Diabetes management earns front-end spot

As more Americans join the ranks of diabetics, the opportunity to target these consumers at the shelf becomes more crucial. 


Retailers like Rite Aid are using pull-box displays that allow customers to physically handle a blood-glucose meter before they make that purchase decision. That kind of consumer engagement, evident throughout Rite Aid’s latest Wellness format store, for example, helps anchor diabetes as a front-end destination center. 


Sales of glucose meters were down 6.1% to $182.3 million for the 52 weeks ended Sept. 9 across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart), according to 
SymphonyIRI Group data. But with the continued rise of diabetes diagnoses, there is opportunity beyond meters and lancets. 


“There’s actually a place in the category for smoking cessation,” Dave Wendland, VP Hamacher Resource Group, noted. “I know that sounds odd, but there’s a link between those conditions [diabetes and smoking],” he said. “If you place products in a destination that meets more of their needs, they will buy more,” he said. That factor lends itself to dual placement opportunities and strategically-placed 
shelf talkers.

The article above is part of the DSN Category Review Series. For the complete Diabetes Buy-In Report, including extensive charts, data and more analysis, click here.