboration—programs that grow sales across specific categories, brands and consumer segments.”
Healthcare Marketing Growth Opportunity
During the next decade and beyond, increased pharmacy traffic represents a major incremental sales opportunity for retailers that are able to effectively link this department to the rest of the store. The “IRI Healthcare Report” covers a broad range of healthcare-based opportunities that retailers and manufacturers can focus on in their collaborative efforts—collaboration that can help all parties earn a larger share of this emerging opportunity. A few key areas of the study include:
- Clear perspectives from retailers into what is working and what is not working within healthcare initiatives, including Medicare Part D marketing, generic prescription discounting, and in-store clinics.
- A detailed, quantitative analysis of the current retailer impact of Medicare Part D enrollment and generic prescription discounting initiatives.
- A series of case examples taken from best-in-class retailers and food manufacturers that allow readers to compare and contrast their own healthcare platform initiatives.
"A key takeaway from the report is that retailers and manufacturers need to think about their own healthcare platform now or they are going to miss out on one of the largest business growth opportunities of the next decade" adds Doyle. "The report helps retailers and manufacturers understand the opportunity and how it connects to their business."
According to the report, retailers and manufacturers can take action on the following opportunities arising from the increased demands on the pharmacy:
- Establish the pharmacy and store as the shoppers’ expert source for ailment-specific health products and information.
- Link the pharmacy to other areas of the store in ways that increase basket size and shopper trips.
- Create a new health-driven point of differentiation versus competing stores and channels.
- Develop a new health-based platform to revitalize the center store and grow profitable sales.
About the Report
Findings presented in “IRI Healthcare Report: Leveraging Healthcare as a New Platform for Total Store Growth,” are based upon an extensive analysis of consumer information from the IRI Consumer Network™, RxPulse® Patient Panel and InfoScan®. For more information about the report, view the executive summary. To purchase a copy of the complete report, contact Sean Seitzinger at sean.seitzinger@infores.com.
IRI Webinar: Leveraging Healthcare as a Platform for Total Store Growth
IRI is hosting a free webinar, entitled "Leveraging Healthcare as a Platform for Total Store Growth," on Wednesday, April 18 at 3 p.m. CDT. IRI experts will discuss in detail the IRI Healthcare Report that outlines the impact of Medicare Part D outreach, in-store health clinics, and discounted generic drug programs. Participants will receive valuable information on how to leverage these healthcare programs, the pharmacy itself, and health-driven categories for total store growth. To join the webinar, please visit the webinar registration page.
IRI Healthcare Solutions Group
The IRI Healthcare Solutions Group provides pharmaceutical, healthcare, and consumer goods companies as well as retailers with consumer intelligence, targeting, and analytic services for the healthcare marketplace. The group was formulated in response to the increasing need to understand consumer insights and decisions related to prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC) purchasing behaviors, attitudes, and preferences. The Healthcare Solutions Group offers a complete suite of retail tracking, consumer panel and analytic-driven products and services under the RxPulse brand to help its client’s monitor, comprehend, and compete within the rapidly evolving healthcare space.
About IRI
IRI is the world’s leading provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and insights supporting 95 percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare companies. Only IRI offers the unique combination of integrated market information, automated and predictive analytics, innovative enabling technologies, and domain expertise. With IRI, leading retailers and manufacturers are able to quickly discover breakthrough insights driving smarter decisions and actions across the enterprise for breakthrough results. Companies around the world depend on IRI for improved productivity, stronger brands, and dramatic revenue growth. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com/.
###
IRI CONTACTS:
John McIndoe
E-mail: john.mcindoe@infores.com
Phone: (312) 474-3867
Shelley Hughes
E-mail: Shelley.hughes@infores.com
Phone: (312) 474-3675