Fluent Essays

The report has been done but has returned by the instructor because it needs some minor changes.The questions with the numbers are also supposed to be answered. For an example complete a corportae analysis for question 3. WalgreensYour project will contain the following sections: 1. Title Page 2. Strategic Analysis 3. Store Layout, Design, and Visual Merchandising 4. Internet Retailing 5. Works Cited With the exception of the title page, each section should begin on a new page and should be labeled with the appropriate header. For example, the header for the Strategic Analysis section would be Strategic Analysis. The questions for each section should be typed using a word-processing program. Each answer for that section should be labeled by its number/designation and question and should be answered in an essay/paragraph format. This project requires you to research your chosen retailer, and you’ll need to find, cite, and reference a minimum of three sources of information using APA format. Do not summarize information without giving credit to the source from which it was drawn. Be sure to double-space your answers with left and right margins of 1 inch, flush left and ragged right. Use a plain 12-point font, such as Times New RomanAnswer the following questions in your project: 1. Provide a brief overview of the retail sector in which the retailer operates. a. What economic factors and environmental factors (if any) are affecting the retailer? b. What are the competitive pressures, evolving and emerging technologies, effects of online selling. changing demographics and buying preferences, consumer behavior issues, and image issues affecting this retailer and how it conducts business? 2. Describe your retailer. a. What is your retailer’s primary business? b. What is its business model—how does it choose to operate? c. What is its corporate strategy? d. What are its goals? e. How has your retailer changed and evolved over time? f. What parts of the business are growing and generate the most revenue? g. How is your retailer seeking to increase revenue in the future? 3. Complete a corporate analysis. a. Has the retailer been profitable during its last fiscal year? b. What are its projections for the future? c. Is the retailer expanding or contracting its operations? d. How does this retailer compare financially to other retailers in its industry? 4. Do a financial analysis of your retailer and two to five of its top competitors. a. What is the revenue growth, return on assets, gross margin, net margin, gross margin return on investment, and inventory turnover? b. What does this analysis say about how your retailer operates and its profitability? c. What can your retailer do to improve its profitability? 5. Analyze the competition. a. Who are the retailer’s competitors, both direct and indirect? b. How does your retailer compare to these competitors in terms of its size, market dominance/share, sales, profitability, and so on? c. What is your retailer’s competitive strength? d. Are there strategies that haven’t worked for the retailer? e. What retailers have the retailer identified as competitive threats? Why? 6. Determine the retail market strategy. a. Who is the retailer’s target audience? (Describe the audience demographically and psychographically, if possible.) How does this compare to the competition? b. What image does the retailer want to convey? How does it compare to its current image in the industry and in the minds of consumers? How does it compare with competitors’ images? c. How has technology affected the way the retailer conducts business? How does it make use of the Web, e-commerce, supply chain management, information systems, and so on? d. What is the retailer’s global presence and strategy? Has it been successful? Why or why not? e. What is the retailer’s location strategy and why? f. Describe their merchandising strategy: how they buy, what they buy, breadth versus depth of merchandise, and so on. How is it reflected in their financial strategy. g. What is the retailer’s pricing strategy, and how does this affect profitability? h. What is the retailer’s approach to advertising and sales promotions? Has it been effective? i. What challenges does your retailer face in terms of the retail strategy variables just described? Do some appear to be working better than others? 7. Summarize your retailer’s primary strengths and weaknesses and support your assessment. a. What are the retailer’s largest opportunities, both now and in the future? b. What are the retailer’s biggest challenges, both now and in the future? How is it preparing to meet those challenges? 8. Describe what you think the future holds for this retailer. a. If you were hired as the CEO, what specific strategies would you pursue in the future for this retailer? b. What opportunities would you capitalize on? Why? The report has been done but has returned by the instructor because it needs some minor changes.The questions with the numbers are also supposed to be answered. For an example complete a corportae ana Running head: WALGREEN COMPANY 0 Your project is being returned as not graded for the following reasons: You do a good job of breaking down the questions and answering each section, however, several of your responses are missing enough detail to receive full credit. Below is just one example of where your project needs more detail: Question 4 asks for a financial analysis of your company and even lists several ratios for you to use. A proper financial analysis involves calculating the ratios for your company and then calculate those same ratios for 2-5 of its competitors. Then analyze why the numbers are what they are. If Walgreens has a lower return on assets than a competitor, why specifically is that? Be specific and do that for all the ratios. All of the questions ask for multiple points, reasons, problems, weakness, etc. Providing only one point does not answer the question being asked. Read the questions carefully and provide an answer to what each of the question is asking. Please rework and resubmit your project for grading. If you have any questions or don’t understand something, you will need to telephone and speak with an instructor. Retail Management Tarell McQuillar 22758559 08068700 07/26/2018 Strategic Analysis 1. Provide a brief overview of the retail sector in which the retailer operates. a. What economic factors and environmental factors (if any) are affecting the retailer? Walgreens is a pharmaceutical company that operates in the United States. It has over 8000 stores in different states to support its big market. The economic challenge facing this company is the need for proper coordination within its many branches to ensure that they are able to reach their annual sales target. b. What are the competitive pressures, evolving and emerging technologies, effects of online selling, changing demographics and buying preferences, consumer behavior issues, and image issues affecting this retailer and how it conducts business? Walgreen is ranked amongst the best pharmacy in America due to its big market structure where it is able to reach many of its customers through the many stalls. It, however, faces strong competition from other companies such as the CVC Health Company that have to broaden their services to provide other non-pharmaceutical services such as therapy and clinics. The competitors also have invested heavily in online sales and advertisements on social media which is a practice that is slowly sinking in the Walgreen Company. 