药店戒烟，并不容易

CVS Health 在2014年弃卖烟草制品，牺牲了20亿美元的销售额巩固其健康管理公司的形象，此后，来德爱（Rite Aid）和沃尔格林（Walgreens）一直面临着是否追随这种做法的压力。

这两家公司最近将烟草最低销售年龄从18岁提高到21岁，以降低未成年人能够买到烟草的机会。但这一举措出台在今年3月受到美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）抨击后不久，FDA发现这两家拥有15000家连锁店的公司，位居15家向未成年人销售香烟的主要零售商之列。

根据欧睿信息咨询公司（Euromonitor International）的数据，除了受到批评、影响公司形象，销量下降或将成为弃售香烟的一个正当理由：2017年的香烟销售数量从2012年的2927亿支降至2527亿支。

烟草业务对美国连锁药店来说占比不大而且有不断下滑的趋势，根据欧睿信息咨询公司的数据，这项业务的总销售额约为16亿美元，但它们是沃尔格林和来德爱急需的客流来源。过去的四个季度，这两家连锁店的非药房销售额同比均有下降。

但相比之下，CVS的销售额增长了0.5％，证明药妆连锁店在戒断坏习惯之后，零售业务仍然可以健康运行。（财富中文网）

本文原载于《财富》杂志2019年6月刊。

译者：Agatha

Ever since CVS Health ditched tobacco products in 2014—sacrificing $2 billion in sales to bolster its image as a health company—Rite Aid and Walgreens have been facing pressure to follow suit.

The companies recently raised their minimum tobacco sales age from 18 to 21—aiming to reduce minors’ access to them. But the moves came soon after a lashing in March from the FDA, which found both chains, with a combined fleet of 15,000 stores, to be among 15 major retailers selling cigarettes to minors.

Beyond the brickbats and bad PR, declining sales would be a valid reason to exit the category: Cigarette sales fell to 252.7 billion sticks in 2017, from 292.7 billion in 2012, according to Euromonitor International.

Cigarettes are a modest and declining business for U.S. drugstore chains—total sales of about $1.6 billion based on Euromonitor International data—but they’re a desperately needed source of foot traffic for Walgreens and Rite Aid. Both chains have seen comparable non-pharmacy sales fall in the past four quarters.

But in contrast, sales at CVS were up 0.5%, showing that there can be a healthy retail life after dropping a bad habit cold turkey.

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 issue of Fortune.