Dressed for the future

December 6, 2017By Future of Retail, Views

  By Dave Wendland for Drug Store News November 6, 2017 This week I was reminded by my two great nieces that we need to be setting goals and looking into the future. Living in the present or only perpetuating the status quo will not fuel growth and reinvention. When you look in the near and not-so-near … Read More

Resolution: Plan for and embrace change

November 22, 2017By Behind the Shelf Blog, Future of Retail, Resolutions

By Brittany Benson, lean project and research specialist, for the Resolutions blog series It’s hard to find industry articles that don’t talk about how retail is changing or needs to change. I read Seth Mendelson’s recent Editor’s note about his journey (he’s Drug Store News’ new associate publisher/editor in chief), and I thought he had very encouraging … Read More

Natural products, value-based shopping gaining traction

September 25, 2017By Future of Retail, Views

  By Jen Johnston as seen in Chain Drug Review, August 21, 2017 Consumer affinity for natural products has quickly extended beyond food and beverages into over-the-counter and personal care products. According to Kline Group, the U.S. market for natural personal care products has grown over 7% recently, while the U.S. market for natural O-T-C medicines … Read More

Make shoppers’ online experience as close as possible to being in store

September 1, 2017By Behind the Shelf Blog, From the desk of, Future of Retail, Importance of image quality

From the desk of Julie Massey, visual assets manager When it comes to beauty products – specifically cosmetics and nail care – there’s a different standard for effectively photographing them so the online experience comes as close as possible to the in-store. Because cosmetics are applied to prominent and delicate features, it’s important for most users … Read More

Oh, the Places We’ve Been!

May 26, 2017By Future of Retail, Views

  by Dave Wendland, as seen in HealthCare Distributor magazine, Out of the Box column, March/April 2017 Among the works of the late, great Dr. Seuss, is his classic book entitled, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, the story speaks of “soaring to high heights and seeing great sights to being left in a Lurch on a prickle-ly perch.” … Read More

New ideas on use of retail real estate generate excitement

May 22, 2017By Future of Retail, Views

  By Dave Wendland as seen in Chain Drug Review, April 24, 2017 Call them pop-ups or stores-within-a-store, the use of retail real estate is transforming before our very eyes. And it seems to be happening everywhere. Let’s begin with a definition. What is a store-within-a-store? Simply put, it’s an entire category, grouping of products or … Read More

The next big generation in brick-and-mortar

May 19, 2017By Behind the Shelf Blog, Future of Retail

by Brittany Benson, manufacturer research specialist There is so much talk about Millennials, and now the wave of Generation Z begins. If you are a small business and don’t compete on the same intense technology resource and capability level of the big players, do you really need to pay attention? Is there anything you can do … Read More

The pace of market changes

March 9, 2017By Behind the Shelf Blog, Future of Retail

by Dave Wendland Ten years ago, Steve Jobs led the efforts for Apple® to launch the first iPhone® and the promise of this newfangled technology was not known. Today, with few exceptions, the reach of smartphones – led by the iPhone – is nearly ubiquitous. What do you think is emerging quickly on the healthcare … Read More

Newfangled Collaboration

February 8, 2017By Future of Retail, Views

  By Dave Wendland for Drug Store News January 9, 2017 As you know, the Drug Store News editorial staff has allowed me to imagine a bit in these posts and offer ideas that haven’t been thought of yet. In this post I decided to think of unlikely partners that could bring value to consumers’ health … Read More

Unique retail format? We can accommodate that!

September 2, 2016By Behind the Shelf Blog, From the desk of, Future of Retail

From the desk of Colleen Volheim, category research and analysis manager Shifts in our industry and among the population are moving consumers to rely more on accessible healthcare providers such as pharmacies. With pharmacies developing more innovative services and ways to deliver them, offering a fresh, engaging shopping experience is one way to outpace the competition. … Read More