Bergen Brunswig Expands to the Internet

Orange-based Bergen Brunswig Drug Co. is turning its pharmaceutical distribution business digital, providing the infrastructure for independent and chain drug stores to sell online, the company said Monday.

Taking its role as a distributor to stores and expanding it to the Internet, Bergen Brunswig said it will provide the products, services and infrastructure that a drug store would need to operate online, including customized Web sites through a new program associated with its Good Neighbor Pharmacy initiative called myGNP.com.

The strategy mirrors a trend in other industries where distributors are transferring their offline role to the Internet, taking over the delivery functions and allowing retailers to focus on the marketing and development roles.

In the case of products for drug stores, the Bergen Brunswig Corp. unit will provide information for merchandising decisions, retail pricing, product selection, and a database of product images and ingredients. The company is also negotiating with a health care information publisher to license editorial content that could be used on customer sites.

While Bergen Brunswig will do the actual shipping of products to customers, it will remain in the background. The retailers will be developing and maintaining the relationship with customers.

“We’re supporting the chains and the independent pharmacists that have already demonstrated the efficiencies in getting customers,” said Brent R. Martini, president of Bergen Brunswig Drug. “We’re pretty clear about what is and isn’t our business.”

The company developed its plans over the last year and has opened a facility in Louisville, Ky., to handle the operations.

Bergen signed a preferred systems agreement with PDX, a software provider in the chain drugstore marketplace, to provide centralized Internet capabilities to chains and independent pharmacies.

Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.