Shared by Andrea

Interesting how the pharmacy market, once a place to buy your medicine and some traditional mass brands like L’Oreal Paris and Cover Girl, seems to be segmenting into "specialty mass" – not masstige. Pharmacies in France sell a wide range of beauty products with various price ranges. It feels like since L’Oreal introduced Vichy in the US, the market started to resemble more like the French model. Last year CVS launched Beauty 360, an upscale beauty boutique attached to their regular stores. Duane Reade just went through a rebranding and is looking a lot more modern (reminds me of Boots in the UK). However, there are some pharmacies that remained true to their more traditional and/or apothecary concepts that are now building strong beauty businesses according to WWD: Navarro, Pharmaca and London Drug (I would add Bigelow Chemists in NYC). As pharmacies offer a more personalized service and a better shopping environment they become a natural fit for retailing a wider range of beauty products. Why did the US market assumed for so long that pharmacies could only sell the most inexpensive mass products – if it has been a proven concept in many European markets?