2. Describe your retailer. a. What is your retailer’s primary business? Walgreens primarily deal with filling prescriptions and other health and fitness programs. b. What is its business model—how does it choose to operate? The company has adopted three strategies for the transformation of its business model. This is through the transformation of the community pharmacy to ensure that its client receives professional health care. The second is the advancement in their information technology department to better the services provided. Lastly would be to make the pharmacist interact more with the clients on health issues. c. What is its corporate strategy? Walgreen has its headquarters in Deerfield and has employed over 5200 employees. It has also established a digital hub office in Chicago which is tasked with development and establishment of an enhanced technology for the easement of operations. d. What are its goals? The company’s goal is to provide the best health, beauty, and retail services to its customers and to make profits. e. How has your retailer changed and evolved over time? The company has been able to open many stores in different regions and also has been able to acquire many other properties. A good example is the 2014 purchase of 55\% of Alliance Boots based in Switzerland. This alliance made it change its name to Walgreen Boots Alliance. f. What parts of the business are growing and generate the most revenue? The drug stores are the parts generating the most profit since this is the company primary focus, providing around $1,200,000 annually. Other parts like the wellness program follow closely to bring the total sale to $4,000,000 annually. g. How is your retailer seeking to increase revenue in the future? The company seeks to expand through the acquisition of new companies and property such as the recent alliance with the Alliance boots company. This is expected to increase sales since it is the market leader in Europe and the leading international retailer and wholesale distributor. 3. Complete a corporate analysis. a. Has the retailer been profitable during its last fiscal year? The retailer has been profitable in the last year as his sales increased from the normal $3million to $ 4 million. b. What are its projections for the future? Walgreen Boot Company has further plans in expanding more in Europe and other parts of the world and to customize their services to enable Interaction between their service providers and their clients. c. Is the retailer expanding or contracting its operations? Walgreen is expanding its operations to include other clinical services and programs. It has spanned more than 25 countries with more than 1300 stores. The merge with Boot Alliance has made its expanding its operation to be a wholesaler and distributor of pharmaceutical products. d. How does this retailer compare financially to other retailers in its industry? Financially, the company is doing better than all its competitors. This is attributed to the high sales they get annually which translate to more profits that are used to expand its operations making it have a large market base. 4. Do a financial analysis of your retailer and two to five of its top competitors. a. What is the revenue growth, return on assets, gross margin, net margin, gross margin return on investment, and inventory turnover? Walgreens assets are similar to those of its close competitors in the pharmaceutical industry where most of their current assets are held as inventories. Long-term assets include investments such as the purchase of Alliance Boots where it invested $8 million of its equity. b. What does this analysis say about how your retailer operates and its profitability? This clearly indicates that the company is profitable and that it’s protected against any kind of decrease in sales and is a going concern. c. What can your retailer do to improve its profitability? Walgreens Company can further invest in the recent technology to ensure that they offer services at a cheaper cost. This can be through buying of modern accounting machinery and clinical instruments. They should also invest in online canceling of their client and expand more on other continents. 5. Analyze the competition. a. Who are the retailer’s competitors, both direct and indirect? Walgreens operates in a competitive market with the CVS Health Company following closely to its operations. Other competitors include the Rite Aid Company and other small stores found in Wal-Mart. b. How does your retailer compare to these competitors in terms of its size, market dominance/share, sales, profitability, and so on? Comparing with its competitors, Walgreen is the largest and leading merchandise in the region. Having been one of the oldest pharmaceutical companies and through its expansion in different states, it has been able to acquire a large market share and dominated the industry. c. What is your retailer’s competitive strength? The success of Walgreens over its competitors is attributed to the differentiation of its service to ensure that their client gets quality services at low prices. Their services are also convenient and are customized according to individual needs. d. Are there strategies that haven’t worked for the retailer? The company, however, in 2013 faces challenges due to its different prices of the same product in a different location. Walgreens pricing strategy was seen to offer high prices in its strong market areas and low prices in areas where its competitors operate. This was challenged by the CNN Money article which claimed that some of its inflated prices were too high. e. What retailers have the retailer identified as competitive threats? Why? The biggest threat to Walgreens Company is the CVS health company as it as copied almost all the services offered by the company. They have also differentiated their operations and this has led to it increasing its market share. It has also opened many stores in different states and also provided quality customized services. 