Online retail sales continue positive trend

According to ComScore, online U.S. retail spending reached $37.5 billion in the second quarter of 2011; up 14% compared to 2010.This increase represented the seventh consecutive quarter for a positive year-over-year growth and third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. ComScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni stated "It's clear that consumers are continuing to shift to the online channel, with almost $1 in every $10 of discretionary spending now occurring online. E-commerce's benefits of convenience and lower prices continue to be the drivers of the shift."

Businesses that simply don't make sense

We are all familiar with oxymorons = statements that, when combined, are diverse opposites. Well, there are oxymorons in the business world as well. Over the years, I have seen a number of companies that cause absolute confusion. Here are some of the questionable businesses and their practices: A real estate company that also repairs clocks. A plumbing company that specializes in bathroom and kitchen fixtures - but also builds swimming pools. A life insurance company that sells long distance services. A major pharmacy supplier that sells websites. In all of these examples, a company has tried to 'be everything' to the customer, but isn't focusing on their main core business. Since they are not experts in their secondary field, it is usually a method to simply earn more money, at the expense of the customer. Having observed a few of the examples, I have seen the secondary level of business fail miserably. Would you go to your bakery to have a new roof installed? O f course not. But, sadly, in the search for the 'cheapest' route or promises of extra 'free stuff', a customer will try it out. Somehow, common sense simply doesn't prevail and there is always a bottom line payment down the road for a poor selection of service. Typically, it's loss of your own customers. In today's interactive technology, customers quickly see if you choose the cheap road.

The RxWebGenius web presence gives your customers and patients a variety of tactile opportunities: tour your pharmacy, cruise healthy recipes, read changing news articles, examine disease states, drug information. You can add your Facebook stream, a video and offer online refills. www.PharmacistsOnLine.com

Back to school shoppers plan to use Web-enabled smartphones, social networks to save this year

Inflation-related concerns will prompt back-to-school shoppers to utilize newer shopping tactics, which includes smartphone and social network use for this year's savings. According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, 86% of households reported that they expect to spend the same or more on 'bts' items. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents that own Web-enabled smartphones plan to use them for bts shopping, while 3-out-of-5 (61%) will use them to get price information. Additionally, more than 2-out-of-5 (43%) will download discounts, coupons or sale information to their smartphones. Deloitte also found that social networks will play a greater role in bts shopping, with 35% of parents planning to use social networking sites to assist in bts shopping; up from 29% last year. Nearly 69% plan to use social networks to find out about promotions, while 44% plan to visit social networking sites to browse products and 28% will log on to read reviews and recommendations.

Facebook without a website is missing the boat

Facebook has opened the doors to an immense amount of opportunities.but, there is a major difference between a personal Facebook page and a business Facebook presence. A personal FB (Facebook) opens the doors to finding current and lost friends, expressing personal opinions and sharing interesting things about life and the world. A business FB presence should be addressed as on opportunity to have people 'like' you and then a springboard to offer a variety of services, updates, and a link back to your website. I can't believe how many independent pharmacies have a FB presence without a website to link to for customers and patients. A 'web presence' continues the venture for customers to view additional offerings, coupons and special products that you carry. Unless you can compete in pricing with the big box and chain pharmacies, it's not recommended to list standard OTC. No one is going to 'like' you on FB and go running to your website for 'cottonballs and banda ids'. Listing products, specials and coupons on those products that differentiate you from the chains is the key to FB and website success. Customers and patients are not going to 'like' you for a free FB page alone.

New Facebook Management Console: 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. Compete with the chains by ensuring your technology is top-of-mind for your customers and patients. An additional new release will be the iWebGenius: Giving your RxWebGenius web presence the ability to be smartphone friendly. Call 1-866-312-8324 to move your pharmacy to 21st century technology.

Liss Pharmacy, Newark, NJ recipient of the 2011 Good Neighbor Pharmacy of the Year

Matthew Parisi, of Liss Pharmacy, Newark, NJ received the 2011 Good Neighbor Pharmacy of the Year award at the AmerisourceBergen show this year in Las Vegas. PharmacistsOnLine is proud to have Liss Pharmacy as an RxWeb Genius customer and extends congratulations to Matthew and staff!

Bay Street Pharmacy, Sebastian, FL receives Ken Wurster Community Leadership Award

Congratulations to Theresa Toll of Bay Street Pharmacy as the recipient of the Ken Wurster Community Leadership Award. The announcement was made at the Cardinal Health RBC July Show in Las Vegas.

Cardinal Health announces Women in Pharmacy initiative

Cardinal Health announced their Women in Pharmacy initiative at this year's RBC show in Las Vegas. The initiative celebrates and encourages female community pharmacy ownership. Working through NCPA student chapters to encourage female pharmacy students to consider careers in community pharmacy, 20 of Cardinal Health's most successful female pharmacy owners shared their success stories. Mike Kaufmann, CEO of Cardinal Health's pharmaceutical business stated "Today, the vast majority of community pharmacy owners are men, even though women comprise about half of all practicing pharmacists. To support the growth and long-term viability of community pharmacy, we need to do more as an industry to encourage women to consider owning their own pharmacy."

Will we see you at NCPA, Booth # 219 in October in Nashville?

