Monthly Retailer Category Tips — First Aid
by Kelly Zygowski, category analyst, part of Monthly Retailer Category Tips The first aid category ranks 7th in the independent pharmacy class of trade. Use the tips below to spruce up your department and build traffic and sales! Our analysts created a list of 17 items that should be in all first aid kits. As […]
HRG Makes Significant Updates to Industry-standard Fine Line Classification System
Waukesha, Wisconsin — March 2, 2026 — HRG has completed its semiannual update of its Fine Line Classification System for health, beauty, and wellness (HBW), home health care (HHC), and general merchandise (GM) products with notable adjustments to reflect industry changes. The March 2026 updates include changes to address items which may support GLP-1 side […]
HRG’s Future 50 of 2024: A look at the top 10 forecasted products and their categories
See the full Future 50 list here.
HRG Reviews 1,837 New HBW Items in 2024
Waukesha, Wisconsin— February 12, 2025 — HRG’s new item review team, in its ongoing evaluation of products suitable for the independent pharmacy channel, examined 1,837 new health, beauty, and wellness (HBW) items in 2024. This is an increase of 12.4% from the 1,634 products reviewed in 2023. The increase is noteworthy as HBW item launches […]
Must Have: High quality product images
From the desk of Lisa Lopez, digital assets manager, part of the Importance of Image Quality blog series According to a report from ShipStation that surveyed 8,000 households across the US, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Italy, and Spain, most consumers shop online and in-store on the same customer journey, with fewer exclusively browsing and buying […]
Data is new cornerstone of assortments, planograms
by Colleen Volheim, category research & analysis manager, as seen in Chain Drug Review Assortment planning and the planogram development process have evolved, thanks to the availability of more robust data and feature-rich software platforms. At the same time, consumers’ heightened expectations of their shopping experience have shifted over the past five years, with more ways […]
The role of a data repository
by Dave Wendland, vice president strategic relations, for Drug Store News According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of repository suggests that it is a place, building, or receptacle where things are or may be stored. However, when it comes to product information and data assets, the repository must not only provide storage and access […]
Single Source of Truth: Managing your PIM/DAM vendor
This blog series about a single source of truth for product content is based on the webinar, Let’s Get Digital, presented for the CHPA Academy in March 2024. by Lisa Lopez, HRG data assets manager, part of the Single Source of Truth blog series Product information management (PIM) and data assets management (DAM) platforms are both […]
Is intelligence becoming artificial?
by Dave Wendland, vice president strategic relations, as seen in America’s Pharmacist Dispensing medications is no longer enough to sustain a profitable independent pharmacy. As prescription and dispensing costs have increased and reimbursement rates have declined, introducing expanded patient care services is necessary for retail pharmacies to not only fill a market void, but also improve […]
Single Source of Truth: Utilizing AI for data capture efficiencies
This blog series about a single source of truth for product content is based on the webinar, Let’s Get Digital, presented for the CHPA Academy in March 2024. by Lisa Lopez, HRG data assets manager, part of the Single Source of Truth blog series Data is captured many different ways and artificial intelligence (AI) is getting […]