Content about CVS

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — The year appears to be off to a good start and CVS Caremark executives were optimistic Wednesday morning as the company pulled in a “strong” first quarter and narrowed its 2013 guidance to reflect higher-than-expected performance.
 

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in March 2012 vs. March 2013 and noticed some common overall trends across top retail chains. Surprisingly the total number of pages per circular increased across the majority of retailers included in the study which shows that retailers are still focused heavily on their print circulars.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy has launched a first-of-its-kind interactive app, delivering a virtual 3-D digital drug store experience for customers using Apple iPads. 

In December, the retailers that increased their page counts were balanced out by those that decreased their page counts. However, of those retailers that did reduce their page counts, only two also reduced the number of inserts distributed by more than 2%. 

Keeping with their November strategy, Walmart continued its aggressive promotions this month, and has shown a significant increase in both drop of flyer and pages per flyer. They showed the highest growth compared to other advertisers in page counts, and the second highest growth in number of flyers.

Nineteen of the nation’s leading retail and CPG companies received perfect scores on the 2013 Corporate Equality Index compiled by the Human Rights Campaign.

The Human Rights Campaign released its 2013 Corporate Equality Index, which gives companies ratings of up to 100% based on their policies regarding LGBT employees and also released a buyer's guide for LGBT consumers. According to the equality advocacy group, a total of 1,848 companies were invited to submit applications, of those 530 actually did so and of those 252 received scores of 100%.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy has introduced a variety of new features to its mobile suite, which consists of the CVS mobile app and a mobile-optimized website at m.CVS.com.

The new features range from health resources that make it easier to schedule immunizations and identify pills, to a sleeker look and feel for the CVS Mobile app that makes mobile shopping a snap.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — As tropical storm Isaac barrels down on the Gulf Coast area, CVS/pharmacy has announced that, while complying with any mandatory evacuation order given by local officials, it is keeping its stores in affected areas open for as long as possible and stocking them with such storm preparedness items as water, batteries, flashlights and other products to help in an emergency.

With the start of Back to School promotions, (and taking JCPenney out of the mix) we witnessed increase in page count that was driven mainly by significant increases in Walmart’s and Sears’ page counts.

JCPenney has been drastically altering their promotional strategy in past couple of months, however this month, the store did not promote at all, causing curiosity for many customers. (It should be noted that JCPenney did release circulars the week of July 29th that will be counted in the August report.)

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy has launched a new in-store fundraising campaign named Advancing Medical Research, to support medical research and help improve the quality of life for those living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and cystic fibrosis (CF).  Funds raised through the campaign will benefit the ALS Therapy Alliance (ATA), a leading organization dedicated to advancing ALS research, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the world's leader in the search for a cure for cystic fibrosis.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark held its annual meeting of stockholders at its headquarters on Thursday, and the tone attendees heard was a positive one.

According to president and CEO Larry Merlo, the company is well-positioned for growth in an evolving healthcare market.

Merlo made note in the meeting of Walgreens’ battle with Express Scripts, which has created opportunity for CVS to pick up significant prescription business.

The year got started with an overall drop in circular counts per market from five flyers to four flyers compared with January 2011. Conversely, pages per market saw an increase of 7.6% compared with the previous year. 

There was a noticeable jump in Lowes’ number of pages per market due to a 20-page insert dropping in the first week of January this year, where last year they distributed a two-page insert during the same week. However, they reduced their circulation from three to two circulars per market when compared with last year.