NCPA is having their 113th Annual Trade Show and Convention, Oct. 8th thru 12th at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN. PharmacistsOnLine will be at Booth # 219 and would like to cordially invite you to stop by to see us. Check out our iHealth Kiosk - a fantastic must-see to get the true power of the visual for your customers and patients. Let's talk about creating a web presence with the RxWebGenius (not just website). If you are shopping for a loyalty program, shop no more: the RxLoyaltyGenius is a loyal ty and marketing program that works with or without a POS and is pretty much completely automated. We would love to see you!

FORRESTER REPORT: How analytics drives customer life-cycle management

With the growing importance of Customer Intelligence (CI) in organizations, the role of analytics to extract insight and embed it back into organizational processes is at the forefront of business transformation. However, marketers predominantly enable measurement and analytics infrastructure to serve the needs of customer acquisition, with a limited view toward the entire customer life cycle. Forrester recommends deploying various analytical techniques across the customer life cycle to grow existing customer relationships and provide insight into future behavior. The key is to have analytics yield 'intelligence' not just information, making customer analytics pervasive across the life cycle.

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.

Tesco bringing loyalty program to Fresh & Easy

According to published reports, British retailer Tesco will launch its loyalty card program in the United States. Tesco is launching the program in an effort to make a profit on its Fresh & Easy stores on the West Coast. The stores, which opened in 2007, have had difficulty turning a profit. The new card will allow customers to gain points when they use it, much like the loyalty cards it offers in the United Kingdom and other markets.

NCPA survey: Pharmacists speak out against 'predatory audits'
The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) surveyed 1,850 members and has identified two rising problems: The first is that pharmacy audits often punish pharmacies severely for trivial issues and the second: Pharmacies are not privy to basic reimbursement methodologies prior to signing contracts with health plans and therefore reimbursements are "both lowered arbitrarily and raised belatedly in response to generic drug cost increases." NCPA EVP and CEO, Douglas Hoey stated "Ostensibly, pharmacies are audited to guard against fraud, whereas payment caps are established to ensure appropriate reimbursement for generic drugs. However, this survey indicates that both have gone well beyond their intended purpose, while padding windfall PBM profits. Left unchecked, these practices will further undermine both the pharmacists' ability to care for patients, as well as the viability of small business, community pharmacies and the local jobs and taxes they provide." Other survey findings include: Excessive audits decreasing pharmacists' time to devote to patients. 62% considered the audit requirements to be inconsistent from one health plan to another. 48% of pharmacists reported auditors asking them to justify claims that are two years old or older. 98% said PBM record-keeping requirements go beyond state and federal law, and, that even minor incidental instances of noncompliance are harshly penalized by commission-driven auditors. Community pharmacies must sign 'blind' - take-it-or-leave-it contracts with large PBMs to maintain access to patients. Nearly all (91%) community pharmacists reported receiving little or no information justifying how PBMs arrive at reimbursement rates for generic drugs and how often the prices will be updated to reflect a pharmacy's cost. 71% of the pharmacists tried to use the PBMs appeals process when they believed that reimbursement caps, or MACs, did not reflect correct pharmacy costs. Many complained about the one-sided nature of the appeals process and noted that MAC-based reimbursement can take months to increase after drug costs spike (and is virtually never retroactively done), but is reduced immediately when prices go down.

Walgreens to offer private health insurance plans this fall

CNNMoney reported that Walgreens is planning on selling health insurance, possibly as soon as fall of 2011. According to the report, Walgreens declined comment on the matter. The Chicago-based pharmacy-and-more operator would sell health insurance products with different price ranges and coverage levels across its network nationwide through a private health insurance exchange. Health reform mandates the creation of federal and state-funded public health insurance exchanges by 2014 that will offer subsidized insurance for uninsured and underinsured people. According to CNNMoney, TripleTree, an investment banking firm focused in the healthcare and technology market, estimated that from 2014 through 2019 as many as 36 million consumers will buy their health insurance from exchanges.

PharmacistsOnLine selected as a Cardinal Health Preferred Vendor

RxWebGenius is the only true 'web presence' for your pharmacy. We are focused on the features you need, the support you want and the easy control to make unlimited changes to your site 24/7. We have designed a special site for our Cardinal Health and Kinray pharmacies that give you the tools to compete in today's market and we include: unlimited support and training; with more features than any other company. Don't fall prey to companies, offering a cheap, static (non-changing, yellow pages style) site. The 5-7 page site is no longer acceptable in today's internet. Your customers and patients are looking for a robust web presence that includes interactive tools, over 10,000 pages of health & wellness, refills, custom pages and streaming social media feeds. No hidden costs or surprises. Over 11 years devoted to our independents , we pride ourselves on experience, customer service and longevity in an American company. Over 3,500 sites hosted: we are the professionals you seek for your pharmacy branding and the marketing you need. The RxWebGenius is a fully contained web presence for the customers of today. Whether you are looking for streamlined.all the way to full e-commerce. Let us show you what a website is supposed to be.

For additional information call 1-866-312-8324 for go to: www.RxGenius.com and click on the "For Cardinal Health Pharmacies" left hand tab. Click on the lower right hand 'Cardinal Health Pharmacies Flyer' tile for a list of the features.