DSN INDUSTRY ISSUES SUMMIT
The Importance of Holistic Supplier, Retailer Partnerships The final panel of DSN’s annual Industry Issues Summit highlighted supplier and retailer partnerships By Sandra Levy
Drug Store News kicked off the final panel of its three-day annual Industry Issues Summit on Dec. 1 with a panel of retailers and suppliers sharing their views on how to create holistic partnerships. Moderator Dan Mack, founder of Mack Elevation, started by saying that the nature of partnerships is changing due to a variety of factors. “We’re seeing a world where there’s increased costs, inflation and limited faceto-face interaction,” Mack said. Every time there’s a disruption, there’s an opportunity “if you’re staying in front of it and ask the right questions,” he continued. “We’re in an age of ideas, knowledge and co-creation. The best partners co-create.” Jacob Trombino, divisional merchandising manager of HealthHUB at CVS Health, noted that a key in making a change was thinking about the met and unmet needs of consumers. Trombino emphasized that it’s important
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for suppliers to take retailers along the journey. “What’s your pipeline, where are you going?” he said. “It’s an openness to innovate together and create something that will be customer relevant. We have to have openness to listen to each other. What is the data and respective customers telling us? Openness to being mostly right versus perfect. Some things won’t work and that is OK. We need to learn what works and what doesn’t. I’ve been walking the store with brand and product development teams, whether small or large companies, looking for gaps and needs in the marketplace, and ultimately watching those products grow and sell and deliver long-term value. The customer of today is not the customer of yesterday.” Maya Bowie, vice president of health merchandising at Walmart, echoed the sentiments by stating that we will not create true innovation without thinking about the true problems we need to solve.
“How customers shop, for us it’s all about omnichannel,” Bowie said. “One focus we have is looking for innovation in customer experience. The second focus is product innovation. Pushing on the science to solve the problems. How do we continue to innovate there? Third is around marketing and storytelling. How do we take some of the same solutions and be more relevant, and speak to customers with more stories that resonate? We encourage suppliers to think of the broader ecosystem for customers, including how we are managing conditions.” BUILDING TRUST Shifting to the topic of ensuring profitability, Jeff Mondelli, vice president of pharmacy, health and beauty at Wakefern, discussed how honesty is still the best policy when it comes to working with certain partners. “Delivering bad news is part of the job and may not feel good at the moment, but
March 2022 DRUGSTORENEWS.COM
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2/25/22 9:38 PM