6. Determine the retail market strategy. a. Who is the retailer’s target audience? (Describe the audience demographically and psychographically, if possible.) How does this compare to the competition? The company targets the healthcare industry where it includes, individuals and hospitals in supplying them with drugs. It has however seen the opportunity to supply prescription to the vastly growing population of over 65 years. b. What image does the retailer want to convey? How does it compare to its current image in the industry and in the minds of consumers? How does it compare with competitors’ images? The retailer wants to be seen to be associated with values of integrity, quality and convenient. This image is already been portrayed to the consumers as can be seen through the increased sales. Comparing these images with the CVS Health Company we see that Walgreens Company has been able to win its customers through its image which others have not been able to achieve. c. How has technology affected the way the retailer conducts business? How does it make use of the Web, e-commerce, supply chain management, information systems, and so on? Technology has greatly affected its operation in a negative way since the company was slow in adopting the latest technology. Having been one of the oldest companies in the industry, Walgreen had difficulties in adapting new technology which led to the emergence of other competitors. It has, however, established an IT department which is responsible for web designing and e-commerce sales. d. What are the retailer’s global presence and strategy? Has it been successful? Why or why not? Walgreens is known to the largest pharmaceutical company in the globe and thus can be attributed to its strategy of customizing its services to individual taste and preferences. It has been successful in this strategy as we see it has created a feeling of integrity and trust in its customers. e. What is the retailer’s location strategy and why? Walgreens has its location in America which is strategically for the large population in these regions. It has been able to expand into different states in America and has further ventured into Europe. The location was also the growing population of over 65 that provide a good market for the company. f. Describe their merchandising strategy: how they buy, what they buy breadth versus depth of merchandise, and so on. How is it reflected in their financial strategy? Walgreen has differentiated to offer product mix ranging from prescriptions, beauty products, and groceries. They purchase their inventories from different foreign and domestic suppliers. Their largest sales come from prescriptions drugs which are sourced from AmerisourceBergen whom they have a ten years contract. This enables the company to offer drugs at cheaper prices, making up to 64\% sales annually. g. What is the retailer’s pricing strategy, and how does this affect profitability? Walgreens has adopted a pricing strategy where the same products are priced differently in a different location. This strategy is used to capitalize on their strengths and those of different markets. This has increased their profits due to the different buying power of its customers in different regions. h. What is the retailer’s approach to advertising and sales promotions? Has it been effective? The company has invested more in advertising and sales promotions where they advertise on social media sites and televisions to reach their large market. This has been effective as the company has been able to dominate the drug store market due to the growing number of its customers. i. What challenges does your retailer face in terms of the retail strategy variables just described? Do some appear to be working better than others? The challenges faced by Walgreens Company are the saturated market where the competitors are increasing every day. The competitors have started offering many of the convenience the Walgreen had branded itself to be the best in the past such as the grocery store pharmacies. 7. Summarize your retailer’s primary strengths and weaknesses and support your assessment. a. What are the retailer’s largest opportunities, both now and in the future? The retailer’s largest opportunities, both now and in the future are its expansion in Europe through its alliance with Boot Company. This is an opportunity to take their products to market overseas. This is a chance to be a global brand through the opening of this window. b. What are the retailer’s biggest challenges, both now and in the future? How is it preparing to meet those challenges? The challenges faced is the increased competition in the market, with companies such the CVS opting for buying other chain and buildings as compared to Walgreens which builds its stores. The biggest challenge is that the company is not aggressive in terms of growth as do its competitors. The company is preparing to deal with this challenge by expanding in untamed markets overseas. 8. Describe what you think the future holds for this retailer. a. If you were hired as the CEO, what specific strategies would you pursue in the future for this retailer? The company should establish stores that are close to each other and also take advantage of the opportunity that has presented itself in Europe. They should also invest heavily in buying chain stores rather than building their own buildings to avoid the competition brought by other companies. It should also invest heavily in advertising and sales promotions in their new stores oversee. b. What opportunities would you capitalize on? Why? The opportunity that would be capitalized is the potential market in Europe. This is a market that is not saturated and which the company can easily establish itself. I would also concentrate on the growing population of over 65 and ensure that the company has all the services they require. Research Appearance This store is located on a corner intersection which attracts traffic in every different. Yes the store met my expectations. The store looks clean, neat and organized. The store looks as if a recent remodel was done. Fixtures Yes Yes The image of the whole store represents a good business. Promotion Yes, the sale signs and clearance signs sells merchandise very well. No Yes No Yes, the staff was very excited to be there. Yes, the images creates that the store is best on beauty, pharmacy and everyday shopping. Layout /b./ c. Yes the layout helps people throughout the store because aisles are labeled with a sign and categories. This is a perfect way for customers to find what they need. Merchandising Everything looks nice and clean as well in order. Beauty product has nice displays that attracts customers. Everything is organized, endcaps looks great and displays are full. Maybe later in the day when displays are shopped through but when I visited the store, everything was fine. Walgreens already have a great shopping experience for customers and does advertising weekly offering a bonus point system for customers to earn free items or at a discount rate. The only thing I would do in the future is expand in Europe. Works Cited Barrons. (2017, July 14). CVS, Walgreens Face Challenges. Retrieved from https://www.barrons.com/articles/cvs-walgreens-face-challenges-1500045854 Our History. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.walgreens.com/topic/about/companyhistory.jsp Greenblatt, A. (2014, August 06). Walgreens Drops Plan To Move Headquarters - And Profits - Overseas. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/08/06/338348314/walgreens-drops-plan-to-move-headquarters-and-profits-overseas Tyler, J. (2018, June 18). We shopped at a Walgreens and a CVS to see which was a better drugstore, and there was a clear winner. