Introduction
Knowing the importance of a strategic vision, every company undertakes a complete analysis periodically. In order to create a strategic plan the parties involved must know every aspect of the industry and the company at hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the retail drugstore industry and then focus on Walgreens, the industry leader in terms of sales. As part of the in-depth analysis of Walgreens, its major competitors will also be described and analyzed. The retail drugstore industry consists of all those stores that contain a pharmacy and sell prescription drugs. It also includes businesses that sell prescription drugs online and through the mail. Most retail drugstores also offer other
…show more content…
Currently, the most frequent users are children under 10 and seniors over the age of 65. The buyers of health and beauty aids also consist of a wide range of users. Younger users tend to buy hair care and hygiene products initially, then add cosmetics and skin care items as they mature. The addition of a wide range of household items, including kitchenware, toys, pet care items, and lawn care items has enhanced the appeal of the drugstore as a one-stop shopping destination, where frequently used items can be picked up while a prescription is being filled. The development of a strategy that focuses on convenience items will further broaden the target market.
The sale of pharmaceuticals is considered to be a recession-proof industry, as medications are a necessity. However, drugstores are impacted by factors such as payment rates offered by third-party providers, prices charged by drug manufacturers, and legislation impacting the extension of drug patents. Obviously, the sale of non-drug items is not recession-proof.
Suppliers: Drugstores obtain their prescription drug products from the drug manufacturers. Drug manufacturers have been accused of discriminatory pricing due to a practice of selling products to HMOs and mail-order houses at prices 40% to 60% under the price charged to community drugstores. The community drugstores have filed a class-action lawsuit in response to this practice. Many drugstores use large wholesalers as
While Walgreens is exposed to all the general ethical conundrums of the business world, the highly regulated “Pharmacies and Drug Stores” industry does not give much room for them to act unethically.
Walgreens Pharmacy operates in an Oligopoly market structure. The retail pharmacy environment also has the Oligopoly characteristic of significant entry barriers. The barriers are restriction of ownership and restriction of where the business can be established (Walgreens). The ownership barriers are established by the government and state only Pharmacists or an incorporated company that has directors and shareholder members that are registered pharmacists are allowed to open and own a pharmacy. Licensed pharmacists are required to be on duty during the hours of operations.
Many countries such as Canada, India, and the UK have price controls. The governments of these countries impose regulations that control the prices of new drugs as well as generics without compromising safety but at the same time they do not burden pharmaceutical companies
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the industry is low. There are numerous suppliers in this industry, and the large department stores have the ability to negotiate for the lowest prices. In addition, the switching costs are low, as the products are not highly differentiated. There are a large volume of purchases in the industry, allowing the department stores to exert even more power over the suppliers.
The initial intent of this analysis was to identify changes in accounting methods within the financial statements of Walgreens and CVS, as well as to compare and contrast their financial statements, in order to draw conclusions about which company had better earnings. However, in the process of this analysis, with the exception of a minor change to lease accounting by Walgreens, there were no major changes in accounting methods identified. In examining the financial statements for these two drugstore industry leaders, the analysis shows that while each company conducts retail drugstore operations in similar ways, their business models for carrying out these operations greatly vary. These variances in business model
Here doing my research on the SWOT analysis for CVS Pharmacy. Understanding the strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats of CVS Caremark Corporation. CVS is the number one Pharmacy in the United States. CVS Pharmacy has an estimate of two hundred and fifty-eight thousand employees as of the end of date of the year 2016. CVS Pharmacy has high standards for their customers and employees. CVS strives to provide the best pricing in pharmaceuticals across the state, their business is divided up by two segments Pharmacy and Retail and tailored fit for their customer’s needs. CVS pharmacy is located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the company headquarters is located in Nashville, Tennessee. CVS is publicly owned and there was and merger between CVS Pharmacy and Caremark in the year of 2007.Cvs also have minute clinics setup at certain locations throughout their organization company to services communities.cvs2017
Walgreens’ principal activity is to operate a chain of retail drugstores that sells prescription and nonprescription drugs. The company also carries additional product lines like general merchandise including cosmetics, food, beverages and photofinishing. Walgreens is one of the fastest growing retailers in the United States and led the chain drugstore industry in retail sales and profits last year.
