MIDEXPRESS DRUGSTORES CASE
There are three locally owned Medexpress Drugstores operating in Rio
Bravo, New Mexico. Until not long ago, Rio Bravo had been basically a
“retirement town” with adults over the age of 60 accounting for the largest
segment of the population.The situation made is fairly simple for
Medexpress to target and serve the senior citizen market. Recently, the area
has experienced a migration of young families and middle age couples who
wanted to scape the city life. While at one time 50 percent of the
population was in the 60- years and over category, now both 35 to 45
years age group and the senior citizens are 35%.
Older consumers were originally attratcted to Midexpress Drugstores
because they did not have to worry about dealing whit many children when
shopping, they knew that they would not have difficulty maneuvering
themselves and/or their carts in the extra wide aisles. Many of these
attractions not longer exist. Families with children have become regular
customers of the stores, store traffic has been increasing, and aisle widhts
have shrunk so that additional shelves can be installed as a means of
displaying more merchandise and generating more sales.
Mary Hightower, whose family owns the drugstores, realizes that if the
stores continue to operate as they are presently , ther is a distinct possibility
that older customers will begin shopping elsewhere . While she wishes to
continue to cater to the loyal senior citizen customers who helped
Midexpress Drugstores achieves its current success, she does not want to
ignore the potentially lucrative “baby boomer” market that is beginning to
form in Rio Bravo. You are to consider and answer the following questions: 1) Shouild Medexpress Drugstores concentrate on only the “baby
boomer” or on the senior citizen market? Both? Neither? Explain you
position.
2) What types of marketing strategies could MedExpress Drugstores
implement that would meet the needs of both age groups?
3) How might the changing marketplace affect MidExpress Drugstores
merchandise assortment? What types of merchandise might
management want to add, delete or expand?
4) Should MedExpress Drugstores open an online store to target this
maket?