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-cvs-what-is-the-best-drugstore-2018-6 While some price variation occurs at Rite Aid (RAD), & (CVS), C. (2013). Walgreens prices vary as much as 55\% at some stores, study finds. Retrieved from https://money.cnn.com/2013/09/06/pf/walgreens-prices/index.html Intelligence, B. I. (2016, August 04). Walgreens is shutting down two of its e-commerce sites and changing its online strategy. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-is-shutting-down-two-of-its-e-commerce-sites-and-changing-its-online-strategy-2016-8 Retail Pharmacy International. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.walgreensbootsalliance.com/about/company/retail-pharmacy-international/ The report has been done but has returned by the instructor because it needs some minor changes.The questions with the numbers are also supposed to be answered. For an example complete a corportae ana Running head: WALGREEN COMPANY 0 Your project is being returned as not graded for the following reasons: You do a good job of breaking down the questions and answering each section, however, several of your responses are missing enough detail to receive full credit. Below is just one example of where your project needs more detail: Question 4 asks for a financial analysis of your company and even lists several ratios for you to use. A proper financial analysis involves calculating the ratios for your company and then calculate those same ratios for 2-5 of its competitors. Then analyze why the numbers are what they are. If Walgreens has a lower return on assets than a competitor, why specifically is that? Be specific and do that for all the ratios. All of the questions ask for multiple points, reasons, problems, weakness, etc. Providing only one point does not answer the question being asked. Read the questions carefully and provide an answer to what each of the question is asking. Please rework and resubmit your project for grading. If you have any questions or don’t understand something, you will need to telephone and speak with an instructor. 22758559 08068700 08/24/2018 Strategic Analysis 1. Provide a brief overview of the retail sector in which the retailer operates. a. What economic factors and environmental factors (if any) are affecting the retailer? Walgreens is a pharmaceutical company that operates in the United States. It has over 8000 stores in different states to support its big market. The economic challenge facing this company is the need for proper coordination within its many branches to ensure that they are able to reach their annual sales target. There is slow economy families have to make a tough decision on how to spend money. Most of the individuals have to sacrifice in not purchasing medication or households supplies to have their daily “bread and milk.” As the reducing economy is worsening, the firm is worrying about the long-term success of their business. b. What are the competitive pressures, evolving and emerging technologies, effects of online selling, changing demographics and buying preferences, consumer behavior issues, and image issues affecting this retailer and how it conducts business? Walgreen is ranked amongst the best pharmacy in America due to its big market structure where it is able to reach many of its customers through the many stalls. It, however, faces strong competition from other companies such as the CVC Health Company that have to broaden their services to provide other non-pharmaceutical services such as therapy and clinics. The competitors also have invested heavily in online sales and advertisements on social media which is a practice that is slowly sinking in the Walgreen Company. (Walgreens & Wal-Mart,). Population increase and the demographic groupings that are related to this increase are vital troubles for outlets. Population boom at once increases the range of available retail customers, while demographic groupings help stores to predict the types of purchases that humans will make now and within the future. As American society becomes more and more numerous, retailers must respond to those changes by means of adjusting their product services and normal product blend, closely comparing in which neighborhoods new shops might be located, and knowledge a way to optimize the retail experience for the growing number of minority consumers in the U.S. via things like hiring numerous employees, assisting multicultural activities and holidays, and developing the connection with a wider variety of neighborhood agencies and businesses. Further, this growing minority populace is increasingly turning into entrepreneurial, with the growth charge in new minority businesses a long way exceeding that of non-minority agencies (Villeneuve, 2007). 2. Describe your retailer. a. What is your retailer’s primary business? Walgreens primarily deal with filling prescriptions and other health and fitness programs. It was found in 1901 is a single drugstore, and today is the benefactor of reliable care in communities around America. Through constant revolution, Walgreens has a background of defiance in the new ground to meet the consumer needs and advance their health from giving self-service stores starting in the 1950s to emerging a 5 star rated mobile app today. For its pharmacies, the company was the first drugstore chain to put recommendations into the kid-resistant vessel in the 1960s and in 2016 it was the first to provide safe medication disposal canteens in its stores (Villeneuve, 2007). b. What is its business model—how does it choose to operate? The company has adopted three strategies for the transformation of its business model. This is through the transformation of the community pharmacy to ensure that its client receives professional health care. Several years have passed when Walgreens was faced with a considered decision around whether to engage in the market as a pharmacy benefits manager or to deprive this portion of the business. This was aimed at going to market as a health care provider. As an alternative to going to the PBM direction, Walgreens decided to be an intrepid, patient-centric impact focused strategy. The second is the advancement in their information technology department to better the services provided. Lastly would be to make the pharmacist interact more with the clients on health issues (Porter & Lee, 2013). c. What is its corporate strategy? Furthermore to an ethnic recognition as an element of consumer buying decision, most of the consumers are considering corporate social duties in their buying decisions. In a previous research, it is clear that customers expect a corporation to act ethically and be good people by doing things like defending their environment. This study is clear that consumers do really reward an organization that acts as an answerable to the manner as far as they know what the company is really doing. Reactions to company accountable hobby are specifically established amongst women, whove been shown to be extra touchy than guys to corporate duty appeals. This has considerable implications