RE: WMT
I am not too sure of the % of sales WMT does in their Pharmacy department, but I bet that they show a double digit increase in revenues if they had a quarter like WAG. WAG was up over 10% earlier this month when their same store sales numbers were released.
Walgreens September Sales Increase 10.3 Percent
finance.yahoo.com
From the article:"...September pharmacy sales increased 11.2 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 7.0 percent. Comparable pharmacy sales were positively impacted by 2.4 percentage points due to seasonal flu shots, and negatively impacted by 2.3 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.
Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 12.0 percent in September, including 5.2 percentage points due to seasonal flu shots and 1.4 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. Pharmacy sales accounted for 67.6 percent of total sales for the month...."
The new drug prices seem to benefit both Wal-Mart & Wallgreens.
sptimes.com
"...Discounters like Wal-Mart account for about 20 percent of the prescription drug market, with major retail drug chains accounting for about 40 percent. Ransom said the biggest likely losers to Wal-Mart's gambit are other discounters like Costco...." "...That's what the folks at Walgreens, the nation's largest drug retailer, are hoping. The Deerfield, Ill., chain filled over 500-million prescriptions last year, about 60 percent of which were generic; 95 percent of their prescription customers had insurance. Michael Polzin, Walgreens' spokesman, said the chain has no intention of matching Wal-Mart's $4 price..."
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WMT's pharmacy has a host of prescription drugs that they sell at a flat rate of $10.00 for a 3 month subscription. They even beat Kaiser's drug benefit plan for all of the common generic brands.
WMT even does Flu shots. They provide a Flu Shot locator here:
flushotsusa.walmart.com
Mollen Immunization Clinics, LLC is contracted by Wall Mart to provide Flu Shots. It looks like Mollen is a private company.
EKS |
