On Friday September 5, CVS made an announcement that they were no longer selling cigarettes in their stores.  This is their motion for advocating a sustainable healthy life style.  Such an aggressive approach has leveled CVS’s reputation a little above their competitors.  What CVS is shooting for, is acquiring a competitive advantage.  By eliminating a harmful product, and instead replacing it with a service that is aimed at increasing convenience of attaining health care. CVS clearly has a vision of what the future of health care looks like. 

With the affordable care act, mid-low income families are now capable of receiving health benefits at a reasonable compensation.  The affordable care act has increased the demand for health care for this sector of our economy, which is quite a large portion.  Now what CVS is stepping in to do is fulfill this demand by creating more convenient traditions of receiving health care.  Now because CVS is taking such a forward thinking approach, they are backing it up with a complete logo change.  They are now known as CVS Health. 

Cigarette sales have been declining for years(20.8%-2002;14.6%-2011).  As people are starting to be more health conscious, they are beginning to seek stress relief elsewhere, where the ramifications are actually beneficial to the body.  CVS has now taken the next big step in preventing cigarette consumption.  

The timing of this move by CVS couldn’t be better in a time where the demand for walk-in clinics is on the rise.  Although they will be losing out on $2 billion in sales, they are only hindered by 1.5% of overall sales.  By coming out so forcefully against tobacco, CVS is now being praised by other health care providers, who have campaigned against tobacco for years, as well as the millions of people who have suffered the consequences in some fashion.  CVS is actually living up to it’s stated mission to help “people on their path to better health.”