in both the development and marketing of things like dealer range applications, specifically for consumers who arent contributors to the targeted minority businesses. In today’s society, increasingly more clients, minority, and nonminority want evidence that the agencies that theyre assisting are doing “the proper matters”. Walgreen has its headquarters in Deerfield and has employed over 5200 employees. It has also established a digital hub office in Chicago which is tasked with development and establishment of an enhanced technology for the easement of operations. d. What are its goals? Walgreens has critically tried to put itself as a local pharmacy besides being part of a state chain and the aspiration for regional autonomy has generally translated into a reorganized local management structure with personal store leaders retaining important input and usually final decision making on the things involved for sale at their respective area. For instance, Walgreens has really been able to offer goods and services on a local basis from region suppliers who usually have not yet made into the company’s countrywide suppliers system, confusing both the proper count and general criterion of a lot of smaller suppliers comprise of numerous minority suppliers. The goal is for each store to get the unique requirements of the community it serves in order to have every customer have a store they can refer as “My Walgreens” and to provide the best health, beauty, and retail services to its customers and to make profits. e. How has your retailer changed and evolved over time? As a 117-year-old brand immersed in a traditional bar and mortal history, Walgreens is not likely to be considered as a digital pioneer. But the drug chain store has evolved the business to keep on relevant for nowadays digital-savvy customers. The transformation has definitely been a slow process but its taking form. Walgreens has recognized three focus areas for its transforming to digital and has developed a wellness capability; transitioning the recent community pharmacy and developing a unique global platform. “The last one is rather a sea transformation for Walgreens,” CEO Greg Wasson said. The firm’s strategy for decades was to get the best curves for its brick- and- mortar stores. Still, the plans are available today which are fostering digital innovation and joining it as an extra goal. In 2009, the company scaled back its brand openings from 8\% to 9\% growths year after year to 2\% to 3\% increases. The changes freed up capital, resources, and bandwidth that enabled Walgreens to evolves excellently. The company has been able to open many stores in different regions and also has been able to acquire many other properties. A good example is the 2014 purchase of 55\% of Alliance Boots based in Switzerland. This alliance made it change its name to Walgreen Boots Alliance (Bjelland, & Chapman Wood, 2008). f. What parts of the business are growing and generate the most revenue? The drug stores are the parts generating the most profit since this is the company primary focus, providing around $1,200,000 annually. Other parts like the wellness program follow closely to bring the total sale to $4,000,000 annually. The product offers many services which provide firm purposes which are given the highest rank product strategies. This can conclude that the travel agencies should keep aside from the competition in the industry through the constant study of the customer’s needs especially regarding the product/service line provided. To sustain quality service is given high cost in product/service objective, once this is an important component in sustaining the company’s good reputation and serves as a competitive defense that can result in an increased market portion of the firm. Branding is an easily recognizable name given to a firm, product or service so that customers can be aware of and also branding generate sales. Individuals often buy products from corporations which have a famous brand name, such as Travel Today, Holiday Inn Thomson and Disney. All of the companies devote huge sums of money sponsoring their brand. Branding gives a product or company a clear identity and assists set it apart from its contestants. Many customers show brand loyalty which means they will often buy a specific company’s product above all the others. It is common for clients to book with the same travel agency company year after another, expecting high standards of service every time. g. How is your retailer seeking to increase revenue in the future? Global brands leaders’ cross-divisional deeds are moving at a fast speed to drive further sourcing advantage across Walgreens; assist Walgreens and boots progress pricing and raise; re-launch the Glory brand and Soap in the USA and remain driving the performance of dominant brands like No7, boots pharmaceuticals and Well in Walgreens. For a long-term, development chances for Global Brands comprise of changing kind of management capabilities across the firm, assisting Walgreens development in beauty and individual care offerings raise of revenue potential via data and analytics abilities. There is also the introduction of Walgreens portfolio of brands to new markets such as Mexico and Chile and remain seeking breakthrough innovation and strong brands to complement the firm’s portfolio. The company seeks to expand through the acquisition of new companies and property such as the recent alliance with the Alliance boots company. This is expected to increase sales since it is the market leader in Europe and the leading international retailer and wholesale distributor (Lockwood, 2010).  3. Complete a corporate analysis. a. Has the retailer been profitable during its last fiscal year? The retailer has been profitable in the last year as the sales increased from the normal $3million to $ 4 million. From the analysis, it is recognized that the more profitable sectors of Walgreens such as sales conversion, corporate account management, customer service for corporate clients and arrears management are benefiting due much provision. By adopting the recommendations a direct benefit can be seen in last year by immediately reducing the labor costs and immediately increasing efficacy in the more neglected profitable sectors as mentioned above by having available staff to assist. To summarize there are huge savings to be made both directly and indirectly. By not having to engage more than half your staff in “Billing”, increases your workforce by 50\% at no extra cost apart from the initial set up costs. Even this is somewhat minimized by already having a website in place. Freeing up staff to focus on more profitable sectors such as corporate sales, corporate service account management, and arrears will increase revenue. Digitalization of processes is expected as an industry standard both internally and also by the consumer. It offers better access to information and customer service eradicating the frustrating wait in line for your call to be answered. This initiation by the company also creates the possibility of using digital solutions in other areas such as paperless billing, sales tracking and auditing (Salesforce), customer apps for billing or energy saving tips to improve service (Robinson, 2016).  