Healthcare Omnichannel: Reimagining Drug as the New Front Door to Wellness
- Information Systems
- Aug 7
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 3
-By Rachel Tetreault, General Manager, Omnichannel Healthcare
Consumers aren’t waiting for healthcare to come to them—they’re redefining it on their own terms. Drugstores, once a transactional stop for refills and flu shots, are now the most accessible gateways to everyday wellness. As shoppers demand holistic health solutions, seamless digital integration, and trusted guidance, the channel is being rewritten in real time. From proactive self-care to beauty and nutrition, Drug is becoming the new front door to healthier lives and, for CPG brands, a powerful engine for growth.
Are you ready to evolve with it, or be left behind?
Health-first shopping is exploding:
Shoppers are not just coming for prescriptions. From immunizations, diagnostics, and consultations to supplements, snacks, and beauty products, today’s drugstore has become a hub for holistic care and everyday lifestyle needs.
Yet too many CPG suppliers still view the drug channel as a narrow, transactional space. Today’s retailers are re-engineering their stores and digital assets around health and wellness services, products, and on-demand advice. Moving beyond chronic sick care, it’s about meeting consumers wherever they are on their wellness journey and helping them live healthier lives.
Our Omni Healthcare team has been deeply engaged in this transformation, reframing the channel to align with modern consumer health needs and create a true growth engine. While some brands are flattening or pulling back investment, early movers are already winning share. With retailer-specific strategies, data-driven activation, thought leadership, and the right partner, CPG leaders can innovate, not just distribute.
Why the Drug Channel Matters More Than Ever
Post-COVID investments in clinics, immunizations, diagnostics, and digital fulfillment have transformed pharmacies into health-anchored, omnichannel hubs. These moves are driving traffic, trust, and loyalty, creating repeat visits, subscription-style adherence programs, and margin-accretive baskets.
Over half of drugstore shoppers visit two to three times monthly, with 64% of trips driven by urgency or promotions, making each visit a highly intentional moment for brands to activate. Importantly, 71% of in-store shoppers picking up prescriptions also purchase from a broad selection of branded and private-label wellness products.
This is no longer a single-category play. It’s an omnichannel healthcare ecosystem where beauty, wellness, personal care, and lifestyle intersect. The stakes—and rewards—are significant. The channel exceeds $54 billion in sales, with CVS and Walgreens alone driving $16 billion in health-related retail. And the shopper mix is shifting, moving beyond aging consumers managing conditions. Younger shoppers increasingly see drug retailers as essential health partners, while Gen X and Boomers maintain strong loyalty. Shoppers are also more likely to lean into loyalty and rewards programs, creating opportunities to build lasting relationships.
Winning in a Health-First, Omnichannel World
Success in this reinvented channel demands fluency and flexibility. A one-size-fits-all approach will fail. You must learn each retailer’s dynamics and strategic direction, pivot to support their efforts, and tailor strategies to accelerate speed to scale. For example, CVS is evolving into a health-first destination with localized assortments and omni-fulfillment, especially at the intersection of beauty and wellness. Walgreens is doubling down on community trust, personalized service, and data-driven engagement. Independent pharmacies—nearly 19,000 strong—remain deeply rooted in communities and offer hyper-local influence, often as part of a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO). GPOs amplify reach and efficiency by pooling the buying power of thousands of pharmacies and healthcare providers, giving suppliers a single entry point. One GPO partnership can unlock scale, streamline contracting, and instantly connect your brand to a vast network of trusted customers.
To accelerate growth, leverage retailer tools and data to understand your shopper, monitor competitor activity, and identify opportunities to expand your brand’s role. Develop joint business plans that drive awareness through upper-funnel marketing, then customize efforts to each retailer’s strategy, store fleet, and shopper demographics.
And remember what makes this channel unique:
Immediacy drives trips. Sixty-four percent of visits are need-it-now occasions.
Loyalty is built-in. CVS has 74M rewards members; Walgreens has 100M+.
Omnichannel integration matters. From BOPIS to same-day delivery, shoppers move seamlessly between digital and physical touchpoints.
For CPG suppliers ready to embrace this evolution, the benefits are clear:
Higher frequency and deeper loyalty. Meet shoppers where they already build trust and habits.
Premium positioning. Drugstores are wellness-driven destinations—ideal for launches and category expansion.
Unified activation. PDP optimization, loyalty bundles, and wellness-centric cross-category solutions drive bigger baskets.
Localized relevance. Hyper-targeted activations deliver outsized impact in community-driven environments.
Need proof the right approach works? One major consumer health brand faced declining preference in the drug channel despite category growth. By partnering with our team to pivot—leveraging pharmacy-led solutions, digital offers, and hyper-local assortment planning—they regained category leadership at a top-three retailer and delivered a 12% lift in baseline sales in just 16 weeks.
As the industry converges at NACDS TSE, conversations will center on digital acceleration, loyalty, and creating value across both front and back of store. But one truth stands out: This channel is no longer just a box to check—it’s a lever for sustainable brand growth.
So ask yourself: Are we still treating the drug channel as a transactional afterthought? Are our pricing, promotions, and formats aligned with how shoppers actually use this channel today? And perhaps most importantly, is our current structure built to keep pace, or is it time to bring in a partner who can help connect the dots, strengthen retailer relationships, and accelerate results?
The channel is evolving at breakneck speed. But if you’re ready to reimagine drug as a health-first omnichannel experience supporting consumers at every stage of their wellness journey, this could be your most powerful engine for growth.
