This article is brought to you by Cadence OTC.

One in seven drug stores will soon disappear as chains announce closures—CVS plans to close 900 locations, Rite-Aid is closing 500 and Walgreens most recently announced its plans to close 1,200, reported CNN Business. That leaves room for c-stores to gain new customers.

One major new market for c-stores is in emergency contraceptives. Emergency contraceptives, such as Cadence OTC’s Morning After Pill, are FDA approved over-the-counter medications that aid in preventing pregnancy and are legal to sell in all 50 states without ID or prescriptions.

According to data cited by Cadence OTC, there are more than 2.3 million unplanned pregnancies in the United States each year, and one in three American women under the age of 35 have taken an emergency contraceptive.

“The emergency contraceptive market offers plenty of opportunities for c-stores. It can help draw in customers who used to go to drug stores instead, bring more women into the c-store demographic, encourage more visits and lead to a bigger basket size,” said Kate Voyten, SVP commercial operations at Cadence OTC.

Using data that factored in age, poverty level and the presence of major drug and mass chains, Cadence OTC identified around 7,000 zip codes in the United States that are located in “pharmacy deserts.”

“Convenience stores are a natural fit for addressing the gap in emergency contraceptive care,” said Voyten. “By nature, emergency contraceptives are more effective the sooner you take it, so convenience really matters. And Cadence OTC’s Morning After Pill is affordable for the women who need it, coming in at roughly half the cost of similar contraceptives in the market.”

According to data from NIQ, emergency contraceptives are the No. 1 product in the sexual health/reproductive care category for large food/drug mass retailers, followed by condoms and pregnancy tests. In convenience stores, the number one product in the category are condoms, with annual retail sales at approximately $117 million.

Cadence OTC partnered with Lil’ Drug Store Products to distribute the Morning After Pill to c-stores. “With our partnership with Lil’ Drug, we are expanding access to a safe and effective emergency contraceptive option at an affordable price,” Voyten noted.

The biggest challenge that retailers may face with the product is creating customer awareness—which Cadence OTC said it’s doing for its retailers. “We’re successfully overcoming the challenge of customer awareness by doing c-store marketing,” said Voyten. “It’s a unique approach in this space, and we’re already seeing our advertising driving visits to stores carrying the Morning After Pill.”

To learn more about how Cadence OTC is marketing the Morning After Pill for retailers through geotargeting, look for a follow-up article on Thursday.