Consumers turn to internet for deals as alternate for state of economy concerns

According to a SymphonyIRI Group Survey, concerns over the health of the economy are not over. The group found that consumers continue to turn to the internet to find the best deals. From coupon clipping and in-store digital touchscreens and smartphones, consumers are levering digital media, with 8% of consumers using the internet to make lists. There seems to be an app for everything in today's world and pharmacies need to stay ahead of the digital curve to meet the customer needs. "For instance, mid-to upper-income households (earning $55,000 to $99,000 annually) use the internet more than most other consumer segments for various day-to-day activities, yet the wealthiest shoppers (earning more than $100,000 annually) are slightly behind this segment. " said Srishti Gupta, EVP emerging media solutions at SymphonyIRI. Gupta added that "The mid-to upper-income segment has higher broadband, as well as a larger number of devices, such as laptops and smartphones, at their fingertips.

FORRESTER REPORT: How Online and Mobile Behaviors are Changing

For the first time, the average US online consumer reports spending as much time online as he or she does watching TV offline. Trending data from 2007 shows that while consumers are continuing to expand their online behaviors, they are more selective about what they are doing online. Many behaviors are limited to a select group of users. But as consumers are streamlining their behaviors on the 'traditional' net, they are also increasingly expanding their activities to the mobile internet.

*New Smartphone friendly RxWebGenius and Facebook Management Console: RxWebGenius web presence will soon be smartphone friendly! Compete with the chains by ensuring your technology is top-of-mind for your customers and patients. We are also adding a new feature release: A simple control area that allows you to check a box to Select articles, products, specials, coupons or anything from your RxWebGenius web presence to easily add as part of your Facebook and feed on the site.

Call 1-866-312-8324 to move your pharmacy to 21st century technology.

FORRESTER REPORT: Understanding the Intricate Digital Behaviors of Young Consumers

Young consumers are now connected to media at almost every minute. This could rationally lead you to think that the more places they are connected, the more ways there are (and the easier it is) to interact with them. This is where professional market researches and technology companies need to step in and push their companies to dig deeper than just measuring the time spent on a media channel. They need to truly understand these consumers' core motivations for using it. It comes as no surprise that almost half of 12- to 17-year olds are online multiple times a day, the most of any age bracket. But while they're spending more of their time online, only 6% want to be friends with a brand on Facebook- half the number of 18- to 24-year-olds who do. For market researchers, this means that they're going to need a much better understanding of what young consumers are sharing on these networks- and who they are engaging with, in order to uncover more influential opportu nities for their brands to connect with them.

Being smart helps retailers grow
Bryan Gildenberg, chief knowledge officer of Kantar Retail, offered a key message to attendees of the NACDS Marketplace in Boston: There's a tremendous upside for retailers and suppliers, but it will come from doing things differently than in the past. According to Gildenberg, fragmentation will be the core issue for those under 43. Non-store retail, which includes all of the dot.com businesses, will experience significant growth, representing an estimated 30% to 35% of retail grown in the United States over the next five years. When ranked by sales added through 2016, the estimated top five retailers experiencing the greatest growth will be Walmart, Amazon.com, Kroger, Walgreens and Costco - all of different retail channels. Digital integration and creating an experience for customers will be important and is already beginning to take shape in the form of interactive surfaces that complement products and purchase decision assistance with the added benefit of prod uct availability to help shoppers make a better digital decision. Gildenberg explained that the "new convenience", particularly for the bricks-and-mortar retailers is in four key elements: *Immediacy (why the store?) *Smaller, proximate stores (to the store); *Operational excellence (in the store); and *Frictionless payment (through the store). Gildenberg reinforced that there is absolutely no correlation at the retailer level between the store size today and the ability to grow- being big doesn't help you grow- being smart does.

FORRESTER REPORT: Mobile Commerce Forecast: 2011 To 2016

Mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by 2016. While this represents a compounded annual growth rate of 39% from 2011 to 2016, mobile commerce is expected to be 7% of overall eCommerce sales by 2016. More consumers will purchase more products and categories on their mobile devices over time. Retailer investment in the mobile channel will continue to remain modest as companies struggle to value the ROI around mobile investments and cautiously navigate many difficult questions such as: how many devices to bet on, whether to partner with third parties, whether to develop an app, how to integrate mobile into store operations, and how to value the impact of mobile on overall sales.

Pew Internet: Smartphone Adoption
& Use

In its first standalone measure of smartphone ownership, the Pew Internet Project has found that one third of American Adults =35%, own smartphones. The Projects May survey found that 83% of US adults have a cell phone of some kind, and 42% own a smartphone. That translates to 35% of all adults. Pew's smartphone definition: 1/3 of cell owners (33%) that say their phone is a smartphone -or- 2 in 5 cell owners (39%) say their phone operates on a smartphone platform. 87% of smartphone owners access the internet or email on their handheld, including 2/3 (68%) who do so on a typical day.

FORRESTER REPORT: CMOs Must Have Social Networking to Lead The Brand Experience

CMOs indicated that, in the age of the customer, collaboration and influence through social networking will have the biggest impact on their organizations in the next three to five years. However, only 16% of CMOs think that to become successful leaders, it's necessary to become proficient at social media themselves. Forrester believes that CMOs who personally participate in social media will be better at: 1} leading the new brand experience, and 2} leading a new generation of cross-functional marketing.

