Wegmans Food-Pharmacy Idea
Much has been written about retailer efforts to include pharmacy in more of their health and wellness strategies. The thinking is that the department is a logical choice for many initiatives that go beyond dispensing prescriptions and hold flu shot clinics.
The problem has been an invisible barrier that keeps retailers from integrating it into the rest of the store. The perception persists that the clinical, dispassionate environment in most pharmacy areas can’t be reconciled with the high-touch, interactive atmosphere promoted in the rest of the store.
Like most perceptions, of course, this isn’t true. Many people know from experience that talking with a pharmacist is about as intimate as one can get in a supermarket setting. You’re talking about your medical conditions, your health and the medications you’re taking.
So, instead of trying to direct customers into the store, one retailer is turning the idea on its head and bringing more of the store into the pharmacy. That chain is Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans, which announced it is setting up healthy food displays next to the pharmacy counter as part of its “eat well live well” wellness program. For instance, summer berries might be there now, replaced by citrus fruits or soup in the winter, and whole-grain snacks before the Super Bowl. MORE…


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