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How Walgreens is Preparing to Fight Amazon on the Health Front

Data recently published by Tech Crunch predicts that by 2025, online pharmacy services will hit revenues of $131 billion worldwide while prescription drugs are estimated to grow to an industry worth nearly $1.3 trillion (worth $904 billion today).

Thereโ€™s little surprise as to why Amazon is getting into this space. And why online pharmacy services strive to provide customers with the best omnichannel experience by paying close attention to consumer behavior trends and adapting to todayโ€™s shifting preferences.

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Last week, Walgreens introduced their new safe and comfortable pick-up service where customers can shop online and pick up their products in stores, drive-throughs, and curbsides in just 30 minutes.

โ€œThis is a new beginning for Walgreens in a lot of ways,โ€ exclaimed Pat McLean, Walgreens CMO. โ€œItโ€™s a redesigned mobile app experience that is a gateway to all things Walgreens.โ€

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As we alluded to in the second paragraph here, Walgreens is not practically reinventing things only to do better CRM and adjust to shifting customer behaviors. Because now they face the long-coming competition of Amazon Pharmacy.

The F**K-ALLL giant launched a delivery service for prescription meds in the U.S. โ€“ which will offer free 2-day delivery to Prime Members (of course), a helpline with pharmacists, and discount cards for lower prices on health and wellness products.

To beat Amazon on the health front, Walgreens has implemented a thorough redesign of their recently overhauled mobile application that scales their unique eCommerce and digital capabilities.

โ€œWhen you want to get your COVID vaccination, are you going to call Amazon, or are you going to call Walgreens or CVS?โ€ James Kehoe, Walgreens Chief Financial Officer, asked rhetorically in response to Amazonโ€™s role in the industry.

Walgreens has another plan of action in mind to overpower the pharmacy store behemoth, CVS, which recently introduced QR codes that allow in-store shoppers to pay touch-free, among other transformations.

In retaliation, Walgreens has introduced a more robust loyalty program called myWalgreens.

โ€œIt will reposition the Walgreens brand by utilizing myWalgreens and Walgreens pick-up as the ultimate convenience and the ultimate personalization when it comes to health and wellbeing,โ€ said McLean.

myWalgreens offers additional new benefits such as cash rewards for its loyalty program members, including 5% cashback on Walgreens-branded products and other โ€œOnly For Youโ€ deals.

Customers will be able to use all features of the new myWalgreens loyalty program at 9,000+ Walgreens stores. Personalized deals and product recommendations are also on offer, along with the ability to โ€œDonate your Walgreens Cash Rewardsโ€ to a charity.

We find these moves go in line with PostFunnelโ€™s analysis of Walgreenโ€™s basic CRM practices in a post-Covid world ย โ€“ where the brand got a perfect score for treating customers to incentives and perks and being helpful โ€“ back in July.

โ€œWalgreens is delivering an unparalleled experience to help customers and patients manage their health and wellbeing during the most severe health crisis of our lifetimes,โ€ said John Standley, Walgreens president, in a statement.

โ€œAs always, our more than 25,000 community pharmacists remain at the core of our offering. Our pharmacists and patient-care teams do far more than just filling prescriptions โ€” they provide trusted advice, personalized support, and a vast range of services.โ€

Would that be enough to stave off the Amazonian attack? To us, thereโ€™s a lot of relevant brand equity that Walgreens can leverage. And it seems to us like these moves will provide a firm answer to Amazon Pharmacy.

Check out our CRM analysis on Walgreens

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