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Though Walgreens has been a household name throughout the 20th century, over the past few years, the retailer and pharmacy has become well known among the tech community, too. The Deerfield-based company has distinguished itself as a digital innovator by adopting a digital-intensive strategy and growing its digital division from a small Deerfield team in 2008 to a team of hundreds across four offices worldwide. Today, the company has industry recognition (like Webby and Appy awards) to prove its digital success and gets over 14 million visits every week to its digital properties, including web, mobile and tablet platforms.
The Walgreens app, which is available across every major platform, drives about 40 percent of Walgreens digital traffic and has gained the most fame for its Transfer Prescriptions, Refill by Scan (which processes more than one prescription every second!) and QuickPrints functionalities. Digital strategy associate Benjamin Weiss, who joined as a full-time employee in 2009 as an analyst, is one of the brains behind these functionalities, helping the retailer hone its digital strategy. Built In Chicago caught up with Weiss to hear about Walgreens digital history and its plans to innovate in digital health and mobile this year.
What are some growing pains that Walgreens Digital Division has been through?
In 2008, leadership deemed digital a key enterprise priority. At that time, our website was not up to par with leaders in the space and we had no mobile presence. As digital quickly grew into a core strategy, we had to balance two things: 1) becoming a leader in emerging arenas, like mobile and 2) modernizing our existing properties. We learned that companies must maintain a strong focus on what's truly important for the business. If you chase every buzzword or new technology fad, you can quickly lose sight of the most significant opportunities within your business.
What do you consider to be your division's biggest accomplishments over the past year?
We made a big push into mobile in 2010, and last year was our most successful to-date. We brought our Walgreens App to every major mobile platform; and new features like QuickPrints and Refill by Scan are demonstrating how digital can transform an underlying business.
Our QuickPrints functionality provides a photo printing solution for the millions of customers who use smartphones as their primary cameras. We've given users the ability to take those images, immediately after they've been captured, and turn them into real photos within moments. We also built a set of APIs around our photo business, opening QuickPrints up to developers around the world to incorporate into their photo apps. The revenue sharing provides developers with a stable business model, while also adding valuable features for their users. These types of new business opportunities only exist because of digital.
Our WebPickup program was integrated into Walgreens.com in 2013, enabling customers to order online and pick up at their local store - more than 600 participating locations (and growing every day). Many of these locations offer curbside pickup, which is a great convenience factor for customers experiencing mobility issues or even parents who may find it challenging to shop with children.
How is Walgreens using digital to increase overall customer engagement?
Things like our online weekly ads (mobile, tablet, and notebook/desktop), visibility into in-store inventory and our strong social media presence are all designed to promote engagement. Digital has successfully brought Walgreens outside of our stores. At the same time, we're also using digital to bring new experiences into our stores, particularly through mobile. We're redefining what it means to shop at Walgreens.
What kinds of technologies is Walgreens excited about?
Public APIs are an exciting area within retail, and we'll continue to grow our developer program in 2014 by creating new and exciting opportunities for developers to tap into Walgreens greatest asset: our more than 8,000 locations nationwide.
We've partnered with both Google and eBay on same-day-delivery in select markets, and we're learning what customers want as part of our portfolio of convenient offerings.
Wearables (think smartwatches, Google Glass) are an exciting space within which we’re experimenting, and we see a wealth of opportunity with many new devices coming to market.
How successful has your mobile strategy grown over the past few years?
Nearly one in every three visitors to our Walgreens properties say that the very next thing they'll do is visit a Walgreens store. Customers who shop with us online and in our stores spend 3.5 times as much, on average as a customer who only shops our stores. Customers who shop with us online, on mobile and in our stores spend six times as much.
Where does Walgreens Digital Division recruit talent?
Some of our employees have come from our stores, while others have joined us from top digital agencies, consulting firms or leading organizations, spanning various industries from travel to financial services. We also grew the team through our Drugstore.com acquisition in 2011. We look for natural leaders and innovative thinkers who understand how digital has the power to transform all aspects of retail and create new business opportunities.
What is your current involvement with the local startup community?
We've sponsored a number of hackathons around the country, including one we hosted in our downtown Chicago office in 2012. Our goal is to get our APIs in the hands of talented developers who will create really exciting and innovative digital experiences that prove to be winners for the developers, their users, and Walgreens all at the same time. Developers and startups can always connect with us via developer.walgreens.com or check the site for any upcoming events.
