Rising prices and looming tariffs are pushing consumer loyalty to waiver as many shoppers opt for the brands and products that offer the best deal, not necessarily the most recognizable name.

Within the consumer healthcare space, look at any big-box or pharmacy store display of toothpastes, antacids, or pain relievers, and you’ll quite often find private label equivalents next to brand names like Tums and Advil. But Haleon, the maker of those brands and many others, has a few strategies to keep consumers picking up its products instead, its US CMO Katie Williams told Retail Brew.

Haleon was created in 2022, spun off as an independent consumer health company from pharmaceutical giant GSK’s Consumer Healthcare business, which itself was formed through a joint venture with Pfizer’s consumer healthcare business in 2019. Its portfolio also includes brands like Sensodyne, Centrum, and Emergen-C.

The company reported strong Q1 earnings earlier this month, with 1% organic revenue growth in North America, where the “consumer and customer environment is cautious and uncertain,” Haleon’s CFO Dawn Allen noted.

“​​Particularly when we’re in an environment where there’s so much economic concern or volatility, you definitely see that consumers are being really choiceful about what they’re buying, where they’re buying it, how much they’re buying, and how much they trust it,” Williams said.

Keep reading here.—EC

CVS is getting experimental.

The retail pharmacy giant confirmed in March plans to open a dozen small-format pharmacies in “select communities nationally” by the end of 2025. The stores will be less than 5,000 square feet on average, with a full pharmacy and limited over-the-counter items, CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault said in a statement sent to Healthcare Brew.

“The new pharmacies will be introduced in select neighborhoods to help bridge gaps in care and make it easier for patients to access medications, immunizations, and other pharmacist-provided healthcare services,” Thibault said.

CVS is in a period of change as it attempts to course correct from 2024, when its net income plummeted 45% from $8.4 billion to $4.6 billion. Other recent developments include naming new executives and announcing a potentially lucrative partnership with Novo Nordisk.

However, some analysts don’t think the small-store experiment will make a big splash for CVS.

Keep reading here on Healthcare Brew.—MA

If you were wondering whether tariffs are impacting the US economy, this week might be a good time to pay attention. In addition to new inflation and retail sales numbers for April, the biggest retailer in the US is set to report its quarterly earnings.

Here’s a rundown of what’s going on in retail this week:

In earnings: The retailer in question—Walmart, of course—is scheduled to release its Q1 earnings on Thursday. Wall Street is reportedly anticipating mixed results, as tariffs cut into the low-price retailer’s bottom line despite ongoing efforts to reduce its reliance on Chinese imports. Indeed, Walmart warned investors back in February that profit growth could slow this year due to tariffs. Relatedly, the company unveiled its Grow with US initiative last week. The program is designed to provide mentorship and resources to US-based small businesses so they can achieve the scale needed to supply Walmart.

Keep reading here.—AV