Home Delivery of Everything -- Including Viagra -- Is Here
When I saw the first ad from Pfizer offering direct delivery of Viagra (fulfilled through CVS, but still), I knew retail as we know it was over. The conventional wisdom is about to be toast: Women go to drug stores to get the family prescriptions fulfilled and while the pharmacist does his work, she goes into the cosmetics and hair care aisles to shop for herself. Poof! Nurturing and self-indulgence under one roof. Pfizer led with Viagra and has added other drugs during the past year. Tick tock, tick tock. It's only a matter of time before all Brand name drugs arrive via the United States Postal Service (Going to virtually every address in the country, virtually everyday, what else can they deliver? Don't get me started!), probably improving compliance, definitely offsetting the power of generics and upending the rationale for all those drug stores on every block. Walgreen's, CVS, RiteAid: Are you paying attention? Radio Shack isn't the only retailer that needs to go through a footprint contraction.
How about the Rx companies with strong OTC and personal care businesses? Made total sense for a long time, since aspirin, shampoo, suntan lotion, band-aids and vitamins were all on the same list as our 'scripts. But remove the Rx from the store and how do those portfolios look?
The Rx drug makers win by getting to know their patients personally. After all, they are being invited into the home directly. But my worry is for the OTC brands. If they maintain their reliance on mass media to set the stage and their channel partners to know the consumer while continuing to rearrange the shelf sets, relying on FSIs to move goods, they will surely find they have given a party to which no one comes.