WALGREENS ROLLING OUT DELIVERY IN 15 MAJOR U.S. CITIES
Paying investor dividends for over 85 straight years; Walgreens continues to thrive and innovate as a 100-plus-year-old global healthcare enterprise…
Please note that by March 31st Walgreens had expanded its delivery service to all of its stores nationwide — read how Walgreens and Postmates formed their partnership and ramped up from 15 initial markets to national coverage in a few short weeks…
For over 100 Walgreens has built its esteemed pharmacy empire on strategic innovation. As it rolls into a new decade, it has already introduced a new chief medical officer, Dr. Kevin Ban, a new president, Richard Ashworth, and is now expanding delivery service from 2 metropolitan areas into an additional 13.
Excellence in pharmacy operations: Walgreens
After evaluating various land delivery concepts and models, Walgreens has chosen to work with Postmates. Based in San Francisco, California, Postmates operates its delivery courier service in more than 2,400 towns, suburbs and cities across the United States. Founded in 2011, Postmates generates over $1 billion in annual revenue.
Customers can order items available at more than 1,700 participating Walgreens stores through the Postmates website or its mobile app. They will pay zero delivery fees if they subscribe to the Postmates membership service, Postmates Unlimited, for $9.99 per month. The IT infrastructure and inventory management systems Walgreens operates outperforms well more than the majority of other retailers’ platforms and by aligning the Postmates’ specialized applications to it, the combination is accurate, efficient and easy to use.
Ready, set, go: the Walgreens Postmate tandem chose two of the most challenging test tracks in the nation
Walgreens and Postmate piloted their solution in two East Coast metropolitan areas: Brooklyn and New York City. The densely populated neighborhoods and business districts thick with heavy traffic and other logistical challenges presented the perfect proving ground for Walgreens to create a high performing service that it can continue to expand. The real-world operating environments these locales possess present optimal opportunities to stress test the combination of consumer marketing, desktop and mobile e-commerce technology with ground-based logistical services.
15 major U.S. cities with more to come soon
A robust rollout of the delivery program will likely accelerate its expansion beyond these 15 metropolitan areas quickly:
- Atlanta, GA
- Brooklyn, NY
- Charlotte, NC
- Chicago, IL
- Ft. Lauderdale, FL
- Houston, TX
- Las Vegas, NV
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- New York, NY
- Phoenix, AZ
- Portland, OR
- San Diego, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Washington, D.C.
Walgreens evaluating drone delivery options with Alphabet/Google subsidiary Wing Aviation
Walgreens’ achievements in consumer and patient care success, clinical savvy, operations prowess, financial know-how and technology innovation make it an attractive strategic partner for numerous industry leaders. Walgreens presently partners with Alphabet/Google, Kroger, McKesson, Microsoft, Prime Therapeutics and other dominant healthcare and business entities worldwide.
Its partnership with Wing Aviation (an Alphabet/Google business unit — NASDAQ: GOOGL) is centered on the development of drone delivery of health and wellness, food and beverage and convenience items in the Christianburg, Virginia area. It is an intriguing concept that demands intensive study as it combines the nuances of consumer marketing, pharmacy, retail operations and IT with the attributes of conventional delivery services and the regulatory (FAA) aspects of flight.
A continual thirst for growth and a hunger to compete, Walgreens went public in 1927 (NASDAQ: WBA) and has paid dividends on its stock for over 85 years
Walgreens continues to embrace change as it provides unmatched customer value to consumers, patients, medical professionals, employers and payers. In addition to its partnerships, new leadership additions and numerous innovation projects, Walgreens also has an ambitious cost-cutting initiative underway. Few companies can do all those things well, Walgreens is one of them.
As an organization, its size, growth and success are often overlooked:
- Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) ranks at number 17 on the Fortune 500 list of largest firms
- Market capitalization of more than $50 billion with annual sales of about $136.86 billion in 2019 — figures that represented a 5.8% increase over 2018 with earnings topping $3.982 billion
- With more than 415,000 employees, the organization has business operations in more than 25 nations
- In addition to operating more than 18,500 stores located in 11 countries, it has over 390 distribution centers servicing pharmacies (including pharmacies not owned by WBA), physician offices and other healthcare provider organizations
- The company has a respectable ownership stake of 26% in AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC), a global leader in healthcare wholesaler operations ranked at number 12 on the Fortune 500 list; annual sales of $153 billion
- Based in Deerfield, Illinois (a Chicago suburb), Walgreens was founded in 1901
Walgreens: Driving value for customers, partners and investors
The Walgreens domestic and international business model, transcending online, retail, mail order and specialty pharmacy plus consumer goods and services, as well as wholesale operations, continues to succeed. With its new delivery program off to a great start, it is delivering value to not only its customers and partners but to investors as well.
Thank you for reading this story
Read my other articles about medical and healthcare business trends, content marketing and digital strategy, brand and product management, consumer wellness, managed care and market access strategy. Contact me today for your healthcare content writing and content strategy needs.
I have over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry producing valuable healthcare content for audiences and customers spanning physicians, nurses, pharmacists plus pharmaceutical companies, medical technology manufacturers, healthcare provider organizations, managed care, investors, consumers and other stakeholders.
Visit and connect…
As a healthcare content writer, my work aligns with an organization’s voice, brand, SEO elements, marketplace and objectives. It establishes trust in their company and recognized value in its products and services that generates revenue.
This experience was earned through working at Walgreens, Pfizer, AbelsonTaylor, TAP (Takeda Abbott Partnership), Hospira Worldwide and Boston Software Systems.
To a large degree, my professional interests emulate my family which includes doctors, nurses, physician assistants and other clinicians plus those that are working in healthcare administration and commercial enterprises.
