Cross-Pollination in Healthcare; Could this work for Apparel? Let’s play The Match Game

Have you noticed all the cross-pollination in the healthcare industry? You don’t need to be an industry analyst to do so; just being a customer is enough.

Recently I went into my local Rite-Aid which proudly announced that there was a Walgreen’s pharmacy now inside (this Rite-Aid is owned by Walgreens). Rite-Aid has split the baby further in an alliance with Albertson’s, which owns multiple large supermarket chains: Safeway, Vons, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs and the New York-based meal kit company Plated (oh, I can’t resist: deliver your drugs with your dinner?). So, soon you may see Rite-Aid pharmacies or clinics or shops in your local food market.

There is more: CVS pharmacies in Target; CVS is also buying Aetna, so soon you can get your drugs and your health insurance in Target. Crazy? Walmart is teaming with Humana and has kiosks in their stores-wonder if WM can Roll Back the price of healthcare?

Above-mentioned giant Walgreens is teaming with United Health Care to open urgent care centers. Here’s an exciting possibility (really!). Once you get treated and a prescription, you get your drugs right there (in Hong Kong, China etc. dispensaries are commonly in hospitals and doctors’ offices).

I am sure the story will continue in the healthcare industry; so, wait, how crazy is it to imagine some of the same pairings in apparel?

I will offer just a few here- the point is, let’s see how crazy this is and what crazy pairings (or threesomes if that works for you) that you can come up with.

Ok, here we go:

1. Nike and Levi’s- Two icons who need help with their identity. Git yer shoes with y’alls jeans.
2. Tommy John and 7 For All Mankind- feel good about yourself.
3. American Giant and Hanes- Feel REAALLY good about yourself.
4. Everlane and Speedo- Life in the fast lane?
5. Victoria’s Secret and Buck Naked Underwear- What happens in Duluth, stays in Duluth.
6. Zara and Burberry- In case the fast fashion makes you dizzy or disoriented.
7. Old Navy and Ralph Lauren- I can’t figure this out either, but there must be something if they can have the same CEO.
8. Sears and Best Made- the hat guy with the earflaps looks like the Sears customer.
9. Macy’s and Uniqlo- In case you can’t find the style you want or that you should be wearing, and that you feel good about the value- console yourself with the discounts piled upon discounts.
10- Levi’s and Buitrago Jeans- Looking for adventure, and whatever comes our way. Jeans as establishment icon, or what they were intended to be since Woodstock?
11- Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf-Goodman- We built this city on fashion, and now we wonder what is left of our message? Can the two old ladies of NY retail revive fashion r-e-s-p-e-c-t?
12- Macy’s and Chicxulub Crater Yucatan (where the asteroid hit)- Which is more destructive to civilization as we know it? The asteroid 66 million years ago, or Macy’s, who sanitized and neutered the American retail industry?…

Let’s have some fun with this. We need a team effort to make this really funny and provocative. GO for it! I am sure there are so many more ideas!


Thanks to source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2018/05/15/rite-aid-albertsons-well-be-top-5-health-food-and-wellness-player/2/#5ff7a30260d9