For cold and flu season, allergy season and everything in between, drug stores provide consumers with the advice and relief they need for their ailments. This offering of necessity items, like prescription medications and over-the-counter drugs, has helped ensure channel growth during the recession while other retail channels struggled, states IBISWorld, Santa Monica, Calif., in its October 2012 report, “Pharmacies & Drug Stores in the U.S.”
This consistent foot traffic also boosts front-end sales as consumers stop to pick up a few food and beverage items while they’re in the store, IBISWorld reports. “Drug stores have added milk, frozen foods and other basic consumable items to meet the needs of the time-pressed consumer,” the report states.