A 29 percent drop in revenue brought the heat from analysts and the stock market on Thursday (Oct. 15), as Walgreens Boots Alliance reported results from its most recent quarter. But check the earnings call and the picture looks a bit more optimistic. Earlier in the year, the company said it was embarking on a significant digital transformation. On that front at least, Walgreens is putting its money where its platform is.
Case in point: Walgreens relaunched its online-based Prescription Savings Club, offering lower prices on hundreds of medications. Average weekly enrollment in the club has increased by over 400 percent since the June relaunch, with members saving over $164 million of the cash retail price on their prescriptions. Last week, Walgreens launched the Find Rx Coverage Advisor, providing customers with personalized guidance on health and prescription drug coverage options. Its Find Care platform, which connects to telehealth providers, increased 36 times for the quarter ending Aug. 31 versus last year, reaching over 8.5 million visits.
“I really want that to be clear that we are stepping up our game in terms of what we’re going to do to surround the consumer with a massive set of choices on how they want to enter our quarter, whether it’d be physical or online or eCommerce, and it will be a totally omnichannel approach, both pharmacy and retail,” said James Kehoe, executive vice president and global chief financial officer, on the earnings call. “And this will be going on the entire year of 2021, and we will have successive strings of new news over the coming quarters on this.”
Source: Pymnts
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. 