CVS Pharmacy

CVS Pharmacy

Introduction3

1.1 Industry3

1.1 Identification and Discussion3

1.2 Recent trends related to the industry5

2. Company6

2.1 Introduction6

2.2 Products7

2.3 Positioning strategy8

2.4 Key Competitive Advantages9

2.5 Customer profile10

2.6 Customer buying behavior11

2.7 Pricing strategies of the company11

2.8 Distribution strategies12

2.9 Promotional efforts12

2.10 Financials14

3. Analysis and Future Direction15

References18

Introduction

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the core business industries across the world. Like other industries, the pharmaceutical industry is also contributing significantly in the global economy. In addition to this, for the purpose of being successful within the market place, it is quite crucial for the business organizations to understand the existing trends prevailing within the external business environment, as well as, its internal competencies. On the basis of the analysis of external and internal environmental process, the future directions of the company's policies and strategies towards achieving long term success and sustainability is in the target market place.

In this context, the report aims to shed some intensive light over the marketing and strategic disposition of CVS Pharmacy, which, is a prominent company in the pharmaceutical sector of the United States. Along with the company specific information, the report also aims to reflect the existing size and disposition of the entire pharmaceutical industry. On the basis of industry and company analysis, the report will present some of the crucial recommendations to CVS regarding future marketing strategies of the company.

1.1 Industry

Before undertaking the marketing analysis of CVS Pharmacy, it is essential to have some in-depth knowledge about its parent industry, which, is the pharmaceutical industry. The analysis of the industry is presented below:

1.1 Identification and Discussion

The company selected as the reference business organization for this report is CVS. CVS is one of the most prominent companies operating in the pharmaceutical and drug manufacturing industry in the United States. Pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing is one of the most crucial business industries of the country, which, is classified by The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) under the Code, NAICS 3254. As per the United States Census Bureau, the pharmaceutical industry can be defined as the group of companies engaged in researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing biological and chemical drugs for human and industrial usages (Pharmaceutical Pharmaceuticals Industry profile 2010).

The size of pharmaceutical industry within the United States is quite large as the US pharmaceutical firms contribute about 80% of the total research and development undertaken within the medical field across the world. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the country, the giant size of the industry can be supported with data from 2010; approximately 272,000 people were employed within the industry. The industry is monitored and regulated by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). As per the data of PhRMA, in 2010, the medicine manufacturers of the country spent about $67.4 billion on research and development (The Pharmaceutical Pharmaceuticals Industry in the United States, 2011).

In 2007, there were about 1552 companies operating within the United States pharmaceutical industry. There are a number of different subsectors of the industry, such as over the counter (OTC) drugs, generic ...