b. What are its projections for the future? Walgreen Boot Company has further plans in expanding more in Europe and other parts of the world and to customize their services to enable Interaction between their service providers and their clients. The company is strangely cheap relative to the free cash flow. On its 11 times forward remunerations, the market is evaluating in a terrible forecast of the future. Walgreens (WBA) is one of the first-rate deals inside the market. Its miles the exceptional of breed drugstore chain with a virtually global presence. The aging population plays without delay into Walgreenss choice, presenting decades of growth going forward. Traders have kept away from this inventory, giving it a share fee that is lower these days than it became 3 years in the past. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings in line with share are set to reach document highs in 2018 and unfastened coins waft is approaching 10\% of the modern market cost. The bargain the market is giving Walgreenss inventory charge is not going to be permanent as there may be an excessive amount of cash glide and an excessive amount of boom ahead. Based totally on its boom prospects, Walgreens is worth greater than $100 consistent with proportion (Du, 2018).  c. Is the retailer expanding or contracting its operations? Walgreen is expanding its operations to include other clinical services and programs. It has spanned more than 25 countries with more than 7,000 stores. The merge with Boot Alliance has made its expanding its operation to be a wholesaler and distributor of pharmaceutical products. Change is never easy, and while a 117-12 months-vintage enterprise like Walgreens, it’s even much less so. For most of the beyond three a long time, the achievement came from expanding the retail footprint. That turned into Walgreens enterprise method. It changed into referred to “seven through 10,” which means it wanted to have 7,000 shops by using 2010. In reality, the company beat that intention—going from 4250 stores in 2003 to 7,000 in 2009. At the height, it became establishing a shop every 17 hours. To support the seven-via-10 strategy, there were a few well-subtle talents. As an example, the staffs had been excellent at coping with the actual estate, which includes construction and analytics. It turned into clean that almost anything about any street corner inside the U.S. Management should predict, within 3 percentage, the quantity for a capability new region in diverse classes, together with pharmacy and front-end sales. d. How does this retailer compare financially to other retailers in its industry? Financially, the company is doing better than all its competitors. This is attributed to the high sales they get annually which translate to more profits that are used to expand its operations making it have a large market base. The organization competes frequently on the premise of service, comfort, range, and fee. The organizations geographic dispersion allows offsetting the effect of temporary, localized financial and aggressive conditions in man or woman markets (Dunne, Lusch & Carver, 2013).  4. Do a financial analysis of your retailer and two to five of its top competitors. a. What is the revenue growth, return on assets, gross margin, net margin, gross margin return on investment, and inventory turnover? Walgreens assets are similar to those of its close competitors in the pharmaceutical industry where most of their current assets are held as inventories. Long-term assets include investments such as the purchase of Alliance Boots where it invested $8 million of its equity. comparing the outcomes to its competition, Walgreen Co said overall sales increase within the four area 2014 by 6.68 \% 12 months on 12 months, whilst most of its competitors have skilled contraction in revenues through -57.54 \%, recorded in the identical region. With a net margin of 4.28 \% business enterprise achieved better profitability than its competitors. WALGREEN CO. net earnings in the 4 regions 2014 grew year on year by means of 18.75 \%, whilst maximum of its competitors have experienced contraction in internet earnings via -50.56 \%. Revenue in the total segment grew with the aid of 6.68 \%, less than WALGREEN CO. peers inside this phase. b. What does this analysis say about how your retailer operates and its profitability? This clearly indicates that the company is profitable and that it’s protected against any kind of decrease in sales and is a going concern. The drugstore industry is pretty competitive. As a frontrunner inside the retail drug enterprise and as a retailer of trendy products, Walgreens competes with various outlets, which include chain and unbiased drugstores, mail order prescription companies, grocery shops, comfort stores, mass merchants, online pharmacies and stores, warehouse golf equipment, dollar shops and other cut-price, merchandisers. (Dunne, Lusch & Carver, 2013).  c. What can your retailer do to improve its profitability? Walgreens Company can further invest in the recent technology to ensure that they offer services at a cheaper cost. This can be through buying of modern accounting machinery and clinical instruments. They should also invest in online canceling of their client and expand more on other continents. But there are real problems within the company which if not addressed will also grow at a parallel rate and will ultimately undermine any new changes being brought in. There is a fantastic opportunity at hand for Walgreens to make substantial savings with minimum effort allowing the company to focus on other more profitable activities and improve internal management (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). 5. Analyze the competition. a. Who are the retailer’s competitors, both direct and indirect? As seen above the competitors include chain and independent drugstores, mail order prescription providers, grocery stores, convenience stores, mass merchants, online pharmacies and retailers, warehouse clubs, dollar stores and other discount merchandisers. The Company competes primarily on the basis of service, convenience, variety, and price. Walgreens operates in a competitive market with the CVS Health Company following closely to its operations. Other competitors include the Rite Aid Company and other small stores found in Wal-Mart. b. How does your retailer compare to these competitors in terms of its size, market dominance/share, sales, profitability, and so on? Comparing with its competitors, Walgreen is the largest and leading merchandise in the region. Having been one of the oldest pharmaceutical companies and through its expansion in different states, it has been able to acquire a large market share and dominated the industry. Comparing to its competitors, the company has signified its capabilities to add revenue and manage costs in the puzzling retail market. Generally, the retail market emerged unmarked