Cardinal Health RBC Show: Success for Pharmacists OnLine

This year's Cardinal Health RBC show in Las Vegas was a resounding success for the PharmacistsOnLine products. As a 'Cardinal Health Preferred Vendor' for the RxWebGenius, Pharmacists from around the country viewed and purchased many of the independent-specific products, including the RxWebGenius, iHealth Kiosk, the RxLoyaltyGenius and Content Genius.

"Independents are looking for easy-to-use technologies that offer quality and excellence for the customers and patients", stated Paul DeBonis, COO of Living Naturally, parent company of PharmacistsOnLine. "As a company, PharmacistsOnLine focuses on core products that will reflect a level of professionalism for the pharmacy, while offering the competitive edge our independents need. We understand that pharmacists have very little free time to adopt new programs. We address this by making our technology easy to use and giving our customers control for their unique needs. To accommodate our pharmacies, our complete website package includes unlimited training and support. This gives them the ability to make the changes they need and put their marketing efforts on autopilot. While other programs charge extra for these services, we i nclude them in an all-inclusive package, which gives our pharmacies the kind of appeal they need in today's tech-savvy world."

PharmacistsOnLine has designed a special level of RxWebGenius 'web presence' for our Cardinal Health and Kinray pharmacies that includes time-sensitive control and a full compliment of marketing tools. Our Customer Service Department works with our pharmacies to assist in one-on-one marketing, addressing the unique needs of each pharmacy. Call 1-866-312-8324 for additional information.

Consumer Reports: Rx labels miss mark on providing important safety information

According to Consumer Reports, important safety information is often missing from drug labels, while some pharmacies don't include medication guides required by the Federal Government. This statement is based on a "spot check" investigation by Consumer Reports. They sent staff members to Costco, CVS, Target, Walgreens and Walmart stores in Yonkers, N.Y., to fill prescriptions for Warfarin, a common blood-thinning drug. While cautioning that their findings were not representative of the retailers at the national level, the staffers found that four of the pharmacies didn't provide medication guides and the materials they were provided differed from the ones approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The materials also contained conflicting warnings about using alcohol with the drug, while the FDA recommends that patient not drink at all while using Warfarin. Medication guides from Costco and CVS advised patients to "limit or avoid" alcohol. The number of warnings on the bottles differed as well. Prescriptions filled at Target and Walgreens each had four warnings printed directly on the labels, while CVS has three and Costco had two warning stickers. Consumer Reports Health prescription drug editor, Lisa Gill, blamed a lack of unified, national standards for the problem.

NACDS seeks to renew focus on value of community pharmacy

In June, 2011, The National Association of Chain Drug Stores called for a renewed focus on the value of community pharmacy. It seems the focus of the organization is to offer a critical message that is taking root among forward-thinking and results-oriented policy makers, payers and employers. NACDS president and CEO, Steve Anderson, announced the next phase of NACDS' proactive campaign to educate elected officials and candidates at both the national and state levels- and to evaluate NACDS' support for candidates based on their recognition of community pharmacy's ability to improve health and reduce overall healthcare costs. NACDS will engage its RxImpact Votes program and other initiatives to help drive home the message of pharmacies as the face of neighborhood healthcare.

FORRESTER REPORT: Navigating The Customer Lifetime Value Conundrum

Customer lifetime value (CLV), is a forward-thinking indicator of customer profitability and has become common parlance as relationship marketing gains momentum. Calculating CLV remains a significant iterative process within organizations and is often fraught with challenges in each step. At best, organizations arrive at close estimates based on how they choose to design the model. The process remains expensive, error-prone, and often lacks real-world application. The effort required to prepare for and progress through model development is where 'Customer Intelligence' (CI) professionals need to do the heavy lifting.

CVS Puts Emphasis on ExtraCard Rewards

The CVS ExtraCare Rewards program celebrates its 10th year anniversary this year. As of July, 2011, CVS is sending out the rewards in a quarterly fashion for their customers to use on almost anything in the store. The CVS/Pharmacy has added an extra net push by including interactive content on their Facebook page, offering extra savings opportunities and videos.

The RxLoyaltyGenius program is a true 'customer intelligence' loyalty program, allowing you to compete on an even playing field with the chains. Almost completely automated, you spend 10 min/mo using a technology tool designed to give you the ability to understand customer lifetime value and become a marketing guru. www.RxLoyaltyGenius.com 1-866-312-8324 for information and a personal online demo/tour.

Ford developing health care in the dashboard

In June, 2011, Ford Motor announced a new hands-free interaction health platform for their vehicles. Partnering with WellDoc, a healthcare company that develops technology solutions to improve chronic disease management outcomes and reduce healthcare costs, Ford vehicles will be offering SUNC voice-activated in-car connectivity around allergies and diabetes. The SYNC system will enable access to SDI's Pollen.com Allergy Alert application. People with diabetes can enter their data, such as medications, exercise and diet information, through speech-to-text interaction. Ford is creating an environment to transform the car into an access port that delivers health management content to patients.

Walgreens may drop military pharmacy plan

In not renewing the pharmacy contract with ExpressScripts, the company that manages the military TriCare program, 90 million prescriptions for military members and their families will be affected.