Comparison Shopping
I visited 5 stores to do comparison shopping: a large Target, small Target, large Walgreens, small Walgreens, and CVS Pharmacy. With the exception of the CVS Pharmacy and large Walgreens, the product inventory was limited to 2-3 stock keeping units. The retailers almost exclusively carried pill organizers from their generic brands: Up&Up for Target, CVS Health for CVS, and Walgreens / Well at Walgreens for Walgreens.
Though an expansive store, the CVS Pharmacy was essentially empty when I visited. I easily found the pill organizers near the pharmacy and the aisles for cold medicine and multi-vitamins. The selection seemed disorganized, with mismatched products (spot the command strips) and few patterns in the placement of the organizers.
The organizers that could be grouped by features fell into two categories: the bare minimum products at the bottom shelf and the aesthetic products at the top. The aesthetic products tended to be slim, colorful, and opaque; their descriptions touted portability and privacy. The bare minimum products were the least expensive and simplest to use. One was simply a plastic bag; the other was a circular plastic case.
The Walgreens on Washington Avenue is a smaller store with narrow aisles. It was relatively busy at the time of my visit, and the store felt cramped.
It was difficult to find the pill organizers — I stumbled upon them by accident at the intersection of the eye care aisle and the frozen foods section. As usual, the pill organizers were surrounded by cold medicines, multi-vitamins, and various drug-related products (drug testers, pill cutters). The shelf was well-stocked and labeled.
Only two products were offered: a generic 7-day model and a 7-day AM/PM model with detachable compartments. Price-wise, the products would be considered expensive compared to the selection at CVS.
The Walgreens at Nicollet Mall has two stories. The floor plan is open and spacious. The pharmacy is on the ground level, and the pill organizers were logically located directly in front of it.
The selection was wide and varied, comparable to the CVS. The products were generally grouped together, but several boxes at the top and bottom of the shelf were placed as if they had been an afterthought when the store organized. Rather than hang from a hook, these “afterthought” products were housed in cardboard boxes.
The specialty of the store was truly the extra-large capacity models. One model had a total of 28 compartments, with 4 for each day. Another set a price record within the scope of this research with a cost of $32. The extra-large capacity products occupied the lower half of the shelving, likely due to the visual and physical balance of keeping big objects closer to the ground.
As usual, the Dinkytown Target was bustling with young college students. The pill organizers were located by the pharmacy in an aisle marked “Over the Counter,” “Cough and Cold Relief,” and “Pain Relief.”
Unlike CVS and the large Walgreens, Target had a much smaller inventory (3 SKUs) and stocked a non-store brand product: the Ezy Dose Pill Container. The Ezy Dose product stood out immediately on the shelf with its unique green-and-navy packaging. Additionally, the Ezy Dose product was substantially cheaper than its Up&Up competitors. However, the Ezy Dose product was extremely simplistic, reminiscent of the bare minimum products on the bottom shelf at CVS. They may be inexpensive, but they can only perform one precisely defined function and little else.
The Target at Nicollet Mall is a behemoth of a store. Despite the size difference, it shared the same pill organizer inventory as the Dinkytown Target. The organizers were near the pharmacy once again under a section confusingly labeled “heart health.” It appeared that the Ezy Dose product was selling more than its Up&Up competitors.
Table of Products
2x2 Graph
All but one of the 16 products I researched had a price tag below $10. Therefore, I eliminated cost as a metric and instead selected size (compact/spacious) and appearance (aesthetic/function).
Size is a measure of the capacity for holding medication. Appearance is a measure of beauty (aesthetic) and organizational clarity (function).
Pill organizers have innumerable niches. There are organizers designed for travelers, parents, children, physically impaired people, visually impaired people, those seeking privacy and discretion, polypharmic patients (5+ prescriptions), and much more. It’s a diverse consumer base, hence the vast spread of features.
However, the most consistent complaint about pill organizers is the lack of durability. The majority of pill organizers are composed of plastic and utilize plastic living hinges, which degrade with time. The all-important compartment labels — in paint or sticker form — are liable to wearing away.
In matters of size, the issue is inconsistency. There is no standard sizing system. A great number of reviews relay the experience of realizing an organizer is too large to travel with or too small to carry pills. The Up&Up 7-day AM/PM Pill Planner ($7.99) was complimented for the customizable size it achieves with detachable compartments.
In matters of appearance, reviewers value bright colors, discrete designs, and clarity of labeling. The Walgreens Push Button Pill Case ($4.29) was rated highly for its spinning design, with one customer noting, “It actually makes taking pills fun.”
AUVON Weekly AM/PM Pill Box ($11.99), a bestseller on Amazon, is an example of the best of both worlds. Each of the 28 compartments has deep wells, and the compartments can be detached into pods of four, creating a flexible capacity system. The labels are distinctive and the product’s hues form a rainbow; users comment that the brightness of the colors makes them “feel less old.”
Smart Devices
- Digital assistants like Siri and Alexa.
- Rise of the Internet of Things.
- “Everything has an app.”
Empathy and the Human Touch in Healthcare
- Caring for an aging population.
- Doctors learning to listen to stories rather than symptoms.
- Automating healthcare technology with a friendly face.
Gamification
- Games promote real-life action.
- Digital rewards and loyalty programs drive addictions.
- Adding levels, points, and leaderboards to education.
Personalization
- Targeted ads and the sale of data.
- Controlling public image via social media.
- Rise of DIY, makerspaces, and self-taught creators.
Sustainability
- Increase in recycling, reusing, and composting.
- Sustainable sourcing of materials.
- Green energy.
I focused on implementing gamification. It’s the trend I’m least familiar with. Smart devices, empathy, personalization, and sustainability were already appearing as themes in my designs.
I was struck by the number of reviews mentioning a need for beauty and play to make the pill-taking process bearable. Those on the extreme end of prescriptions don’t want to constantly be reminded of their medications. Chronic illness already occupies much of a patient’s thoughts. It slows down life and dampens the joy in the everyday. An enormous utility organizer does nothing to soften the reality of medication. People want to have fun and forget.
As this is early-stage ideation, I ran with my most outrageous ideas. Many of them would naturally be marketed towards children, but I’m hoping that they can also bring out the child in the adult.
