Global Retail Alliance
info@gra.world
  • Login
  • Register
  • Newsletter
  • Virtual Library
  • Choose your country
    • Australia
    • Brazil
    • China
    • Poland
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
GRAGRA
  • Home
  • Membership
    • Silver
    • Gold
    • Platinum
  • Event
  • News
  • Retail Tour
    • Our Tours
    • Europe Retail Tour
    • Retail Tour – New York
    • Retail Tour – Düsseldorf
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Membership
    • Silver
    • Gold
    • Platinum
  • Event
  • News
  • Retail Tour
    • Our Tours
    • Europe Retail Tour
    • Retail Tour – New York
    • Retail Tour – Düsseldorf
  • Contact

Retail News

  • Home
  • Retail News
  • Amazon selling private-label medications

Amazon selling private-label medications

  • Categories Retail News
  • Date February 26, 2018
  • Comments 0 comment

Amazon’s major foray into brick-and-mortar via its $13.7 billion takeover of grocer Whole Foods has led to speculation that it could make a similar play in pharmacy. Cowen & Co. analyst John Blackledge​ late last year said that Amazon would do well to acquire Rite Aid. That would have garnered the e-commerce giant state pharmacy licenses and a drugstore infrastructure with pre-cleared regulatory hurdles, if grocery chain Albertson’s hadn’t beaten it to the punch this week. 

Amazon could incorporate pharmacies into its Whole Foods grocery stores as well as into its Prime and Prime Now operations, Blackledge noted at the time. While it may not be able to snag Rite Aid, those operations could still prove handy for Amazon’s healthcare plans.

Amazon already sells medical devices and employs executives to deal with health care-related regulatory issues, and it was previously said to be exploring how to ramp up its efforts in the pharmacy space. All of this has led Leerink analysts to indicate a certain inevitability that Amazon will enter the space within the next two years.

Amazon’s ambitions could go well beyond retail. Last month, Amazon, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a partnership aimed at finding ways to address healthcare for their U.S. employees, with the aim of improving employee satisfaction and reducing costs, with, several observers believe, implications for the entire American healthcare sector. It’s a tall order, but even the tentative, vague outline of a plan put forth roiled retail and healthcare players. Shares of CVS Health, whose own ambitions led to its $69 billion purchase last year of health insurer Aetna, plummeted on the news, along with those of insurers UnitedHealth Group and Anthem.

But Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos doesn’t shy away from tall orders. Furthermore, Amazon puts its focus where Americans put their money, and Americans put a lot of their money into healthcare. U.S. health care spending rose 4.3% in 2016 to $3.3 trillion, or $10,348 per person, according to the U.S government. “Amazon wants to be part of everyone’s daily expenditures,” Matt Sargent, senior vice president of retail for consulting firm Magid told Retail Dive. “Grocery is the current focus of their attention, but healthcare spending is another very large pocket of spending that Amazon has its eye on.”

Yet retailers like Walgreens haven’t been all that worried. Last July, Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina expressed doubts that the drugstore and its rivals would have to contend with Amazon’s entry into the prescription market.

https://www.retaildive.com/news/amazon-selling-private-label-medications/517523/

  • Share:
gsiino

Previous post

Crate & Barrel to launch 40 in-store Crate & Kids shops
February 26, 2018

Next post

Spotlight "Retail Tech Trends"
February 26, 2018

You may also like

IMG_4093
Aldi targets 20 new store locations across the UK
18 June, 2025
lithuania
Retail technology innovation of the week: AI driven age estimation tech goes live at IKI Lithuania stores
13 June, 2025
carrefou oficial
Carrefour first major European grocer to adopt VusionGroup EdgeSense tech, following Walmart roll-out in US
12 June, 2025

Leave A Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search News:

News category:

News Archive:

Last News:

Aldi targets 20 new store locations across the UK
18Jun2025
Retail technology innovation of the week: AI driven age estimation tech goes live at IKI Lithuania stores
13Jun2025
Carrefour first major European grocer to adopt VusionGroup EdgeSense tech, following Walmart roll-out in US
12Jun2025
BAO BAO ISSEY MIYAKE Opens Its First U.S. Flagship Store in Soho, New York
12Jun2025
Kith & Wilson are Coming to London in Boutique Style
12Jun2025

© 2022 Global Retail Alliance | info@gra.world | Privacy Policy