How Walgreens Digital Division transformed the 8,000-location retailer into a nimble digital innovator | Built In Chicago

How Walgreens Digital Division transformed the 8,000-location retailer into a nimble digital innovator | Built In Chicago.

Though Walgreens has been a household name throughout the 20th century, over the past few years, the retailer and pharmacy has become well known among the tech community, too. The Deerfield-based company has distinguished itself as a digital innovator by adopting a digital-intensive strategy and growing its digital division from a small Deerfield team in 2008 to a team of hundreds across four offices worldwide. Today, the company has industry recognition (like Webby and Appy awards) to prove its digital success and gets over 14 million visits every week to its digital properties, including web, mobile and tablet platforms.

The Walgreens app, which is available across every major platform, drives about 40 percent of Walgreens digital traffic and has gained the most fame for its Transfer Prescriptions, Refill by Scan (which processes more than one prescription every second!) and QuickPrints functionalities. Digital strategy associate Benjamin Weiss, who joined as a full-time employee in 2009 as an analyst, is one of the brains behind these functionalities, helping the retailer hone its digital strategy. Built In Chicago caught up with Weiss to hear about Walgreens digital history and its plans to innovate in digital health and mobile this year.

– Built in Chicago
03.04.2014