TARGET

The first time Method co-founders Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry tried to sell their eco-friendly cleaning products into Target, the then-buyer told them the products had a “snowball’s chance in hell.” At the New General Market Summit, co-hosted by Drug Store News and Mack Elevation in April, Ryan acknowledged that while lucky breaks may have played a role, there were three key elements in Method’s business strategy that took them from that first meeting to more than $100 million in Target sales in 2016.

WASHINGTON — Target CEO on Tuesday testified before a House of Representatives committee to discuss why the proposed Border Adjustment Tax, which taxes imports 20% while exempting exports, is a bad idea.

"Under the new border adjustment tax, American families — your constituents — would pay more so many multinational corporations can pay even less," he testified.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Direct and indirect remuneration fees and delayed maximum allowable cost adjustment ranked highest on scales of both magnitude and immediacy for rural pharmacists, according to new research released by the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis.

Mass market doors might not be the prime destination for all beauty products, but there are market wedges the channel dominates. An example is color cosmetics, where brows and lashes are leading the charge to attract shoppers. Bath sales are also bubbling again as drug stores wrest customers away from mall-based specialty stores, while also nabbing licensed hits that score big with parents. IRI tracked double-digit increases in the category over the past year.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target’s 2017 fiscal first-quarter comparable-store sales suffered a 1.3% year-over-year decrease, driven by small declines in both traffic and basket size. First quarter sales for the period ended April 29 also dipped slightly from $16.2 billion to $16 billion.

Adjusted earnings per share also slipped by 6.3% versus the prior year to $1.21 per share, but this far surpassed company guidance, which had been between 80 cents and $1 per share.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target could begin testing its Target Restock service, whereby customers will be able to fill a large box of a specific size with as many items as can fit in it, choosing from more than 8,000 household essentials, beauty and personal care items and dry grocery products, as soon as next month, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Original testing could be done in smaller markets of Minnesota to start.

NEW YORK — CVS Health and Target were named to DiversityInc.’s “Top 50 Companies for Diversity” list, which honors the nation's top companies for diversity and inclusion management. Specifically, the list recognizes companies that excel in such areas as hiring, retaining and promoting women, minorities, people with disabilities, LGBT and veterans.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Pharmacy sites located inside Target locations are “moving in the right direction,” CVS Health President and CEO Larry Merlo stated Tuesday during the company’s 2017 fiscal first-quarter earnings conference call.

“We are continuing to see improving script performance versus prior quarters, putting aside the network changes,” he said. “Performance is being driven by strength of patient care programs and Maintenance Choice.”

Retail clinics within Target stores were another area of strength.