E Business Applications of Walgreens Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the E-Business Applications of Walgreens. Answer: Introduction Traditional Brick and Mortar retail is going through the mush needed digital makeover. Digital revolution is defined by the customer needs, convenient and simple purchasing experience. In todays context, use of mobile and internet has redefined every aspects of retail business model. This makeover is helping business in delivering increased value to customers and providing transformational outcomes. The digital transformation is about innovation in creating unique value proposition, customer centricity, reducing operational cost and improving efficiency of business (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson, 2014). About Walgreens Walgreens is a Retail Pharmacy Company of America with more than 8,200 stores. It holds the position of largest brick and mortar pharmacy retailer in America. Despite of its competitive advantage and strong brand image in the market; it has started redefining its customers experience through digital renovation. It has aimed to provide better retail experience through consideration of digital commerce option, providing better e-platforms to partners and enabling better interaction with consumers (Young, 2013). Walgreens and Digital Retail Walgreens has implemented their Omni-channel approach with balanced mix of online and offline. Top management of Walgreens has understood that retail pharmacy is not like other retail, it is quite different market has different consumer expectation. To improve their customer experience, they developed their online channel presence with better e-commerce website and mobile application and alongside they have improved in-store experience through adopting digital technologies. In designing as well as creating better digital experience, Walgreens has considered the viewpoints of their frontline employees who are mostly in interaction with customers (Booth, Mohr and Peters, 2016). They have provided apps in store mapping which enables customers to navigate the shelves in an easy and convenient manner. Walgreens refill by scan enables consumers to scan the label of medicine which they need and order will be placed online. It has simplified the refilling of complete prescription in the same way with use of digital technology. Their innovative transfer by scan facility provided an option to consumers refill medicines if they have purchased from other pharmacies. Walgreens in-store health guides with digitally enabled iPods always helping in-store customers. It is creating a healthy customer experience in purchasing pharmacy. Customers have the option to start the pharmacy purchase from mobile application or website and complete the purchasing in-store and the reverse process is also a valid option in Walgreens. Through their digital makeover programs, Walgreens has collected a huge database of customers, their purchase history and purchasing patterns. Insights from these data will help in customising their product offerings, pricing strategies and promotions (Barrett et al., 2015). Conclusion Walgreens transformation from a traditional pharmacy retailer to an innovative digital techno-savvy retailer helps it to gain a unique competitive position in the market. It is now able to improve its customer interaction, experience and engagement through improving consumer wellness and uphill task of pharmacy purchasing task. Walgreens efforts blur the line of physical and online channel but it can improve its consumers experience through more individualised offerings and reminding consumers about their upcoming purchase of medicine which can be done through adoption of digital intelligence. In conclusion it can be said that digital evolution in retail pharmacy is consumer driven (Fulgoni, 2014). References Barrett, M., Davidson, E., Prabhu, J. and Vargo, S.L., 2015. Service innovation in the digital age: key contributions and future directions.MIS quarterly,39(1), pp.135-154. Booth, A., Mohr, N. and Peters, P., 2016. The digital utility: New opportunities and challenges.McKinsey. com, May. Fulgoni, G.M., 2014. Omni-Channel Retail Insights and The Consumer's Path-to-Purchase.Journal of Advertising Research,54(4), pp.377-380. Piotrowicz, W. and Cuthbertson, R., 2014. Introduction to the special issue information technology in retail: Toward omnichannel retailing.International Journal of Electronic Commerce,18(4), pp.5-16. Young, C.A., 2013. Walgreens expands flagships, health services.Pharmacy Today,19(5), pp.50-51.