by David Pinto
As some of our more engaged or more curious readers may have noticed, we have combined our two publications — Chain Drug Review and MMR — to more accurately reflect and perhaps predict the massive changes mass market retailing is experiencing in its various attempts to remain ahead of, or at the least, abreast of the seismic revolution engulfing a business that, until recently, was as stable as … as … Apple Pie.
Amid this revolution, questions abound. What’s next for chain drug retailing in America … and elsewhere? For how long will Walmart continue to rewrite and redefine mass retailing in America? When, if ever, will the real Target re-emerge to retake its rightful place in America’s mass retailing community? When did supermarkets become the new drug stores? Can anyone or anything stop Amazon in its run to the top of the world’s retailing community?
Alas, these questions are more readily asked than answered.
Still, in an attempt to do so, this publishing company has, after some four decades of relative independence, combined the two publications, though chain drug retailing and the mass retailing community of which it is a still-vital part retain separate coverage within the newspaper.
Thus, this unnecessarily long preamble that seeks to explain, and justify, a seismic shift in coverage, and, more to the point, an attempt to bring our engaged and curious readers into the mass retailing community of the third decade of the 21st century.
The key concept behind all this fuss-and-feathers is, of course, change. Therefore, in an effort to anticipate some of the changes afoot, here are five major shifts in mass retailing that are already upon us.
• Where have all the drug chains gone? Answer: Nowhere much. Yes, Rite Aid is yesterday’s news. And yes, Walgreens and CVS are struggling. But they are clearly winning that struggle and, especially in CVS’ case, emerging in a stronger position than they were in five years ago. In the bargain, America’s regional drug chains have emerged in the strongest position they’ve yet enjoyed.
• What’s Walmart’s future look like? It looks, to most intelligent observers, like more of the same — only more so. This, to the dismay and disappointment of competitors, is clearly evident. Not in decades has the world’s No. 1 retailer been as strong, as committed, with as talented and dedicated a group of associates, as the Bentonville behemoth fields today. So the sky’s the limit — and then some.
• Wherein Amazon? Here today and … here tomorrow. But not nearly as impregnable as it recently appeared to be. Want proof? The world’s largest on-line retailer furloughed 14,000 white-collar staffers just weeks before the start of the 2025 holiday selling season. Other clues to Amazon’s potential vulnerability abound. And future issues of this revamped publication will examine them — in detail.
• Wherein Target? Is the nation’s No. 2 discount retailer struggling? Certainly. Is there still hope for the future? Certainly. Target is no fly-by-night retailer whose time is up. Rather, it is a tried-and-true retailer that has hit a rough patch. That Target is aware of the need for action is evident by its announcement of layoffs to cut costs and streamline decision making. More key decisions are sure to follow.
• What’s next? Read our next issue — and those to follow.