from the recent economic slowdown. In profitability, Walgreens has the highest compared to its competitors and also has the highest gross profit margin as well as the net profit margin (Fein, 2016). c. What is your retailer’s competitive strength? The success of Walgreens over its competitors is attributed to the differentiation of its service to ensure that their client gets quality services at low prices. Their services are also convenient and are customized according to individual needs. Walgreens suggested a 6.3 \% increase in drug sales for 2011, and notwithstanding brief time period setbacks from the lack of a settlement with specific Scripts, can fairly expect a long-time period increase on this section for three reasons. First, the population of America is getting old. According to The management on aging, people, sixty-five years and older represented 12.four \% of the populace in 2000, and this range is expected to increase to 19 \% through 2030 and 25.5\% by 2050. Walgreens can count on to benefit from the getting older population, as older citizens normally need more medication and prescribed drugs income make up a lot of Walgreens’ core enterprise. 2d, medications are being greater efficaciously applied to each increase and enhance nicely of existence (Aluise, 2012) d. Are there strategies that haven’t worked for the retailer? The company, however, in 2013 faces challenges due to its different prices of the same product in a different location. Walgreens pricing strategy was seen to offer high prices in its strong market areas and low prices in areas where its competitors operate. This was challenged by the CNN Money article which claimed that some of its inflated prices were too high. e. What retailers have the retailer identified as competitive threats? Why? The biggest threat to Walgreens Company is the CVS health company as it as copied almost all the services offered by the company. They have also differentiated their operations and this has led to it increasing its market share. It has also opened many stores in different states and also provided quality customized services. 6. Determine the retail market strategy. a. Who is the retailer’s target audience? (Describe the audience demographically and psychographically, if possible.) How does this compare to the competition? The company targets the healthcare industry where it includes, individuals and hospitals in supplying them with drugs. It has however seen the opportunity to supply prescription to the vastly growing population of over 65 years. Walgreens is not the only one to try an attempt for the above strategy. Competition in the retail pharmacy industry is powerful and every company should frequently look for the opportunities to get a competitive benefit (Fein, 2016). b. What image does the retailer want to convey? How does it compare to its current image in the industry and in the minds of consumers? How does it compare with competitors’ images? The retailer wants to be seen to be associated with values of integrity, quality and convenient. This image is already been portrayed to the consumers as can be seen through the increased sales. Comparing these images with the CVS Health Company we see that Walgreens Company has been able to win its customers through its image which others have not been able to achieve. The company is taking benefits of its clean balance sheet to regenerate its image, converging on mail order pharmacy, Take Care Clinics as well as In-store accessibility and unique services (Danzon, 2015). c. How has technology affected the way the retailer conducts business? How does it make use of the Web, e-commerce, supply chain management, information systems, and so on? Technology has greatly affected its operation in a negative way since the company was slow in adopting the latest technology. Having been one of the oldest companies in the industry, Walgreen had difficulties in adapting new technology which led to the emergence of other competitors. It has, however, established an IT department which is responsible for web designing and e-commerce sales. d. What are the retailer’s global presence and strategy? Has it been successful? Why or why not? Through the strong strategic membership with Alliance Boots together with its strategic lasting term association with AmerisourceBergen, the retail is uplifting its development strategies across the U.S and further as a global bazaar for healthcare solutions develops. Walgreens is known to the largest pharmaceutical company in the globe and thus can be attributed to its strategy of customizing its services to individual taste and preferences. It has been successful in this strategy as we see it has created a feeling of integrity and trust in its customers (Ton, 2014).  e. What is the retailer’s location strategy and why? Walgreens has its location in America which is strategically for the large population in these regions. It has been able to expand into different states in America and has further ventured into Europe. The location was also the growing population of over 65 that provide a good market for the company. f. Describe their merchandising strategy: how they buy, what they buy breadth versus depth of merchandise, and so on. How is it reflected in their financial strategy? Walgreen has differentiated to offer product mix ranging from prescriptions, beauty products, and groceries. They purchase their inventories from different foreign and domestic suppliers. Their largest sales come from prescriptions drugs which are sourced from AmerisourceBergen whom they have a ten years contract. This enables the company to offer drugs at cheaper prices, making up to 64\% sales annually. g. What is the retailer’s pricing strategy, and how does this affect profitability? Walgreens has adopted a pricing strategy where the same products are priced differently in a different location. This strategy is used to capitalize on their strengths and those of different markets. This has increased their profits due to the different buying power of its customers in different regions. The pricing of products/services is an important aspect of the marketing mix. Price is just as important as well as product, place, and promotion. When the price is wrong, no amount of advertising or any other promotional work will make the customer buy the product. In the lively world of price change constantly based on a lot of factors, including healthcare. Walgreens will be competitively priced according to the dictates of the market. Due to the introductory nature of the services, the there firm intends to implement a saturation pricing strategy that will make sure potential customers are never frightened away by the prices. However, this will show that the costs are carefully kept so as to ensure the agency’s financial goals come to fruition. Each trip will include an average of 8 to 10 people (Ton, 2014).  