BrandSensitize | Strategic Brand Evaluation & Marketing Advisory
From Pharmacy Aisles to AI Frontiers: WBA's Bold Leap into Tech-Driven Health
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) is one of the largest drugstore chains in the United States, with strong market positions across Europe and Latin America. As of mid-2025, the company employs around 312,000 people worldwide, powering its pharmacy, retail, and healthcare operations.
Financially, WBA continues to show steady growth. For the twelve months ending May 31, 2025, the company reported $154.58 billion in revenue, a 6.22% increase year-over-year. For fiscal year 2024 (ended August 31, 2024), revenue stood at $147.66 billion.
At its core, Walgreens Boots Alliance is built around a clear promise: “more joyful lives through better health.” The company’s purpose is to be the leading partner in reimagining local healthcare and well-being for all, blending its rich retail pharmacy heritage with technology-driven care services that are trusted, convenient, and community-focused.
The Four Core Values
These values guide every decision at WBA:
- Courageous – challenge the status quo and take informed risks for patients.
- Connected – reflect and serve diverse communities through collaboration.
- Committed – act with integrity and care for customers, colleagues, and the planet.
- Curious – keep learning, innovating, and using data to create new paths in health.
Together, these pillars position WBA not just as a retailer, but as a trusted, tech-enabled health partner dedicated to making everyday well-being accessible, personal, and joyful.
Core Business Segments
WBA operates across three primary segments:
- U.S. Retail Pharmacy
- International
- U.S. Healthcare
Each segment contributes to the company’s transformation into a tech-driven health leader. By adopting cloud architecture, artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, and process automation, WBA is modernizing its pharmacy and retail ecosystems.
Driving Transformation with Partners
Transformation is powered through key partnerships:
- Microsoft supports cloud integration and scalable infrastructure.
- Adobe and Epsilon provide advanced, cross-platform customer insights.
- Accenture leads as a strategy-to-execution partner, driving cloud migration, data and AI capabilities, and omnichannel customer experiences. Accenture focuses on “change the business”, designing and delivering new capabilities and growth models that integrate pharmacy, retail, and healthcare.
- TCS delivers large-scale managed services and core IT modernization, focusing on “run the business”, ensuring stability, efficiency, and operational excellence.
Competitive Strengths
Walgreens Boots Alliance benefits from:
- Scale and proximity in both the U.S. and Europe.
- Pharmacy expertise paired with a dual-brand portfolio: Walgreens (U.S. retail pharmacy) and Boots (UK/EU health and beauty leader).
- A strong omnichannel platform, an effective loyalty program, and exclusive owned brands that boost margins and differentiation.
- Centralized prescription fulfillment and smart distribution, which frees up pharmacists to spend more time with patients.
Looking Ahead
The company is optimizing its store footprint, investing in automation, and upgrading cloud and data systems. These moves lower costs, enhance service delivery, and improve operational flexibility, all while staying mindful of compliance and legal requirements.
The brand statement that captures Walgreens Boots Alliance’s essence is simple yet powerful:
Promoting more joyful lives through better health by offering trusted, accessible pharmacy and wellness services, delivered by caring teams, top brands, and strong community involvement worldwide.
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Keith Nicks is EVP and Chief Digital & Commercial Officer for Ahold Delhaize USA, overseeing
omnichannel marketing, retail media, and e-commerce for U.S. brands. Tim Bork is the Chief Commercial
Officer for Ahold Delhaize Europe & Indonesia, focusing on local brands and responsible for growth,
including marketing and customer experience.
With nearly €96 billion in projected 2025 revenue, Ahold Delhaize ranks among the top 10 global
retailers, operating over 6,700 stores across multiple formats, including Albert Heijn, Delhaize, Food Lion,
Giant, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop.
6,700 stores powered by one procurement platform – a scale that makes others jealous.
For customers, Ahold isn’t just a grocery retailer; it’s a trusted lifestyle partner that combines the
intimacy of local shopping with the innovation and value of global retail leadership.
Ahold’s brands, such as Albert Heijn, Stop & Shop, and Giant, represent 37 years of average customer
relationships—customers don’t just shop there; they grow up with these brands, creating emotional
connections that transcend transactions.
After gaining thirty million loyalty members, Ahold demonstrated that personalization consistently
outperforms promotion.
BrandSensitize™ research shows that Ahold Delhaize operates with a decentralized marketing and brand
building approach, where marketing functions are embedded within:
- Brand-specific leadership (each local brand has its own marketing teams.
- Regional commercial officers who oversee marketing alongside broader commercial
responsibilities. - Digital and omnichannel specialists who handle modern marketing channels.
Ahold Delhaize’s Brand Building Initiatives:
Sustainability campaign: €50M investment reached 10M consumers, delivering a 20% boost in
sustainable product sales and generating €400M in revenue.
Digital Marketing: €150M digital budget achieved 25% higher engagement, 2.6% click-through rates (vs
1.9% industry standard), and built 500K+ social media following.
Loyalty Program: 30M members across brands with 85% customer penetration, driving 75% of total sales
and contributing €1B annually—10% better retention than competitors.
Strategic Brand Partnerships: 100+ collaborative campaigns with CPG brands, including Coca-Cola,
generated €600M in additional revenue through joint promotions.
Omnichannel Investment: A $1 billion price investment initiative, combined with AI-powered
personalization, aims to achieve an 80% loyalty sales penetration by 2028.
Strategic marketing drives measurable business results—from sustainability messaging to digital-first
loyalty programs, Ahold Delhaize demonstrates that well-executed brand-building campaigns deliver
both customer engagement and bottom-line growth on a global scale.
Ahold Delhaize’s Strategic Technology Partnerships:
- W23 Global VC Fund: $125M investment with Tesco, Woolworths & others backing AI startups
like Harmonya & Protex AI - Zycus Partnership: Source-to-Pay suite powering procurement across 6,700+ stores globally
- Hanshow Technology: Electronic shelf labels + innovation labs across all European locations.
- Inmar Intelligence: $141M in customer savings delivered through personalized digital coupons.
- DoorDash Collaboration: Tripled order volumes through enhanced last-mile delivery integration.
- Internal AI Innovation: MaxiGPT, LionGPT & Albot assistants deployed across the Serbian,
Belgian, and Czech markets. - New Tech Studio: AD/01 in Bucharest targeting 250+ tech talents for digital acceleration.
Zycus has licensed its comprehensive Source-to-Pay suite to Ahold Delhaize, including eSourcing,
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), and Supplier Management platforms.
TCS’s relationship with Ahold Delhaize marks a mature, strategic partnership focused on digital
transformation and supply chain technology.
Wipro partnered with Capgemini as one of the most significant retail transformation initiatives in the
world at Ahold USA.
Capgemini powers Ahold Delhaize’s end-to-end transformation, developing blockchain technology use
cases for Ahold Delhaize’s supply chain and leveraging its expertise in business transformation, as well as
its understanding of Ahold’s industry and operations.
Traditional retailers, equipped with AI and Robotics, will surpass pure digital players by 2030.
The key is to position Ahold not as just another retail success story, but as the company that has
rewritten the rules of digital transformation for every traditional business watching.
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