INSIGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES

ALBANY, N.Y. — The cost of acquiring a Facebook “liker?" Less than 13 cents per fan, according to a Media Logic blog entry posted last week. At least that’s what retailer Kirkland's spent in its pursuit of more than 200,000 Facebook surfers who opted-in on the Kirkland's page. And because the act of a Facebook user “liking” a page is posted on that person’s newsfeed, it fast becomes a case of “if you tell two friends and they each in turn tell two friends ...”

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A new survey sponsored by drug maker Novo Nordisk, which polled Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France, found that about 1-in-5 respondents regularly are unable to attend a full day of work due to disruption caused by episodes of dangerously low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemic events.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The gold standard long-term glucose monitoring test for patients with diabetes proved to be of limited value in dialysis patients, according to a new study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center released Wednesday.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — Anyone wondering what the future of health care under a more consumer-directed model will look like got a glimpse of it from two pieces of news this week.

(THE NEWS: Sam’s Club celebrates men’s health with free screenings. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Why is the news that CVS Caremark has secured the mail-order and specialty prescription drug benefit for Federal Employee Program so important? Well, some pundits might say there is no indication that the integrated retail-pharmacy benefit manager model had anything to do with why FEP chose Caremark over Medco. It doesn't matter. As any football coach would say, "A win's a win," and this is a big one.

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. — A survey conducted on behalf of The Vitamin Shoppe and released Wednesday found that 60% of adults currently take a vitamin or supplement.

NEW YORK — Capital spending for the retail industry is expected to increase 16% in 2011 to $42.5 billion, with all subsegments projecting double-digit percentage increases — except for mass merchants, whose growth is projected to rise 9% — according to a survey by Equity Research.

Although capital spending will be up, it remains well below 2007’s peak of $56 billion. Also, unlike these peak years when a significant portion of spending was dedicated to new store growth, the emphasis will be on maintenance, infrastructure upgrades, e-commerce and remodels.

WASHINGTON — According to a AAA telephone survey released last week, more than half of those surveyed have adopted such relatively simple conservation changes as utilizing trip chaining, reducing shopping trips, dining out less and driving less because of higher gas prices.

As many as 62% of respondents already have combined shopping trips and errands, and if the price of gas should reach $5 per gallon, 68% reported they would combine trips.