June sales down at Rite Aid, Walgreens

DEERFIELD, Ill. and Camp Hill, Pa. — Walgreens and Rite Aid both reported declines in total sales for June.

Walgreens on posted June sales of about $5.6 billion, a decrease of 6.8% as compared with the same month in fiscal year 2011.



June pharmacy sales decreased 10.7%, while comparable-store pharmacy sales slid 15%. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 2.3 percentage points. Comparable-store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 5.8 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months, by 0.7 percentage points due to the product mix of cough, cold and flu drugs.



Pharmacy sales accounted for 62.9% of total sales for the month.



Walgreens did see a small positive gain in total front-end sales, which increased 0.5%, compared with the same month in 2011; however, comparable-store front-end sales decreased 1%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 2.3% while basket size increased 1.3%.



Sales in comparable stores decreased by 10%.



Rite Aid's same-store sales decreased in June, compared with June 2011, due largely to a decrease in pharmacy comps, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday.



The 1% decrease in overall comps included a 1.6% decrease in pharmacy same-store sales — including a negative effect of 672 basis points from new generic introductions — and a 0.3% increase in front-end same-store sales. Prescription count at comparable stores increased 2.9%.



Total drug store sales declined as well, to $1.9 billion, compared with nearly $1.6 billion in June 2011.