CVS execs unveil health and beauty makeover for stores
NEW YORK — On the heels of its decision more than a year ago to pull the plug on tobacco products and rebrand the company as CVS Health, executives are now rethinking every aspect of the store to ensure that it not only reflects the company’s broader commitment to healthcare and but also delivers on what customers have come to expect from its pharmacy locations.
To showcase just how the health and beauty makeovers are playing out within the store, CVS Health executives met with Drug Store News Wednesday morning at a newly renovated CVS/pharmacy nestled in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood for a closer look.
“As we became CVS Health, we also had to raise the bar for ourselves and our customers and really ask the question, ‘Why did we exist and what could we do to help them be healthier?’” said Helena Foulkes, EVP of CVS Health and president of CVS/pharmacy.
The store format, which will roll out this year to roughly 500 stores across the country, brings to life several strategic themes previously outlined by CVS Health to further grow the front-store business:
Better health made easy
Elevate beauty
Customer-driven personalization
MyCVS store
Digital innovation
Better health made easy is perhaps most evident upon entering the store as shoppers immediately see the store’s bolstered selection of on-the-go healthy foods. Situated in the store’s former photo section, shoppers will now find refrigerated units packed with healthy, on-the go snacks. The company has added more than 500 items to the section, including such well-known brands as Chobani yogurt, Kind snack and Panera soups. Also, in many of the stores the front aisle of bagged candy has been converted to healthy snacks like nuts.
“We know that customers are changing how they shop, behave and eat. They are no longer sitting down for three meals a day but are snacking through the day and they want a place that is convenient where they can snack in a healthy way,” Foulkes told Drug Store News.
Looking to better compete with specialty rivals like Sephora and further build on its strong heritage within health and beauty, the company is also rethinking the beauty shopping experience.
Shopping the cosmetics wall, for example, is easier than ever, complete with mirrors and “hot spots” that showcase on a monthly basis “what’s hot” in beauty. The store also features upgraded endcaps and displays to further elevate the shopping experience.
“I think that all of it, including the skin care work, allows us to elevate our brand and give her a better shopping experience and also show her that, being CVS Health, we’re particularly good at the things that she would expect us to be, especially around taking healthy care of herself as she thinks about beauty,” Foulkes said.
Added Alex Perez-Tenessa, VP, beauty and personal care, “What we are trying to do in the beauty department is respond to her unique needs as a customer. This is an area where she is looking for inspiration and she is looking for fun and excitement and we want to make sure that our customer finds what’s new and exciting easily in our store.”
Proactive Healthcare
Drug stores have typically been known for sick care; however, that is changing. Today, consumers are taking a more active role in their healthcare decisions and are increasingly searching for ways to take care of themselves proactively.
This is a shift that has certainly not gone unnoticed at CVS Health. In the new store format, shoppers will see an enhanced focus on proactive healthcare in such areas as women’s wellness and wound care.
“We are trying to help educate her right at the shelf so she can make some really good decisions for herself,” Foulkes said. One area in which the company has tried to raise the bar is in women’s wellness, where it has expanded offerings to provide a wider range of solutions to address the different stages of a woman’s life — not just prenatal but also post-natal; not just products to help manage menopause but also, perimenopause, Judy Sansone, SVP, front store business, told DSN.
“It is another great example of customers being proactive about their health and really taking self-care of conditions they are experiencing,” she said.
Sansone also noted that the company is working on a program with the Arthritis Foundation that helps customers identify the range of products available in store, both OTC and non-OTC, to help customer suffering with arthritis.
Meanwhile, in wound care CVS Health recently bolstered its family of exclusive CVS/pharmacy store brands with the new, exclusive Hospital Series wound care line.
“As we look to continue to strengthen our brand, we are looking to do some more innovative things in our core categories. The CVS/pharmacy brand is actually the No. 1 brand in our stores and as we think about it in our core categories first aid is a great example,” said Cia Tucci, VP, store brands. “We just recently launched an expanded wound care line, which is an exclusive relationship with a supplier who specializes in hospital-grade wound care. … This is one way we are strengthening the core of our brand and we are really excited about this.”
Previously, these types of wound care options were only available at hospitals and select specialty medical stores, Tucci explained. Enhanced by Safetac technology adhesive, CVS/pharmacy Hospital Series wound care dressings, bandages and scar treatments are designed to reduce both the pain and tissue damage associated with wound management.
Tucci also noted that, within core OTC categories, the company is working to rebrand its store brands to the CVS Health moniker. The rebranding will take place across 19 categories and just under 3,000 items.
“The takeaway is we are really trying to bring the best of our learnings and customer insights and bring something that is very relevant to the customer where she is, all within the framework of knowing that, first and foremost, we are CVS Health,” said Foulkes. “We are very focused on pharmacy and healthcare and the role the front store is really to invite those customers in and make them feel comfortable and ultimately serve them around their pharmacy needs.”
DSN will feature the complete interview with Foulkes, Sansone, Perez-Tenessa and Tucci in a special edition of its video series, DSNTV Store Tours, premiering next week on drugstorenews.com.