Company announces strategic partnership with industry leaders Microsoft and Adobe to launch second phase of digital transformation at the intersection of health and technology
DEERFIELD, Ill. & REDMOND, Wash. & SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA), today announced an expansion of its strategic partnership with Microsoft and Adobe to launch a world-class digital experience and customer insights platform to deliver personalized healthcare and shopping offerings. It will provide Walgreens and Boots customers with products and services from its global pharmacy and retail businesses wherever, whenever and however they may want them. Establishing this platform will advance WBA into the second phase of its digital transformation, one of its key strategic priorities.
“At WBA, our mission is to deliver extraordinary experiences that enrich our customers’ lives. Capabilities to combine previously disparate customer data sets, including information from more than 100 million members of our loyalty programs, into a more singular, unified view of the customer – powered by these modern technology platforms – will enable us to truly personalize our omnichannel healthcare and retail offering,” said Vineet Mehra, global chief marketing officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “This digital magic coupled with the valued knowledge and quality of care provided by our pharmacists and team members is what allows us to best serve our customers.”
For more than a century, WBA’s iconic brands, including Walgreens and Boots, have earned the trust of patients and customers by serving their needs in some of the most personal categories – health, wellness and beauty. The strategic partnership with Microsoft and Adobe allows WBA to harness insights to deliver more engaging and personalized experiences, while respecting and protecting privacy choices of patients and customers. This can help increase access to key services within pharmacy and beauty, among other categories, while driving convenience and providing more options to address daily needs. Data privacy and security are fundamental design principles in the development of the technology, underscored by Microsoft’s investments in building a trusted cloud platform.
For example, with this new personalization platform, Walgreens will launch an individually tailored prescription experience for patients at Walgreens, and Boots will launch a bespoke beauty experience for customers by enabling Boots Beauty Consultants to provide custom product recommendations. This new platform will also dramatically enhance WBA’s marketing effectiveness and power the company’s strategic initiative around mass personalization – delivering the right offers and content to the right customer, in the right context, at the right time and through the right channels. (Read more…)
Personalized Customer Experiences
The strategic partnership with Microsoft and Adobe is the cornerstone for these new WBA customer experiences, connecting WBA’s wealth of knowledge related to serving customers in the health, wellness and beauty categories. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights will serve as WBA’s Customer Data Platform (CDP) to provide a unified, 360-degree view of the customer and unlock insights that power personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s Customer Experience Management (CXM) solutions will enable the company to deliver those unmatched customer experiences, with the industry’s only end-to-end solution for analytics, content management, personalization, campaign orchestration and more.
“There’s no denying that the retail industry has been in a constant state of change over the past several years and consumers expect personalized interactions, connected online and in-store experiences, and high-quality customer service when they shop,” said Shelley Bransten, CVP Retail and Consumer Goods Industries, Microsoft. “Through this strategic partnership, Walgreens Boots Alliance is transforming the future of retail, health and beauty, creating digital experiences that make shopping fun and rewarding. Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Adobe’s Experience Cloud will provide deep insights and a single view of the customer, enabling the nurturing of customer relationships on one platform for highly tailored experiences.”
“Adobe has been a strategic partner for global brands in their digital transformation,” said Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience Business, Adobe. “COVID-19 has created a world that is more digital, while redefining the value of physical stores. Walgreens Boots Alliance, a global leader in retail and wholesale pharmacy, is taking this head on and paving the way for its next chapter. With Adobe Experience Cloud, WBA will be able to activate customer data and personalize experiences, while better blending online and offline customer experiences.”
About Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) is a global leader in retail and wholesale pharmacy, touching millions of lives every day through dispensing and distributing medicines, its convenient retail locations, digital platforms and health and beauty products. The company has more than 100 years of trusted health care heritage and innovation in community pharmacy and pharmaceutical wholesaling.
Including equity method investments, WBA has a presence in more than 25 countries, employs more than 440,000 people and has more than 18,750 stores.
WBA’s purpose is to help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives. The company is proud of its contributions to healthy communities, a healthy planet, an inclusive workplace and a sustainable marketplace. The company’s businesses have been recognized for their Corporate Social Responsibility. Walgreens was named to FORTUNE* magazine’s 2019 Companies that Change the World list and Boots UK was recognized as Responsible Business of the Year 2019-2020 by Business in the Community.
WBA is included in FORTUNE’s 2020 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. This is the 27th consecutive year that WBA or its predecessor company, Walgreen Co., has been named to the list.
More company information is available at www.walgreensbootsalliance.com.
*© 2019, Fortune Media IP Limited. Used under license.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About Adobe Experience Cloud
Adobe is reimagining Customer Experience Management (CXM) with Adobe Experience Cloud, the industry’s only end-to-end solution for experience creation, marketing, advertising, analytics and commerce. Adobe Experience Cloud helps brands deliver consistent, continuous and compelling B2C, B2B and B2E experiences across customer touchpoints and channels—all while accelerating business growth. Unlike legacy enterprise platforms with static, siloed customer profiles, Adobe Experience Platform empowers companies to fully understand customers and make data actionable through Adobe Sensei, the company’s AI and machine learning technology. Industry analysts have named Adobe a leader in over 20 major reports focused on experience—more than any other technology company.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: All statements in this release that are not historical are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those related to the timing and effectiveness of implementation of plans for the new platform, the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the strategic partnership, and the ability to realize anticipated efficiencies and achieve anticipated financial and operating results in the amounts and at the times anticipated, as well as those described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2019, Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ending February 29, 2020, and in other documents that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. files or furnishes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. does not undertake, and expressly disclaims, any duty or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
(WBA-GEN)
Contacts
Media Relations
USA / Morry Smulevitz, +1 847 315 0517
USA / Molly Sheehan, +1 224 303 8105
International, +44 (0)20 7980 8585
Microsoft Media Relations
WE Communications for Microsoft
+1 425 638 7777
Adobe
Kevin Fu, +1 909-993-7125