Walgreens eyes front-end sales boost with myW Days

This weekend, Walgreens plans to kick off a new weeklong shopping event that it hopes will energize front-end sales by rewarding its most loyal customers.

Called myW Days, the campaign will funnel exclusive storewide savings, cash and bonus rewards, personalized deals and special offers to members of the myWalgreens loyalty program. From Sunday to July 29, participating customers will be able to earn more than $100 in Walgreens Cash rewards on purchases of beauty care, personal care, food and beverage, and daily essential items, including transactions made via the Walgreens app and website for delivery or curbside pickup.

Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens said myW Days rewards will be available “across thousands of products and services”—including bonus earning opportunities and rewards accelerators—and enable myWalgreens members to stock up through savings on their most shopped categories.

“We’re launching myW Days to thank myWalgreens members and show how much we appreciate them,” Walgreens Chief Marketing Officer Linh Peters said in a statement. “We know health and wellness is personal and needs change and vary, so our loyalty program is designed to provide valuable and flexible rewards across any Walgreens purchase.”

MyW Days will serve up both weeklong and daily offers. Reward bonuses available all week to myWalgreens members will include 25% Walgreens Cash rewards back on all purchases, $20 in Walgreens Cash rewards for clipping and redeeming at least three myW Days offers, and 5% back on eligible prescription and vaccination out-of-pocket costs. Those who open a myWalgreens credit card during myW Days and make their first purchase within 45 days of opening their card account also will receive $50 in Walgreens Cash rewards.

Walgreens' myW Days will include all-week offers plus day-of-the-week specials to myWalgreens members. / Image courtesy of Walgreens

Deals scheduled for specific days of the week during myW Days include the following:

• Sunday, July 23, Personalized Rewards: Shoppers earn 20% Walgreens Cash rewards on their top-shopped category. Members can find their personalized offer, based on their past spending history, in the Walgreens app or on Walgreens.com.

• Monday, July 24, Food and Beverage: Walgreens Cash rewards of $10 are awarded when myWalgreens members spend $20 on groceries, snacks and/or beverages.

• Tuesday, July 25, Mobile App Exclusive: Loyalty members spending over $35 using the Walgreens app receive $15 Walgreens Cash rewards. The offer can be clipped only through the mobile app and includes orders for shipping, one-hour delivery or 30-minute pickup.

• Wednesday, July 26, Online Discounts: Digital orders get 25% off a $20 purchase with code WAG25 and 30% off a $60 purchase with code WAG30. Members also can receive free one-hour delivery on a $20 online purchase with code DELIVER20.

• Thursday, July 27, Beauty and Personal Care: Members can earn $20 in Walgreens Cash rewards when spending $45 on beauty and personal care.

• Friday, July 28, Pickup Orders: Walgreens Cash rewards of $10 are awarded for online orders of $10 or more made via the Walgreens app or website.

• Saturday, July 29, Deeper Bonus Rewards: In addition to 25% back on all purchases, members get 10% bonus Walgreens Cash rewards for all purchases on the last day of the myW Days event.

Walgreens said myWalgreens members can start clipping myW Days offers in their loyalty account on Saturday. Walgreens Cash rewards earned during the event will be available to use toward future Walgreens purchases for up to one year. Billed as a health-and-wellness-centered loyalty program, myWalgreens has grown to 110 million members since its launch in November 2020.

“We’re excited to give our loyal shoppers even more of the rewards they already know and love during myW Days,” Peters stated.

Though myW Days also extends to pharmacy purchases, the shopping event stands to give a lift to Walgreens’ front-of-store sales. Front-end sales for parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (WBA) U.S. Retail Pharmacy business fell 1% year over year in the third quarter ended May 31 and were down 0.7% for the fiscal 2023 year to date. On a comparable basis, front-end retail sales dipped 0.2% in Q3 and were flat for the fiscal year thus far.

The myW Days deals and rewards also will build on Q3 comp-sales strength in grocery and household items ( 4.7%) and beauty care ( 3.7%), as well as 19% growth in digital retail sales atop a 25% gain in the prior-year period.

“Following several quarters of very good performance, the retail business encountered some headwinds in the third quarter as the consumer navigated through a difficult macroeconomic backdrop,” WBA Global Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe told analysts in a conference call on Q3 results. (Call transcript provided by AlphaSense.)

In recent years, drug chains Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid have seen inconsistent front-end sales growth amid intense competition from mass merchants, warehouse clubs, dollar stores, supermarkets and online retailers. Elevated inflation, too, has made it tougher for drug stores to compete with mass chains and online retailers on price.