verage provided by the insurance companies and management companies with which Rite Aid has relationships, and the co-promotion and co-branding activities that both companies plan to undertake. The relationship with GNC includes the exclusive right to sell and be the online provider of GNC-branded products and the reciprocal co-promotion of drugstore.com and GNC products in traditional and online marketing efforts.Drugstore.com’s objective is to “become one of the world’s leading retailers of health, beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy products,” and they are well on their way, with the launch of a new Health and Beauty Store on the website of the leading retailer Amazon.com. This store provides a direct gateway to drugstore.com. When customers go to the Amazon.com home page they can click on the Health and Beauty tab and enter into the drugstore.com online storefront. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, states, “ We are always looking for ways top improve the Amazon.com shopping experience. We want our customers to come to us and find anything and everything they might want to buy online.” This alliance provides tremendous opportunity for drugstore.com to expand its customer base and continue its exceptional growth. Peter Neupert remarks that this “launch of the Health and Beauty Store on Amazon.com is a big win for our customers. By opening our store on the Amazon.com site, we’re making it easier and more convenient for customers to shop for health and beauty products while they’re shopping at Amazon.com.”Being new to the online drugstore industry and showing a loss for 1998 and 1999 does not equate a weak or disappearing drugstore.com. Drugstore.com has negotiated mutually beneficial strategic alliances and capitalized on windows of opportunities. First quarter sales for 2000 are $22,738,000, following the trend of quarterly increases since its incept...
