John Standley Highlights Retailer-Supplier Partnerships at NACDS Total Store Expo

PRESS RELEASE

Boston, Massachusetts (August 24, 2014) —At the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Total Store Expo today, John Standley described ways in which NACDS programs and services, and collaboration between retailers and suppliers, help the pharmacy industry to meet patients’ and consumers’ needs.

Standley, chairman and CEO of Rite Aid Corporation and chairman of the NACDS Board of Directors, delivered remarks at today’s Business Program of the NACDS Total Store Expo.

“This is the perfect time for us to come together and challenge ourselves to be better, smarter and more efficient in all aspects of our business. Our business is shifting and changing, and we must ensure that we change along with it,” Standley said.

“The Total Store Expo gives us the opportunity to change by building stronger partnerships that fuel innovation throughout our companies. At the heart of this process is the relationship between suppliers and retailers.”

Standley’s remarks complemented those of NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, who spoke earlier in the Business Program. Anderson spoke of the opportunities that NACDS presents for retailers and suppliers to collaborate, and to confront industry issues. Standley provided a case study of Rite Aid Corporation’s advancement as a result of such collaboration, and referenced ample evidence of successful and similar partnerships throughout the industry.

“At Rite Aid, our relationship with supplier partners really began to grow and evolve about four years ago, when we first launched our Wellness store initiative,” Standley explained. “Like other drugstore chains, we were highly focused on becoming a health and wellness destination, offering services like immunizations and patient counseling that went far beyond filling prescriptions.

“So the question became: How do we align our front-end offering to support this health and wellness transformation, so that we can deliver an engaging total store experience to our customers?”

Standley described partnerships that resulted in merchandising concepts that improved engagement with customers.

“I believe that our store at Rite Aid has relevance to our Total Store Expo, and to those of you in attendance here today. Our transformation is unique, but it also has similarities to what’s occurring at other retailers throughout our industry,” he said.

“As we continue this transformation, it must be said that NACDS events like the Total Store Expo have been vital to our company’s evolution, and have contributed to the culture of collaboration and innovation we share today with our supplier partners…This is true regardless of your category, whether it’s a health and beauty item that can help our customers look and feel better, a consumables item that can leverage the convenience of our accessible locations or a seasonal or novelty item that can generate excitement in our aisles.”

Standley also continued a theme that he initiated in his remarks at the NACDS Annual Meeting in April, describing ways in which engagement in NACDS helps to advance the industry’s future.

“Since April, NACDS and our allies have secured another important victory for patient care,” he explained. “We succeeded in convincing the federal government to provide a much-needed delay in reimbursement rate changes for Medicaid so that implementation could be completed in an appropriate way without disrupting service to millions of patients.”

He also noted the importance of supporting the NACDS Foundation’s mission to advance public health.

Standley described separate activities of the NACDS Foundation, which he said are “forming new research partnerships that have the power to benefit public health for generations to come.”

“In May, the Foundation awarded grants to study the impact of medication management on hospital readmissions — and these projects are well underway,” he said.

During the Business Program, Standley also moderated a question-and-answer session with Dr. Ben S. Bernanke, Former Chairman, The Federal Reserve System, who delivered keynote remarks.