Cvs vs. Walgreens

The second significant change for Walgreens in recent history is the purchase of Drugstore.com, a leading online retail pharmacy, in 2011 for the sum of $409 million. In addition, subsidiary companies of Drugstore.com were also purchased (Beauty.com, SkinStore.com, and VisionDirect.com). 4 Analysts have debated whether the recent acquisition should remain as a stand alone business or whether it should be integrated into the Walgreens business. Proponents of the integration argue that a consistent brand experience which extends from physical stores into the digital web will increase consumer loyalty. Proponents of leaving the online venture as a stand alone entity argue that integration of Drugstore.com into Walgreen’s will open up debate on pricing may diminish the consumer loyalty from Drugstore.com, thus negating the potential increase in sales. Walgreens has made it clear that it intends to leave the newly acquired online businesses as stand alone entities. 5

The idea of Walgreens started off in the early 1900’s in a small town called Dixon, Illinois. Charles R. Walgreen started working at a drug store, due to an accident that happened at a shoe making company, ending his athletic career. He realized after working in this small town he needed to go somewhere bigger to pursue his dreams of becoming a pharmacist. He chose to go to Chicago to open up his first store on the south side of the city. By 1910,

As shown in Table 4 on the next page, Walgreens was able to improve its gross margin by a total of 1.4% from 26.5% during 2002 to a record high of 27.9% during fiscal 2005. On the other hand, although CVS achieves lower gross margins than Walgreens, CVS was also able to improve its gross margins by a total of

Since 1901, Walgreens has had a strong passion for customer service. The founder, Charles Walgreens, goal was to create a drugstore that was like no other. He said that for as many drugstores as he had worked at, he had never worked for one that had a focus for good customer service and low prices. Walgreens has grown by leaps and bounds since 1901 and is now recognized as the leader in the market with over 7000 stores. Charles Walgreen had an eye for good managers. He said he was able to pick people that he knew were smarter than him so to promote them and make them the heads of his drugstores. As a store manager, not only is it your job to run a store which includes ordering, customer care, and inventory control, but also it is your

The complexity and diversity that lies within CVS is rather amazinf in nature. One may believe from just the name that CVS is a pharmacy. On the unseen portion though, CVS plays key roles within the healthcare industry. Yes, they do in fact provide prescription drugs to consumers, CVS is also a key player in the tracking of multiple health related conditions. CVS role is not limited to but does in fact include the data collection of, “Biometric monitoring, tobacco cessation, and weight loss programs. CVS made an excellent point that “We undertake chronic care only when working with primary care doctors to complement the services they offer” ("2014 Annual Report", p. 21). This shows that CVS plans on having a stake in the long term care of patients/consumers. As a pharmaceuticals supply business, CVS stands to make a considerably large revenue, yet they show that CVS does care about the consumers’ wellness. Lets not additionally forget, CVS has employed minute clinics within so many communities, that do in fact, focus on multiple acute problems not limited to but including sore throats, ear infections and aforementioned acute health issues. With the Affordable Care Act, CVS has experienced tremendous growth within communities.

Walgreens’ principal activity is to operate a chain of retail drugstores that sells prescription and nonprescription drugs. The company also carries additional product lines like general merchandise including cosmetics, food, beverages and photofinishing. Walgreens is one of the fastest growing retailers in the United States and led the chain drugstore industry in retail sales and profits last year.

The 2 firms had a similar profit margin, major difference exists in COGS and SG&A, while Sears had a higher gross profit margin, high expense (21.17%) is driving the total cost and expense of the two firms to the same level-about 95%.

I am a pharmacist and currently working for Walgreens Pharmacy. Walgreens is the second-largest retail pharmacy chain in the United States. We provide services ranging from prescriptions medications, health and wellness products, beauty products, and photo services. Walgreens headquarter is located in Deerfield, Illinois. As of August 31, 2016, Walgreens operate a total of 8,175 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.

Current Industry. The retail drug industry’s 2010 combined annual revenue was $277 billion, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (Drug Store Industry…, 2011, par. 4).The big players in this industry are CVS Caremark, Corp. Walgreen Co., and Rite-Aid, Corp with Wal-Mart and Target developing more of a presence in recent years. According to the article, the drug store industry is very concentrated with the 50 largest companies generating about 70 percent of the industries revenue (Drug Store Industry…, 2011, par. 4). The industry had grown substantially in the last 50 years and will continue to innovate and develop well into the near future.

Furthermore, both are easy to navigate, however, one Walgreens has a very strong sense of caring and family understanding, this phycological approach is very important when one whole high values on health, while on the other hand, Rite Aid is very much a store, it accommodate as a store and a drugstore (Nassar, 2007). In addition, Walgreens take the time to also aid "Rite Aid" consumers to be comforted that as they move into "Rite Aid" store their needs will still be taken cared (Nassar,

CVS, Wal-Mart, Medco Health and Rite Aid are Walgreens’ major competitors. Wal-Mart aggressively competes by its use of the $4 generic prescriptions promotion. CVS employs a similar strategy by offering a 90-day supply of generic medications for $9.99. Medco Health also competes with CVS by offering a 90-day supply of medications for a cheaper price than a customer would pay in-store. As of 2008, Walgreens and its major competitors were measured as follows10:

I decided upon discussing CVS due to my recent experience with their pharmacy services, which seemed to oppose the mission statement that is supposed to

Mirroring its main market competitor, CVS, Walgreens has also added Envision Pharma, a pharmacy-benefit management company, to its portfolio. (CVS acquired Caremark in 2007) (Bells, 2016) Due to previous acquisitions and mergers, Walgreens is currently the most accessible pharmacy retailer in the U.S., servicing 8 million customers each day and filling approximately 894 million prescriptions and immunizations, every year. (Walgreens, n.d.)

Primary weaknesses for Walgreens include cumbersome store layouts, competitive pricing, and on-line services. (Mullis, K.) Consumers don’t always reflect customer convenience when they enter a Walgreens store. (Mullis, K.) The front of the store tends to be clogged with seasonal or novelty items, while important health and beauty items tend to be in the back of the store. (Mullis, K.) It was noted the pharmacy was the furthest away from the consumer at the back of the store. (Mullis, K.) Pricing also remains a challenge for Walgreens. To remain profitable it is difficult to compete with big box retailers who have volume on their side for purchasing power. Walgreens is lagging in the on-line retailing arena possessing only 11.38% of market share behind Drugstore.com and MedcoHealth.com. (Mullis, K.) This is an arena that Walgreens needs to get serious about gaining market

Along with the company's strong market performance, the Walgreens Corporation continually shows considerable growth. 2006 ended with Walgreens' 32nd consecutive year of record sales and earnings ("Walgreen Co. reports..., 2006). Walgreens' 2005 sales of $47.4 were a 12.5% increase over the previous year and over $1.5 billion in earnings were a 15.5% increase over the previous year (Walgreens Corporation, 2006a). Furthermore, a new Walgreens store opens approximately every 19 hours (Carpenter, 2004). Consequently, the Walgreens name carries considerable brand equity as a nationwide retailer known for quality and convenience. In fact, Walgreens has positioned itself as the drugstore offering the most convenience (Walgreens Corporation, 2006c). As such, Walgreens offers drive-thru pharmacies in over 80% of its stores, and nearly 30% of stores are open 24 hours a day (Walgreens Corporation, 2006a). The company strives to offer a merchandise mix in line with this focus, providing customers with one-stop stopping for not only prescription drugs,