Dominique Petruzzi
Research expert covering Cosmetics, Personal Care, Health & Hygiene industries.
Walgreens Boots Alliance is a U.S.-based pharmacy and drugstore retailer and wholesaler with an international presence. Headquartered in Illinois, the company is mostly known for its retail chains Walgreens in the United States and Boots in the United Kingdom, but it also deals with the manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceutical items. In 2022, the company registered net sales of approximately 133 billion U.S. dollars through its several businesses. That said, most Walgreens Boots Alliance sales are attributed to retail and pharmacy sales in the United States, where Walgreens’ retail pharmacies reached 80.4 billion U.S. dollars in net sales in 2022.
Walgreens in the U.S. pharmacy and drugstore retail landscape
Walgreens is one of the leading pharmacy retailers in the United States, with a share of about 15.5 percent in the prescription drug market. Walgreens is only rivaled by CVS Health, the market leader in U.S. pharmacy retail. Similar dynamics in the Walgreens – CVS Health competition are observed in the retail store presence of respective companies. Both Walgreens and CVS Health operate thousands of pharmacy and retail stores across the United States. But CVS Health takes the upper hand with a store count of 9,674 against 8,886 Walgreens stores. A recent move towards retail expansion on the part of Walgreens was the purchase of around 1,932 Rite Aid stores after plans for a merger failed.What do consumers think of Walgreens?
Walgreens is not only one of the leading U.S. drugstores in terms of sales, but also one of U.S. consumers’ favorites. Brand awareness for Walgreens reached high figures in 2022, standing at 90 percent. Moreover, among online shop users, about 40 percent stated that they liked the brand. In the same year, Walgreens also figured in a ranking of the most trusted brands in the retail and e-commerce category in the North American country. In fact, when it comes to drugstores, consumer loyalty for Walgreens is among the highest.
