Wakefern, J&J share partnership insights during GMDC HBW Business Session

PHOENIX — Johnson & Johnson and Wakefern Food on Saturday afternoon during the Business Session at GMDC Health Beauty Wellness showcased just how powerful the kind of partnerships generated out of GMDC HBW 2015 can be — a new, dynamic diabetes-centric set co-created by J&J and Wakefern has the potential to generate $1,000 in incremental dollars annually for every new diabetes customer captured by Wakefern’s ShopRite stores. It has the potential to generate loyalty among a growing niche consumer base that represents a marketbasket five times larger than their non-diabetic peers.  



That’s real opportunity that goes well beyond the simple blocking and tackling of slotting inches into a planogram and clearing turn hurdles. “We used to think very differently,” noted Chris Skyers, VP health and beauty care for Wakefern Food. “We looked at the portfolio, we had 700 items and we went year to year [determining] how to recycle events,” he said.



Skyers and his partners at J&J identified the kind of holistic health opportunities that help bridge the back bench and the front-end. “Now when we meet, we meet with a team of almost 20 people, all working on ideas around how to take the health and beauty side, the dietitian’s side, as well as the pharma side and bring it together.”



“As we start to look at all these [health] trends and what they’re doing, and how it’s pushing people into new spaces, that’s where we all have a new opportunity to start to deliver differently,” added Chris Jobes, director health and wellness at J&J. “Enter the era that’s being called the ‘consumerism of health care.’ So many changes are happening; we’re thinking about it differently,” he said. “We’re starting to approach this with a different sense of purpose and look at driving solutions.”



Next stop? Transforming first aid into a wound care destination center. “This [diabetes program] is an example of partnership, but it really doesn’t end here,” Skyers said. “We are building a best-in-class wound-care set that’s really going to address the need of consumers similar to what we did with diabetes. It’s just an amazing transformation. … It’s a different conversation.”



“The healthcare landscape is drastically changing, with skyrocketing costs, and all of us have a great opportunity to drive the market differently, to change patient behavior for better health and wellness choices,” Jobes said. “The consumer patient is helping swing the pendulum. We can help them change behavior, change mentality and stimulate a better healthcare culture.”

     

“The world is changing, and we must look at this new era holistically, in an environment that puts the patient and consumer first,” Skyers said. “We must find better ways to take care of our communities and rethink how retailers and wholesalers work in this new culture, and we must pull healthcare providers further into the loop.”



“Next-practices” was a big focus of the discussion, and strategies were revealed about how stores can redesign their merchandising toward “how the shopper shops,” and where the consumer is commanding change – which can build a significant lift in sales.



“The rapidly evolving healthcare landscape is fueling a seismic shift in over-the-counter products and explosive growth of in-store pharmacies,” said Patrick Spear, president and CEO of GMDC. “This presentation should spark and inspire members to think about their current marketing process and determine how they should adjust future strategies in order to grow sales in this new environment.”