h. What is the retailer’s approach to advertising and sales promotions? Has it been effective? The company has invested more in advertising and sales promotions where they advertise on social media sites and televisions to reach their large market. This has been effective as the company has been able to dominate the drug store market due to the growing number of its customers. i. What challenges does your retailer face in terms of the retail strategy variables just described? Do some appear to be working better than others? The challenges faced by Walgreens Company are the saturated market where the competitors are increasing every day. The competitors have started offering many of the convenience the Walgreen had branded itself to be the best in the past such as the grocery store pharmacies. The rise of mail-order pharmacy is a challenge to Walgreens strategies in modifying their business models to develop technology well and compete based on factors other than opportuneness. 7. Summarize your retailer’s primary strengths and weaknesses and support your assessment. a. What are the retailer’s largest opportunities, both now and in the future? The retailer’s largest opportunities, both now and in the future are its expansion in Europe through its alliance with Boot Company. This is an opportunity to take their products to market overseas. This is a chance to be a global brand through the opening of this window. The aging population of America promises to raise the fraction of the folks looking for care for worse conditions. The population team gives Walgreens an opportunity to get it and take market share if the firm will find a way to essentially accommodate their needs better than its competitors. (Spitzer & Davidson, 2013). b. What are the retailer’s biggest challenges, both now and in the future? How is it preparing to meet those challenges? The challenges faced is the increased competition in the market, with companies such the CVS opting for buying other chain and buildings as compared to Walgreens which builds its stores. The biggest challenge is that the company is not aggressive in terms of growth as do its competitors. Also, the company has some challenges on competition but while the outcome on government pharmacies pressure to lower prices is not clear and seems to be shared with insurance firms and PBMs, the advancement in healthcare demand in the U.S in 2014 where the action comes wholly into use will certainly benefit Walgreens than the competitors. The company is preparing to deal with this challenge by expanding in untamed markets overseas (Ovbiagele, et al, 2013). 8. Describe what you think the future holds for this retailer. a. If you were hired as the CEO, what specific strategies would you pursue in the future for this retailer? I would recommend place strategy where it is concerned with physical accessibility and location, as well as the health products are made accessible to the customer. In addition, this is also referred to as channels of distribution. The company should establish stores that are close to each other and also take advantage of the opportunity that has presented itself in Europe. They should also invest heavily in buying chain stores rather than building their own buildings to avoid the competition brought by other companies. It should also invest heavily in advertising and sales promotions in their new stores oversee (Simchi-Levi, et al., 2008).  b. What opportunities would you capitalize on? Why? The opportunity that would be capitalized is the potential market in Europe. This is a market that is not saturated and which the company can easily establish itself. I would also concentrate on the growing population of over 65 and ensure that the company has all the services they require. It is estimated that there will be a shortage of physicians in America which is a challenge to health care system but an opportunity for Walgreens. The company has numerous stores in the U.S which mainly employ physician’s assistants and nurse but not doctors since they are expensive (Rosenthal, 2017).  Research Appearance This store is located on a corner intersection which attracts traffic in every different. Yes, the store met my expectations. The store looks clean, neat and organized. The store looks as if a recent remodel was done. Fixtures Yes Yes The image of the whole store represents a good business. Promotion Yes, the sale signs and clearance signs sell merchandise very well. No Yes No Yes, the staff was very excited to be there. Yes, the images create that the store is best on beauty, pharmacy, and everyday shopping. Layout /b./ c. Yes, the layout helps people throughout the store because aisles are labeled with a sign and categories. This is a perfect way for customers to find what they need. Merchandising Everything looks nice and clean as well in order. Beauty product has nice displays that attract customers. Everything is organized, endcaps look great and displays are full. Maybe later in the day when displays are shopped through but when I visited the store, everything was fine. Walgreens already have a great shopping experience for customers and does advertising weekly offering a bonus point system for customers to earn free items or at a discount rate. The only thing I would do in the future is to expand in Europe. Works Cited Achrol, R. S. (1991). Evolution of the marketing organization: new forms for turbulent environments. The Journal of Marketing, 77-93. Villeneuve, A. (2007). Walgreens: Strategic Analysis. Walgreens, C. V. S., & Wal-Mart, R. A. 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Pharmacy Benefit Management: Are Reporting Requirements Pro-or Anticompetitive?. International Journal of the Economics of Business, 22(2), 245-261. Ton, Z. (2014). The good jobs strategy: How the smartest companies invest in employees to lower costs and boost profits. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Spitzer, W. J., & Davidson, K. W. (2013). Future trends in health and health care: Implications for social work practice in an aging society. Social work in health care, 52(10), 959-986. Simchi-Levi, D., Kaminsky, P., Simchi-Levi, E., & Shankar, R. (2008). Designing and managing the supply chain: concepts, strategies and case studies. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Rosenthal, E. (2017). An American sickness: How healthcare became big business and how you can take it back. Penguin. Tyler, J. (2018, June 18). We shopped at a Walgreens and a CVS to see which a better drugstore was, and there was a clear winner. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-cvs-what-is-the-best-drugstore-2018-6 While some price variation occurs at Rite Aid (RAD), & (CVS), C. (2013). Walgreens prices vary as much as 55\% at some stores, study finds. Retrieved from https://money.cnn.com/2013/09/06/pf/walgreens-prices/index.html Intelligence, B. I. (2016, August 04). Walgreens is shutting down two of its e-commerce sites and changing its online strategy. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/walgreens-is-shutting-down-two-of-its-e-commerce-sites-and-changing-its-online-strategy-2016-8 Retail Pharmacy International. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.walgreensbootsalliance.com/about/company/retail-pharmacy-international/