The veterinary clinic pharmacy has gained a new competitor with the announcement that CVS pharmacies are getting into the pet medication business. CVS stores will begin filling prescriptions for many pet products, including parasiticides, dermatology products, pain management, cardio-vascular and several other categories.
There are nearly 35,000 veterinary clinics and only 9,000 CVS stores, so why is this such a big deal? Traffic. A pet owner typically visits her veterinary practice once or a few times a year. She visits her drug store multiple times a month. Plus, at CVS, the pet medications are subject to the same auto-fill and home delivery services that customers get with their own prescriptions. One more thing. Many human drugs are prescribed for pets and those prescriptions are already being filled at the local pharmacy. So, it won’t be the first time many pet owners are picking up scripts at CVS. (I stopped at a large CVS in downtown Chicago this week. The pharmacist was aware of the program but had no training or information about a start date.)
Of course, not everyone shops at CVS. But it will be interesting to see how aggressively CVS pushes its pet medicine initiative. If it’s successful, you can bet real money that Walgreens will follow suit with its 8,000 stores.
No doubt CVS is searching for as many ways as possible to serve customers and bond them to the store. After all, their visits are down, too. Last year Walgreens closed 1,200 stores, CVS about 300. Are pet meds the business boost that will get them back on track?
John Volk, Senior Consultant, Chicago, IL
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