Current Industry. The retail drug industry’s 2010 combined annual revenue was $277 billion, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (Drug Store Industry…, 2011, par. 4).The big players in this industry are CVS Caremark, Corp. Walgreen Co., and Rite-Aid, Corp with Wal-Mart and Target developing more of a presence in recent years. According to the article, the drug store industry is very concentrated with the 50 largest companies generating about 70 percent of the industries revenue (Drug Store Industry…, 2011, par. 4). The industry had grown substantially in the last 50 years and will continue to innovate and develop well into the near future.
CVS Pharmacy is the retail division of CVS Caremark. It is also one of the largest Pharmacy Retail Chains in the country and operates more than 7,400 stores domestically. Although the retail pharmaceutical division of this corporation accounts for a significant amount of this company’s success, CVS Caremark focuses more on its corporate strategy to compete with other industry rivals such as Walgreens and Rite Aid. Considering CVS Caremark is the result of the 2007 merger of CVS and Caremark Rx, this analysis will begin with a brief history and the merger of these corporations, its current performance, strategic posture, and the strategic managers of this organization.
I realize that we are months out from actually hosting the clinics however, I think we need to reach out to Walgreen in June if we plan on using them as our first choice for flu shots. I used to work for the company and have some insight into how they operate. The flu shots that they are able to provide are tied to vouchers they must request and receive from their district office. There may be a limit on what they are able to provide. Another issue for them is staffing as they have to have a Pharmacist in the store and at our clinic at an extra cost to them. Diego was the Pharmacist that helped us out last year at the Tzu Chi event, that helped coordinate things Mr. Portillo has transferred to another store. I would be happy to accompany
This preliminary strategic assessment of Walgreens will describe the company’s current corporate strategy and business model. Walgreens’ acquisitions and mergers will be examined as well as the company’s globalization and competitive frame. A brief overview of how the company is performing and its cost-based business strategy will also be examined. This is the first of four reports that make up the strategic assessment for Walgreens.
We would like to thank you so much for all the hard work that you all have been doing. As Walgreens still continue being one of the top largest retail pharmacy in the United States. Our goal and vision has always been; to be America's most loved pharmacy-led health, wellbeing and beauty retailer and to champion everyone’s right to be happy and healthy and that also include our employees. With that being said we really appreciate your loyalty and the excellent work that you continue to do despite our current predicament.
Along with the company's strong market performance, the Walgreens Corporation continually shows considerable growth. 2006 ended with Walgreens' 32nd consecutive year of record sales and earnings ("Walgreen Co. reports..., 2006). Walgreens' 2005 sales of $47.4 were a 12.5% increase over the previous year and over $1.5 billion in earnings were a 15.5% increase over the previous year (Walgreens Corporation, 2006a). Furthermore, a new Walgreens store opens approximately every 19 hours (Carpenter, 2004). Consequently, the Walgreens name carries considerable brand equity as a nationwide retailer known for quality and convenience. In fact, Walgreens has positioned itself as the drugstore offering the most convenience (Walgreens Corporation, 2006c). As such, Walgreens offers drive-thru pharmacies in over 80% of its stores, and nearly 30% of stores are open 24 hours a day (Walgreens Corporation, 2006a). The company strives to offer a merchandise mix in line with this focus, providing customers with one-stop stopping for not only prescription drugs,
Convenience and health come together at CVS which is a nationwide convenience and pharmacy store located on many street corners and busy intersections around America. Their mission statement is a very simple and concise yet powerful one “We will be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use.” I chose this company because it occurred to me at one doctor’s visit that whenever they asked if I had a pharmacy near me, I always responded with CVS. There are also many of it’s competitors near in proximity but my mind always instinctually responded with their business. The company’s credo that is reflected on most of the brands pages now is how they're ‘reinventing pharmacy’ . The company has been making rapid advances in their service offerings
Competition has also increased for the residual revenue streams, as there has been a growth in non-registered pharmacies that sell cosmetics, beauty products and other general retail products. These stores would not be subject to the strict ownership and location rules placed on official pharmacies and as such may benefit from more convenient store positioning.